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Bright ideas and innovations power Freedom Conservatism
The hundreds of leaders who’ve signed the Freedom Conservatism Statement of Principles over the past nine months agree that “to ensure that America's best days are ahead, we must apply the timeless principles of liberty to the challenges of the 21st century.”
We agree on many particulars, as well. But we disagree on others — and we don’t see that as a problem!
The challenges facing America today are varied and complex. Even conservatives who share firm commitments to individual liberty, free markets, constitutional government, civil society, and the rule of law may have good-faith disagreements on how to implement them.
For many Freedom Conservatives, a key role they play in the movement is to apply timeless principles to new problems in creative ways. Here are some examples of innovating thinking by FreeCon journalists and scholars.
Yea YIMBY
Tiana Lowe Doescher is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner and an on-air contributor for “The First” on Pluto TV. A FreeCon signatory, Doescher previously interned for National Review and founded the USC Economics Review.
In a recent Examiner piece, she pointed out that the Federal Reserve isn’t the only policymaking body whose decisions affect the price of goods such as housing.
“Average and median home sale prices rose by around 48% from the peak of the coronavirus pandemic to the end of 2022,” Doescher noted, “but they have only fallen by around 11% in the past year. And why? Because of years of anti-growth zoning laws, which in a bipartisan patchwork across the country effectively criminalized creating new housing.”
Federal fiscal policy has played a role, too.
“Thanks to an unprecedented $5 trillion in COVID stimulus, home prices soared, allowing boomers to cash out and retire early from the labor force altogether, exacerbating the labor shortage that in turn has fueled our inflation crisis,” she argued.
“The result is one of the lowest rental vacancy rates since the ’80s and the third lowest homeowner vacancy rates ever recorded by the Census Bureau. And it all comes down to supply.”
The good news is that at the state and local level, a new generation of leaders has formed a “yes in my backyard” (YIMBY) movement, producing zoning changes and other pro-supply reforms. Although some are progressives, many more are conservative governors, mayors, and lawmakers.
Dig to the root
Devon Westhill is president and general counsel at the Center for Equal Opportunity, which studies, develops, and disseminates ideas that promote colorblind equal opportunity and nondiscrimination in America.
A FreeCon signatory, Westhill researches, speaks, and writes about civil rights, civil liberties, and related issues. He’s contributed to such publications as National Review and The Wall Street Journal and appeared on many TV programs, radio shows, and podcasts.
In a recent column for Townhall.com, Westhill charted a path ahead for conservative activsts and policymakers seeking to enforce last year’s Supreme Court decisions on racial preferences and combat abuses by identitarian bureaucracies run amok.
“We must be specific and persuade our fellow Americans of the dangers of DEI,” he wrote. “Doing so also means adopting messages and launching initiatives that will address concerns that America be a just and fair nation that provides opportunities for all.”
Championing pro-growth, pro-opportunity policies such as school choice and licensing reforms will be necessary to win the argument for America’s future, he concluded.
“It is an historic opportunity to focus on addressing the root causes — like the lack of healthy two-parent families and poor K-12 education — of racial disparities that have led so many people to good faith support of racial affirmative action and DEI.”
Build American?
Judge Glock is the director of research and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor at City Journal. He’s also a FreeCon signatory.
Glock’s work has been featured in National Affairs, Tax Notes, the Journal of American History, NPR, and the New York Times, among other places. He’s the author of the 2021 book The Dead Pledge: The Origins of the Mortgage Market and Federal Bailouts, 1913-1939.
In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Glock observed that the “buy American” provisions of the 2021 infrastructure bill have produced little but frustration, confusion, and waste.
“Government agencies are scrambling” to comply with the law’s “impossible burdens,” he wrote. “The Education Department found 32 separate programs that would be classified as infrastructure under the law. The Federal Emergency Management Agency found 23 programs.”
Rather than leverage a massive investment of taxpayer dollars on infrastructure to create jobs in America, as proponents promised, the “buy American” provisions have jacked up costs and slowed down construction.
“America’s critical defense and national security products should be made at home. But pants and drywall don’t have to be. Because of BABA, the infrastructure law has made building in the U.S. harder than ever.”
Unjust tax
Vance Ginn is the founder and president of Ginn Economic Consulting and host of the “Let People Prosper Show.”
A FreeCon signatory and former associate director for economic policy at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Ginn currently serves as senior fellow at Americans for Tax Reform, associate research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, and chief economist at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy.
In a recent AIER commentary, he critiqued President Biden’s proposed federal tax on unrealized capital gains and similar proposals from progressive-led state governments.
Such a tax “should be rejected,” Ginn wrote, “as it is fundamentally unjust, likely unconstitutional, and would hinder prosperity and individual freedom.”
“A tax on unrealized capital gains means that individuals are penalized for owning appreciating assets, regardless of whether they have realized any actual income from selling them.”
He argued that a better way to help disadvantaged Americans would be to reduce their tax burdens and reform regulations to spur more economic innovation and job creation. In a separate piece in Law & Liberty, Ginn recommended the application of two rules to federal policymakers: a cap on annual spending growth and a disciplined approach to monetary policy.
“Proper constraints will nudge even the worst politicians to make fiscally responsible choices and reduce net interest costs. Furthermore, America will be better positioned to respond to crises at home and abroad.”
More coverage
• Avik Roy, president of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity and one of the leaders of the FreeCon movement, appeared in The Washington Post last week with an op-ed on drug prices. “The real barrier to innovation in drug development isn’t manufacturers’ ability to charge extortionate prices,” Roy and fellow FreeCon signatory Gregg Girvan wrote. “It’s the ever-increasing cost of navigating the FDA’s approval process. In the rest of the economy, innovation drives lower prices for valuable goods and services. The pharmaceutical industry — and its regulator — should follow suit.”
• John Hood, president of the Pope Foundation and one of the leaders of the FreeCon movement, appeared last week on the Sutherland Institute’s “Defending Ideas” podcast. Hood argued that the principles of the American Founding are hardly “out of date,” as some populists and progressives claim, and that the Right should stand unapologetically for limited government, free enterprise, free speech, free trade, strong families, and a robust defense of American interests.
