For decades, conservatives have complained about attacks on democracy by unelected judges and bureaucrats. Decisions by the Warren Court swept away longstanding practices like school prayer without the slightest consultation of popular opinion. Likewise, the growth of the administrative state—in practice subject neither to congress nor to the president—means that many important decisions are made non-democratically.
These developments have fed populist resentments. They have raised worries about the “end of democracy.” But they have not occurred in a vacuum. They advanced in parallel with a far-reaching effort to insulate economic policy from democratic control. This neoliberal project had several aspects. It proposed that only people with expertise were qualified to comment on economic matters, thus offering a justification for technocracy. It promoted new institutions—like the World Trade Organization—that limited the economic self-determination of member countries. It presented anyone who challenged its premises as an enemy of freedom. In all these ways, it sought to ensure that economic policies weren’t decided through free political contestation in a democratic system, but through the decision-making of unelected experts.
In this way, the neoliberal project is opposed to human freedom. It has effectively narrowed the scope of democracy. Take the World Trade Organization. One of its central features is an appellate body that reviews the decisions of dispute-settlement panels. Its function is parallel to that of the US Supreme Court, and it—no less than that court—has been guilty of overreach. Though it was promoted as having a limited remit, it has lawlessly expanded its power while claiming that US law is inconsistent with WTO rules and must be repealed. In effect, the free-trade system has led to a judicial usurpation of democracy.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden, for all their disagreements, have enacted a partial and halting retreat from neoliberal orthodoxies. This retreat is most obvious on trade, where concerns about China have been paramount. Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s first-term trade chief, and Katherine Tai, Biden’s appointee, had a great deal in common. Consonance is also evident on labor, where Trump has empowered pro-union Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and on anti-trust, where he has tapped anti-monopolist Gail Slater. Jamieson Greer, Trump’s next pick as US Trade Representative, will continue to advance post-neoliberal trade policy.
These developments aren’t a sign that America has given up on freedom. On the contrary. A majority of Americans cast their votes not because they wanted less agency but because they wanted more. They wanted a say in whether their jobs would be shipped overseas, in whether private corporations could acquire an effective monopoly and then debank or censor them. They wanted to have a say in our economy, just as they want a say in what their children are taught. This impulse is a sign of America’s continuing love of freedom, and of the health of our democracy.
Matthew Schmitz is founder and editor of Compact.
For decades, conservatives have complained about attacks on democracy by unelected judges and bureaucrats. Decisions by the Warren Court swept away longstanding practices like school prayer without the slightest consultation of popular opinion. Likewise, the growth of the administrative state—in practice subject neither to congress nor to the president—means that many important decisions are made non-democratically.
These developments have fed populist resentments. They have raised worries about the “end of democracy.” But they have not occurred in a vacuum. They advanced in parallel with a far-reaching effort to insulate economic policy from democratic control. This neoliberal project had several aspects. It proposed that only people with expertise were qualified to comment on economic matters, thus offering a justification for technocracy. It promoted new institutions—like the World Trade Organization—that limited the economic self-determination of member countries. It presented anyone who challenged its premises as an enemy of freedom. In all these ways, it sought to ensure that economic policies weren’t decided through free political contestation in a democratic system, but through the decision-making of unelected experts.
In this way, the neoliberal project is opposed to human freedom. It has effectively narrowed the scope of democracy. Take the World Trade Organization. One of its central features is an appellate body that reviews the decisions of dispute-settlement panels. Its function is parallel to that of the US Supreme Court, and it—no less than that court—has been guilty of overreach. Though it was promoted as having a limited remit, it has lawlessly expanded its power while claiming that US law is inconsistent with WTO rules and must be repealed. In effect, the free-trade system has led to a judicial usurpation of democracy.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden, for all their disagreements, have enacted a partial and halting retreat from neoliberal orthodoxies. This retreat is most obvious on trade, where concerns about China have been paramount. Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s first-term trade chief, and Katherine Tai, Biden’s appointee, had a great deal in common. Consonance is also evident on labor, where Trump has empowered pro-union Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and on anti-trust, where he has tapped anti-monopolist Gail Slater. Jamieson Greer, Trump’s next pick as US Trade Representative, will continue to advance post-neoliberal trade policy.
These developments aren’t a sign that America has given up on freedom. On the contrary. A majority of Americans cast their votes not because they wanted less agency but because they wanted more. They wanted a say in whether their jobs would be shipped overseas, in whether private corporations could acquire an effective monopoly and then debank or censor them. They wanted to have a say in our economy, just as they want a say in what their children are taught. This impulse is a sign of America’s continuing love of freedom, and of the health of our democracy.
Matthew Schmitz is founder and editor of Compact.
-->