Ultraliberal

[Martin Hash]

In my newspaper endorsement I was termed an “ultraliberal.” I kind of like being an ultraliberal – I’ve never been an “ultra” anything before, however, they probably meant I was a "neoliberal," as classically described here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism Bringing the concept up-to-date, we neoliberals believe business is in the business of doing business – nothing else. Business is about employment not unemployment, they’re not your retirement provider, nor your health insurer, and they certainly aren’t your nanny. Because of America’s fervent rejection of socialism throughout our history, the things that should probably have been socialist (meaning group rights supersede individual rights) have instead been consigned to business as a way to pacify voters and politicians. My neoliberalism comes from the fact that I think that since government, by definition, is a socialist institution, it should probably be responsible for socialist functions: unemployment, health care, social security, environment, etc. Take the burdens of society’s responsibilities off the backs of business and put them where they belong – on government.

Concerning the flip side of this argument: Government should not be doing the things best left to business. For example, the State of Washington has no business being in the business of selling alcohol – that is something business should be doing.