That was the working title that the funsters at The Guardian gave me to write to. I drew up three key things that conservatives need to do in 2009 to defend capitalism:
"1) We need to restore faith in the justice of market systems by punishing the bankers who broke the rules with at least as much vigour as we would pursue a benefit fraudster. As David Cameron has said: There cannot be one rule for the rich and another for everybody else. Friends of capitalism need to take the lead in destroying the enemies within the system."
2) We must demolish the idea that the state is a superior economic guardian. While the state can play an important lender-of-last-resort function it must never be the actor of first call. Conservatives and defenders of capitalism must remind voters that state regulation and state ownership is even more problematic than free enterprise. Labour's working tax credits, the NHS supercomputer fiasco and the Home Information Pack scheme have all cost billions of pounds in the last year. We also need to ensure that history records the government subsidy of mortgages that should never have been granted as the root of America's housing bust.
3) We need to make it clear that capitalism and big business are not the same. Too many big businesses have become so bureaucratic and top-heavy that they have lost the dynamism of true entrepreneurs. Conservatives should not feel obligated to defend the big banks and big corporates who have become lazy and greedy over the years. Our instinct, as Michael Howard once put it, should always be to protect the little guy against every over mighty institution – whether it be big government, a big labour union or big business."
The full article is here.
