General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Open letter from a constituent: "I am relieved to say I no longer think of myself as a Republican" [View all]Caliman73
(11,730 posts)The problem remains that he "believes in limited government and market based solutions to societal problems". This statement is the big problem within the Republican Party and conservative thinkers.
The market has very few solutions to societal problems. It is not designed to address societal problems. Markets are designed to get goods to consumers and capital to the owners of those goods. How do you solve the problem of poverty when the goal of capitalism is for the capitalist to accumulate wealth. Who is going to give a poor person goods, services, or money? For what? They can barely buy anything. If they are homeless then they can't really participate in the workforce. Capitalism as envisioned by Republicans is survival of the fittest and perhaps charity for the "less fortunate".
I am not saying that all Republicans are bad, selfish, and/or heartless but the system they advocate promotes those values. Government is the only entity that has the power to retrain the excesses of capitalism and when you limit the power of government to do so, you allow the wealthiest people in society to dictate the rules to everyone else.