Free markets and free trade are buzzwords frequently invoked by politicians as the very definition of the liberty that defines American civic life. They are certainly values that are integrated into our nation, but to understand them in a vacuum, to take them to an extreme, or to believe that they can survive absent some other shared moral principles would be to fail to comprehend fully the nature of the liberty that defines America.

If one understands free markets to mean a complete laissez-faire, non-interventional policy on the economy or free trade to mean that American sovereignty shall be yielded up to global authorities, then this is precisely where the error would creep in. In a very basic sense, there are benefits to taking the position that allows for maximum individual autonomy in both these areas.

Complete individual autonomy in free markets and free trade would permit any legal economic exchange to occur between two consenting parties in any place in the world. This is the view of libertarian, Austrian school economists. When understood with economic tools such as comparative advantage, these policies maximize overall economic benefits in a raw sense.

Simultaneously, these policies can be corrosive to the bonds of brotherhood that exist between citizens of a common nation. In the case of free markets, we lose the sense of common ideals and ethics that ought to be shared by members of the same community. In the case of free trade, we lose the sense of loyalty that one man should have for his fellow citizen, and we lose national self-sufficiency.

The reason for this is that while there is an overall increase in economic benefits, this policy does not take into account the distribution of talents within the community. While a company owner may be able to minimize production costs and possibly reduce the cost of goods and services, it can lead to a distribution of labor that does not allow for a citizen with certain talents to find gainful work.

The suggested solution in this scenario is that the government can redistribute the extra profits the company makes and provide it in the form of a transfer program to the party that is now unemployed. However, the receipt of transfer payments is harmful to both the community as a whole and the individual receiving the benefits. What most people want is simply to earn a living for themselves.

In free trade, a policy interpreted to this extreme can permit people who live in a country to escape any greater loyalty to the nation as a whole. There ought to be some common bond of brotherhood among citizens so that even larger companies recognize that they are Americans first and foremost.

The solution to these dilemmas is not massive government intervention in the economy. Instead, trading agreements should first be negotiated on a national level between two countries such that both countries meet a need that benefits their citizens.

Second, there should be minimal government intervention in markets, but just enough to ensure lots of competition. The government should favor smaller businesses and work in the most organic way possible to induce companies to naturally prefer to be smaller. This ensures greater competition.

The third requirement, however, is the most important. We, as a whole people, must rededicate ourselves to loving and serving each other. When our neighbor is in distress, he should never need to rely on government; he can rely on members of his community to come to his aid of their own free will. This requires a complete change of heart from where our society is today.

It can be said that this is not human nature, and this is true, as human nature does not voluntarily do right of its own accord. But that idea fails to see that if we restore God to our common discourse, then it becomes very possible.

Our society will eventually need some force that binds us together as a people, and it will either be a tyrant or an intrusive government. However, when a people have a strong trust in God, then God Himself provides the binding force. Tyrants can find no refuge and government can be limited.

When the Puritans arrived in America they were not yet known as Americans, since the idea did not yet exist. John Winthrop, the leader of this wise and pious group of early Americans, and our first founding father, taught us:

“We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality.

“We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as His own people.”

Eric Magazu is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].