The American Right has spent years warning about the dangers of concentrated government power. Republican lawmakers and pundits have rightly decried Democrats’ race toward socialism this election cycle. Yet, which of these heralds will turn the party’s scrutiny toward its own embrace of that power?
Growing acceptance of tariffs, deficit spending, and top-down mandates impacting education and families shows post-liberal conservatives are embracing centralized authority — provided it is wielded in the service of “conservative” ends. The Commerce Department’s recent disclosure of six more planned corporate equity stakes, on top of dozens already in the federal portfolio, is only the latest example of Republican-led government policy conservatives would traditionally condemn as creeping socialism.
