The Tennessee ConserVOLiance

Writer Jeffrey Lord has a rambling, bullying op/ed at The American Spectator On-line about some Mike Huckabee statements in reference to American corporate greed as reflected in CEO salaries. I say “bullying” (and “rambling”) because Lord spends way too much of the piece beating up on a strawman . . . perhaps he’s actually building the strawman for most of that copy–I don’t know.

But the important thing to remember is that such rhetoric is usually called forth in service to some other purpose, and it isn’t “Conservatism” with a capital “C” or “the movement” (unless you’re referring to a particular candidate). I will say up front that populist rhetoric from a candidate raises a red flag with me. That’s probably because Democrats have long used those words or themes to demonize the affluent, foster class envy and argue for redistributing wealth (read: trusting gov’t to determine what is a fair distribution of material things). Jeffrey Lord hammers that point and loosely connects it with allowing gov’t to determine whether human life in the womb should be protected). From the beginning of his article:

“CEO pay and abortion.

On the surface, there would appear to be no connection. But that appearance would be wrong.

One of the more startling aspects of this GOP primary season is to hear a serious Republican candidate like Arkansas ex-Governor Mike Huckabee make an issue of executive pay in the private sector. Huckabee is not thrilled at the salaries paid various CEO’s (not, I should say, this one!) by the freely elected boards of directors of free market companies. He leaves hanging the populist implication: let the government decide who gets paid how much compensation.”

But as I’ve observed this campaign and thought about the 2006 campaign and witnessed how the Left (and its willing accomplice–the MSM) has much of the populace effectively sensitized to inequities in our system and in our economy. That’s fine; nothing new there, but the problem comes when we (Conservatives or Republicans) categorically dismiss concerns about inequities in economic outcomes while ignoring inequities in economic policy. So-called “corporate welfare” and government bailouts and corporate lobbying scandals reflect that government is very involved in how corporations are run and how much profit corporations “make” and so on and so on. Something can be wrong or immoral and still legal. And law or government policy is a mishmash of such distinctions.

Mike Huckabee isn’t proposing–as Jeffrey Lord and other interested parties have implied, that government regulate the salaries of CEOs. But what Huckabee is saying sure resonates with almost all those Americans who are not able to have their cake and eat it, too when it comes to advocating for a market free of government interference.

Also at WisdomisVindicated.