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This may be a bigger political gamble than conservatives appreciate. Survey research strongly suggests that Americans still support open markets. In July 2019, the Pew Research Center found a solid 65 percent of Americans saying that free-trade agreements have been a good thing for the United States, up from 45 percent just before the 2016 election. So during President Trumps protectionist first term, support for international commerce has robustly increased.

Last September, Gallup found that 87 percent of Americans have a positive view of free enterprise and 70 percent think business can do things more efficiently than government can. These results hold regardless of party affiliation, but theyre stronger on the political right. Only 7 percent of Republicans said there was too little government regulation of business and industry, for example, compared with 46 percent of Democrats.

Could it be that the 2016 upset was attributable to something other than a wholesale rejection of limited-government principles among the Republican base?

To be clear, I am not predicting that the libertarian moment has finally arrived. One 2017 study suggested that people who want the government to stay out of your bedroom as well as your pocketbook (as the saying goes) make up an almost vanishingly small share of the voting population. But within the Republican coalition, there is a genuine constituency for economic freedom.

Proponents of big-government conservatism point to a crisis of stagnant wages, a labor-force exodus, too many unstable families and crumbling communities caused, they believe, by the unwillingness of American elites to protect working-class jobs from foreign competition. The dream of a family supported by a single breadwinner is increasingly out of reach, they say, especially for men without college degrees.

Yet some scholars have questioned the data underpinning this narrative. Michael Strain of the American Enterprise Institute, for example, notes that the wages of nonsupervisory workers have increased by 33 percent, accounting for inflation, since 1990; when taxes and transfers as well as inflation are considered, incomes in the lowest quintile of households rose by 66 percent over the same period.

To the extent that the cost of living can seem to be spiraling out of control, the phenomenon is overwhelmingly driven by health care, higher education and housing three sectors that have long been heavily regulated and wildly subsidized. And thanks to global capitalism, even the least among us today have access to an ever-improving array of food, medicine, technology, entertainment and more.

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Republicans Are Ripping Out the Very Heart and Soul of Their Party - The New York Times

Today from the Down in Alabama podcast:

A lot of us really enjoy a drive-in movie.

As a matter of fact, a lawn chair in the back of my truck is my second-favorite place to watch a movie -- after the recliner in my living room.

But the vibe that the Sidewalk Film Festival has thrived on for 21 years in Downtown Birmingham will be hard to replicate at a drive-in theater.

The setting might be less On the Town and more American Graffiti, but theyre still serving up about 150 movies.

On todays show we also talk about a state senator whos recovering from COVID-19 and a veterans home that is dealing with an outbreak.

Plus, after a few years of doing Down in Alabama and being able to pick on Democrats and Republicans, we get a crack at Libertarians.

Between COVID guidelines, noise ordinances, left/right polarization and the continuing war on drugs, 2020 hasnt been an easy year for Libertarian Americans.

The podcast is short and free. Listen to it by clicking on the player above or subscribe by looking for Down in Alabama on the device of your choosing. Get this and other AL.com newsletters here.

Click here for the Spotify podcast page

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COVID, Libertarians, and drive-in movies - AL.com

The Washington Post reports that many conservatives are ditching their free market orthodoxy due in large part to Chinese industrial subsidies that allegedly threaten critical parts of the American industrial base:

Since the Reagan years, Republicans have taken the opposite view that government should stay small and out of the way and not engage in what has been derisively referred to as picking winners and losers. But Chinas rise is forcing them to rethink that.

Chinas central and regional governments are investing heavily in hightech fields such as aircraft and electriccar manufacturing, semiconductors and robotics, by some estimates providing hundreds of billions of dollars to domestic companies through subsidies and other support.

As evidence of this shift, the Post cites to recent federal legislation, passed overwhelmingly by both chambers of Congress and praised by Republican industrial policy advocates, that provides billions of dollars in new subsidies to U.S. semiconductor manufacturers. As Inoted afew weeks ago in alengthy and skeptical blog post on the bill, the primary basis for these subsidies according to its sponsors and other supporters (and confirmed by the Post) was the aforementioned China threat, in this case the billions of dollars that the Chinese government is spending to develop agloballycompetitive semiconductor sector. To its credit, the Post briefly notes my skepticism before quoting many others at length who are supportive of the semiconductor plan and broader U.S. industrial policy efforts (one of whom rejects naive libertarian views about government involvement in the economy).

However, the Post unfortunately omits much of my argumentagainst the new U.S. subsidies, most notably the numerous reports (including alengthy U.S. International Trade Commission analysis in 2019) that Chinas semiconductor sector, despite all of those subsidies, was hardly athreat to the thriving and in many respects globally dominant American semiconductor industry. Today from the South China Morning Post comes further evidence of that fact:

At an idle construction site in western Wuhan, Chinas steep climb to semiconductor independence is clear for all to see.

The partiallybuilt factory, owned by Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (HSMC), was meant to be akey part of aUS$20 billion investment that turned the province into achip manufacturing hub.

But two years after it was started, construction has ground to ahalt, with little evidence of progress beyond afew cranes, workers dormitories and steel frames jutting into the air.

The project, which the local Dongxihu district government said in July had stalled due to underfunding, is the latest example of aChinese chip factory hitting the rocks because of poor planning or funding shortfalls.

Earlier this year, aUS$100 million manufacturing plant set up by US chip giant GlobalFoundries and the Chengdu city government ceased operations after remaining idle for almost two years. In the countrys east, aUS$3 billion governmentbacked chip plant owned by Tacoma Nanjing Semiconductor Technology went bankrupt in July after failing to attract investors.

Be sure to read the whole thing, which details the HSMC projects many (sometimes humorous) problems and again indicatesthat Chinas grand semiconductor plans and massive subsidies are not nearly as threatening as U.S. politicians and industry lobbyists make them out to be.

The semiconductor episode also permits two broader lessons. First, it shows that the mere presence of foreign government subsidies is rarely, if ever, agood reason for American ones especially when theyre going to aprofitable U.S. industry with billions in domestic capital expenditures (and billions more cash on hand). Second, it provides another good example of why some libertarians remain skeptical of U.S. industrial policy plans. All too often even (or especially) in the case of national security and China (or Japan before it) ideas that sound good and necessary on paper are revealed upon closer inspection to be corporatist giveaways that counter imaginary threats and end up doing more harm than good. Maybe the U.S. government can overcome these obstacles in the future, but both the semiconductor subsidies and numerous other examples indicate that its not the skeptical libertarians who are being naive here.

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Conservative Industrial Policy and the "China Threat" - Cato Institute

A new studyfrom a libertarian think tankshows Ohio could get $2.9 billion dollars right now if it did something that former Gov. John Kasich wanted to do lease the Ohio Turnpike.In the end, the state issued bonds to repair and improve the turnpike and all of Ohios roads. But this study says leveraging the road now could provide the state with an infusion of cash when the state is trying to dig out of the economic problems associated with the pandemic.

The Reason Foundations studysays leasing the turnpike could yield almost $3 billion dollars.Author Robert Poole says other states are finding global companies and pension funds want to invest in them. He says that money couldhelpwhen the state cannot afford newinfrastructureand it couldensure stability for the turnpike itself.

That holds them to performance standards and has penalties if the pavement gets rough and they dont improve things properly. Typically, it has an annual limit on the toll rate increases.

The first company that leasedIndianasturnpike went bankrupt.But when it was leased again,thenew company paid far more, making everyone whole. Critics saythere could be problems ifcontrol of a valuable Ohio roadis givento an outside entity.

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New Study Raises Old Idea To Lease The Ohio Turnpike - WVXU

The district, which includes a stretch of Western Michigan ranging from the Grand Rapids area down to Battle Creek, has traditionally leaned Republican, but will be more competitive this year.

RepublicanPeter Meijerand DemocratHillary Scholtenare facing off in November in Michigan's third congressional district, which is currently held by retiringRep. Justin Amash.

Amash was first elected as a libertarian-style Republican in 2011, but became disillusioned with the GOP under President Donald Trump and left the party to become an independent in July 2019 and then affiliated himself with the Libertarian Party in 2020. Amash briefly flirted with running for president

Meijer, whose family owns the Meijer supermarket chain, is a US Army veteran, worked overseas at non-governmental, and now an urban developer. He defeated State Rep. Lynn Afendoulisfor the GOP nomination on August 4.

Scholten is an immigration attorney and advocate who formerly worked in the Department of Justice under the Obama administration. Both nominees are first-time candidates.

The district, which includes a stretch of Western Michigan ranging from the Grand Rapids area down to Battle Creek, has traditionally leaned Republican.

Trump carried the seat by 10 points in the 2016 election, and 2018 Republican Senate candidate John James carried it by four points in 2018.

The seat now being open without an incumbent presents a new opportunity for Democrats, particularly if Biden carries the state by large margins and is able to lift up down-ballot candidates on his coattails.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Scholten has raised $1 million, about a third less than her opponent, Meijer, who has raised $1.5 million. Meijer, however, has spent $1.1 million so far on his campaign, leaving him with $406,000 on hand $165,000 less than Scholten who has $572,000 to spend.

In the general election, The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politicsrate this race as "leans Republican."

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Everything you need to know about Michigan's 3rd Congressional District Race - Business Insider - Business Insider