My Weyrich Comments

While I realize that Paul Weyrich has been heroic on things like the Patriot Act, there is no way that his vision of the “next conservative economics” can be realized without the massive use of coercive state power. From what I read of that column, he wants to criminalize the use of economies of scale in retail sales.

Now, Norman is right in that governments at all levels in this country are doing everything they can to drive out manufacturing operations. I would also add that U.S. attorneys are doing their level best to criminalize just about every business transaction. (By the way, where did Weyrich stand on Martha Stewart? I don’t know, but it would be interesting to know.)

However, we also need to take what governments give us, and if conservatives are going to declare war on Wal-Mart and other “big box” retailers in order to “save” the little hardware shop on the corner, then we have to understand what that means. It means Weyrich is recommending that conservatives use the state to smash legitimate business enterprises because he holds that they do not serve some sort of “public interest.”

Now, can someone tell me how that differs in principle from what the leftists have been demanding?

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9:47 pm on September 26, 2005