These neoliberal policies contributed to the destruction of the family unit (fueled by fewer well-paying jobs for working-class men) with the resulting collapse of birth rates (because many Americans lacked money to raise a family) and a decline in a meaningful spiritual life (replaced with a kind of secular utopianism). American workers were replaced with foreign labor. The goal was, and remains, cheap material goods at the expense of all else.
All of this proves that neoliberalism is an economic system with often harmful social and political consequences. Neoliberals want to forget that politics and economics are inextricably linked; both are predicated upon social cooperation. While American political and business leaders were developing domestic industries in allied states, they were selling off the livelihoods of America’s children. And there are no guarantees that new industries will rise to replace the departing industries. Post-war conservatism had no coherent answer to the social and cultural problems brought on by exporting American jobs and innovation. And conservatives are still struggling to respond to the problem.
The United States must embark upon a journey back to Lincoln’s economics. Lincoln understood that a country must have businesses that own the nation’s production. Trading soybeans for computer parts is what a colony, not a nation, would do. That’s why the British Empire wanted the American colonies to trade commodities for finished goods, to never industrialize: productive power is equivalent to national power. The Founding Fathers rebelled against Britain in part to own their means of production.
A nation is not free when it cannot provide the materials needed for productive independence. Today’s American policymakers instead place the United States in treaties with imperial empires that will use their trade and economic gain to impose their social and cultural (and maybe even military) dogma on their foes. See how Hollywood and the NBA have utterly capitulated socially and politically to the communist Chinese for access to their economic markets.
Our economic vulnerability expands as we fail to address our debt and now inflation problems. In addition to regulatory costs, Biden and the rest of the neoliberals have added an inadvertent regressive “tax” on the economy with inflation. This “tax” drives up the price of goods ahead of the purchasing power of the regular American. The wealthiest can hedge against this with their investment portfolios. But again, the poor and middle class are harmed the most, especially if they inadvertently pay more in taxes as a consequence of inflation pushing them into a higher bracket.
And America continues to trade the future for the present by inflating its currency to monetize the trade deficit. The typical Beltway solution to this problem would be economic austerity or transformative, budget-busting spending measures, but these do not bring back the productive capabilities that have been sent overseas or build new industries at home. The priority in a New American System should be to stop the metaphorical bleeding by focusing on America’s ability to manufacture the products we need.
President Trump sought to address the excesses and abuses of neoliberalism in a time when many were discounting America’s future. It is time for us to think about tomorrow by learning the lessons of the past and borrowing from America’s own intellectual heritage. It’s time to examine Abraham Lincoln’s legacy and understand what he understood: that humans are not commodities and should not be treated as such. American citizens have intrinsic value, and they deserve meaningful work. Work leads to marriage, to children, to homes, and, yes, even to consumer goods. It all depends on businesses and jobs being in our country. Enough with exporting innovation. It is time to rebuild America.
Adam Korzeniewski is a Marine Corps combat veteran and a former Trump administration official in the Treasury and Commerce departments. He specializes in fiscal and economic policy and national security topics.
