David Brooks Makes The Conservative Case Against Democracy

David Brooks provides a steady diet of "big ideas" to his readers.  His big idea today comes right out of conservative ideology.  The fundamental idea in conservative ideology is the preservation of hierarchy. The common people don't know what is good for them, and that is why we need a monarchy.  Democracies in the US and Europe are suffering from that disease.  The people are depraved.  They want government to provide benefits for which they do not have to work.  Governments in the US and Europe feed the depravity of the people.  They provide the benefits, that people do not want to pay for, in order to win elections.  Budget deficits and national debt are the consequence of failed democracies.  His analysis of our political problems reminds me of Ronald Reagan's description of social welfare recipients driving Cadillac's.  Government is overgenerous, and the taxes of hard working American's are wasted on the wrong people.

Democracy is fragile, as Brooks correctly asserts.  His analysis of our political problems is partially true as well.  People do want things that they don't have to pay for, and it is natural for politicians to give them something for nothing in order to win elections.  That has always been true.  Therefore, it does not explain our current economic crises. The economic crisis in America, and in Europe, began with the collapse of the financial system in America.  The US government changed the rules of the banking game so that the banks could "innovate".  Our "depraved citizens" were not responsible for banking deregulation, and the production of trillions of dollars of toxic financial securities that were sold to willing buyers across the world.  Government in the US was captured by the ideology of free markets.  Our leaders were sold on the idea that markets are self regulating and that government should give them the freedom to innovate. We are paying the price for the innovations today.  Europe was doing well until its economies went into recession.  Tax revenues fall in recession, and social welfare payments increase.  Recessions produce budget deficits.  Moreover, easy credit in the US and in Europe made it easy to borrow.  Private debt in the US and in Europe fueled bubbles that eventually burst.  The consequence is that real estate developers and household are less able to pay down their debt. Banks in Europe and the US are still dealing with losses from the defaults on bad loans that they made.

It has been easier for the US to deal with its economic problems than it has been in Europe. The US has an integrated monetary and fiscal union. The dollar is also the global reserve currency.  Nations with current account surpluses are willing to purchase dollars for their reserve accounts, even at low interest rates. It is more difficult for European monetary policy and fiscal policy to deal with the problems that have developed in several of its nation states. The affected states do not have the tools of a nation state at their disposal, and they are at the mercy of financial market, speculators, and the inability of EU leaders to provide the needed help.

If David Brooks had not been a supporter of free market ideology and deregulation, and if he had studied economics instead of history, perhaps he would not have invoked Edmund Burke to describe the very different political economic problems in the US and in Europe with the same conservative paint brush.