Up & Coming Weekly

April 05, 2022

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM APRIL 6 -12, 2022 UCW 5 Although the definition and priorities of American conser- vatism have been the subject of much debate among the chat- tering classes in recent years, most actual American con- servatives will readily tell you what unifies their sometimes- raucous ranks: freedom. Consider the latest political typology produced by the Pew Research Center. Assembling hundreds of survey responses and then looking for clusters of like-minded voters, Pew came up with nine discrete groups — four on the Right, four on the Left, and a group in the middle, "Stressed Sideliners," whose swings back and forth often determine electoral outcomes. e four right-of-center groups — Committed Conser- vatives, Faith & Flag Conserva- tives, the Populist Right and the Ambivalent Right — exhibit notable differences in demo- graphics, political engagement, and views on specific issues. However, what draws them together as a coalition is their preference for individual free- dom and voluntary solutions over government paternalism and compulsion. Pew asked respondents, for example, whether "government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individu- als" or "government should do more to solve problems." e Committed Conservatives (87%), Faith & Flag Conser- vatives (88%), Populist Right (77%) and Ambivalent Right (67%) picked the first response. e four left-leaning groups picked the second response by comparably large majorities. Similarly, the right-leaning groups all favored "a smaller government providing fewer services". In comparison, the left-leaning groups preferred "a bigger government providing more services." And while the conservatives agreed, "it's not the government's job to protect people from themselves," the progressives said, "sometimes laws to protect people from themselves are necessary." Yes, some conservatives devi- ate from the general principle in specific cases. Some pro- gressives do, too. Humans are messy creatures who create complicated problems that resist easy solutions. But that doesn't mean we're all an indistinguishable mass when it comes to political behavior. For some, our strongest impulse is for government, an inherently coercive institution, to butt out of our private affairs and deci- sions. For others, the strongest impulse is to butt in. ese differences help to explain why the conservative movement tends to evaluate its progress with measurements of freedom. Here in North Caro- lina, my colleagues and I at the John Locke Foundation look at state-by-state rankings to gauge how far we've come — and how far we still have to go. One popular metric is the Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of North America study, which integrates infor- mation on taxes, regulations, expenditures and related concerns. North Carolina ranks tenth in economic freedom us- ing the most recent data avail- able. On the Tax Foundation's narrower measure of "tax costs for doing business," North Carolina ranks third-best for new firms and fifth for mature ones. In the latest edition of the Cato Institute's Freedom in the 50 States, North Carolina's best rankings are in labor freedom (eleventh) and educational freedom (sixth). North Caro- lina ranks tenth in funding for school-choice programs and eighth in the share of students enrolled in schools other than those run by districts, which are a useful proxy for the extent of freedom and competition in education. When conservatives see such results, we're heartened but hardly satisfied. For North Carolina to move into the top five in economic freedom, for instance, state lawmakers will have to do more to deregulate our health care system, insur- ance markets, and occupa- tional licensing. When it comes to personal freedom, North Carolina is egregiously out of step when it comes to gam- bling (45th in the Cato study) and alcohol (40th), the latter of which suggests we ought to sell our government-owned ABC stores. ose last two examples illus- trate the larger point. I would never deny that addictions to gambling and alcohol can be disastrous. I simply believe such problems are best com- batted by families, friends, and religious communities, not by state compulsion. Some con- servatives disagree. ey see these issues as exceptions to the general rule. So the debate continues — but not about that general rule, you see. Not about the primacy of freedom. It remains the primary dividing line between Left and Right. OPINION JOHN HOOD, Chairman of the John Locke Foundation. Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upand- comingweekly.com. 910-484-6200 Conservatives see freedom as progress by JOHN HOOD Photo courtesy of Pexels. Help your kids to develop reading and critical thinking skills by playing games, solving puzzles, and reading exciting educational stories!

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