Why a Bit of Big Government is Good for Capitalism

There is a widespread condemnation of "big government" among Republicans and Libertarians. The argument is for "freedom" and the ability to work hard and to benefit from that work without the intrusion of the government by means of taxation and regulation.

Capitalism without this government "intrusion" is an effective way of redistributing wealth by concentrating it at the top of the economic hierarchy. This is deemed "fair" by the right based on the assumption of capitalism functioning as a righteous meritocracy. The right seems to always focus on wealth as something earned and deserved and something that should be protected from the government. That is until the subject of inheritance is discussed, wherein the discussion quickly pivots away from a meritocracy and back to freedom. That is because, of course, inheritance functions as a way of transferring wealth to the next generation devoid of any inconvenient merit requirements.

Big government with thoughtful regulation and progressive taxation can act as means to mitigate the upward redistribution of wealth. The problem we have today is that the Republicans did nothing to reign in President Bush's big government during his 8 years. This while concurrently gutting the taxes and regulation that could have helped to minimize the growing disparity of wealth and the budgetary imbalance that has been the anchor weighing down our economy ever since.