Some of our friends on the right (organizations and influencers) have begun to dabble in a dangerous new strain of economic thinking called National Conservatism. Some of the ideas of this new movement are sound, such as the fight against globalism and the fight to preserve national sovereignty.

But other policy ideas strike us as economically loony: breaking up our tech industry giants, trade protectionism, forced union laws, anti-legal immigration, refundable child tax credits, and corporate welfare subsidies.

One of the leaders of the “Nat Cons,” Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) voted with Democrats in support of Biden’s “Joint Employer” rule that could effectively end franchise stores – such as independently-owned Burger King and Wendy’s restaurants.

Another, Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio), recently said hyper-regulatory FTC chair Lina Khan “is doing a pretty good job.” This week Vance is trying to attach $7 billion of federal subsidies for internet services to the FAA bill.

The premise of all these government interventions into the economy is that we must weaken free markets in exchange for more government control of our economy. But we’ve never met a nation that got poor because it had TOO MUCH economic freedom. Have you?

Surrendering economic freedom — and giving more power to politicians — to promote some vague common good is a fool’s errand.

It puts us on FA Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom” and makes everyone worse off.

Why do people still struggle with the simple and timeless theorem that more freedom means more prosperity for everyone? It’s so simple.