Arthur C. Brooks on the Battle Between Free Enterprise and Big Government

America faces a new culture war; a war between free enterprise and big government.

American Enterprise Institute President Arthur C. Brooks argues in his new book, The Battle: How the Fight between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future, that "most Americans don't see free enterprise as just an economic matter, they see it as kind of a lifestyle issue, they see it as the bedrock of American culture and that's about 70 percent of the population."

Brooks sat down with Reason.tv Editor in Chief Nick Gillespie to discuss the best way for free enterprise proponents to "stop losing arguments," as well as Brooks' career as a professional French horn player, and his love for Bach and Anton Bruckner.

Approximately 5 minutes. Shot by Meredith Bragg, Josh Swain and Dan Hayes. Edited by Swain.

This version is an abridged. For the full length, wide ranging interview please visit Reason.tv. (Approximately 40 minutes.)

Go to Reason.tv for downloadable iPod, HD, and audio versions of this and all our videos, and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

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  News & Politics

[TmanWdaPlan]

No American Libertarian would disagree. Thats why we are up in arms.

[coffeebuzzz]

America makes me laugh when it talks about being free. Statistically speaking, the US has more people in prison than any other country and the market is far from free considering all the subsidies the US gives a chosen few.

[Daniel Gilfillan]

Goofy correlations... part of freedom is the freedom to make bad decisions, at any rate I don't see how the prison population relates to ECONOMIC freedom. I wonder if you understand that it's the Right who is opposed to corporate welfare, if you're against that sort of favoritism you certainly should be opposed to Obamas policy of subsidies for "green" tech companies he feels deserve it based on environmentalist fanaticism.

[flyoverjoe]

I agree with Mr. Brooks. The importance of expressing the moral argument for free markets can't be overstated.

[James Stark]

he is coming to my school for a debate thingy

[Elasaltaculos]

And who (besides government) keeps you from owning capital wealth? Almost everyone own capital even if they do not realize it. If someone owns stock of a company in some form or another, they are partial owners of capital. Now that government comes in and regulates, taxes, and restrains business, they are the biggest obstacle for "common" people to partake in ownership of capital.

[Elasaltaculos]

"Others" meaning the people willing to employ me. That however, does not mean that they can put restraint to how much I can earn. If I am good enough, I may get a raise or enter the market as a competitor. They choose the products that we consume? really? So if I was a big, bad owner of capital wealth, and produced shit cars that people do not want, I would force them to buy them? Riiiiiight, didn't think so. Consumers make choices about which products best suits their needs.

[bullpcp]

Couldn't have said it better myself :) Decentralization is the way to go. It has the best chance of most closely meeting it's constituents preference set.

[zthustra]

I give up a third time. You are right. I am an immature child. All of my ideas about economic come out of thin air. Uncle, uncle uncle!

NOTE: On the odd chance that you really do care about what I think and why, I have 164 videos posted on my channel (many on economic subjects) and some excellent playlists (I highly recommend Free Market Fantasies by Noam Chomsky, a much brighter fellow than me).

[Jerome Schmidt]

Again, rather than replying with anything constructive, you refuse to provide evidence or reason to back your opinions, and then just dish out these immature spats. It seriously has the same feeling as arguing with a kid.

Why don't you have interest in digging up evidence? Is it because you have no evidence to dig up? I'm not interested in winning, I just want to see where/how you develop your opinions, which at this point, seem to be coming out of thin air.

[zthustra]

I give up a second time. You are right about everything. There is no way in the world that I have said my piece and have no interest in digging up the evidence you demand. I am just a stupid person who believes studid things and has no reason to believe them.

Is that enough for you? Oops, I forgot to add:

I confess, I am also a troll.

There, now that you have won, do you feel better?

Like I said, enjoy YouTube.

[Jerome Schmidt]

Seriously, zthustra. So because I don't post videos or video replies, I'm a troll?  I've asked you several times to prove your point and you refuse.

You also use another classic escape tactic when arguing with people: calling them trolls. Nowhere in my posts have I said anything extremist or overly-provocative, I'm trying to construct an informative and reasonable dialog. You, on the other hand, are the one handing out insults. Are you the troll, then?