The Battle Blog
Arthur on Free Enterprise: It Has Nothing to Do with Money or Wealth
Americans claim to want small, limited government. Yet they continually support policies that do harm to the system they love. In this article for Free Enterprise, Arthur asserts that the reason Americans fail to support limited government policy is that it’s advocates are making the wrong arguments.
“It might seem that the best case for free enterprise is the material one. Free enterprise lets people make more money, buy more and nicer stuff, and have a greater degree of comfort. The freer our economy is, the more competitive the US economy is vis-à-vis the rest of the world. And so on. But these aren’t our best arguments. There is another reason, a transcendent reason, for which free enterprise matters most—and this is the case we all must be able to make today.
“We have to make the case for free enterprise and economic growth from a moral perspective, using language about opportunity and happiness and living a meaningful life.”
Arthur on Banter: Looking back at 2011 and forward to 2012
In late December, Arthur sat down with AEI’s Banter podcasters, Stu James and Andrew Rugg, to chat about the Institute’s many successes in 2011. He discusses AEI’s newest project, the Road to Freedom, and the book he is writing in support of the project. The Road to Freedom aims to heavily promote the Institute’s free enterprise work in the 2012 election season and beyond. The Road to Freedom (Basic Books) is scheduled for release May 1, 2012.
Arthur on PBS NewsHour: Happiness and Inequality
AEI President Arthur Brooks defends conservatives from the proposition that that their happiness stems from being untroubled by others’ struggles. Relying on data from his book Gross National Happiness (Basic Books, 2008), Brooks argues that conservatives try to promote a world of merit and opportunity, making income inequality a less concerning statistic.
Watch Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals? on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
In the WSJ: Fairness and the ‘Occupy’ movement
A can’t-miss in The Wall Street Journal: Arthur explains what opportunities the right can take from the Occupy Wall Street movement, including chances to expose misleading arguments about income inequality and to denounce crony capitalism.
“A major topic of debate in conservative circles these days is how to respond. There are two schools of thought. One advocates the firehoses-and-handcuffs approach. The other is to ignore the movement and hope it fades away,” Arthur writes.
“Neither is correct. Conservatives and free-enterprise advocates should seize the moment to show their own passion for the issues being debated—and, where appropriate, even embrace the protesters’ moral critique of America’s distorted and depressed system.”
About Arthur
An outline of The Battle
What Others Are Saying
“This is the playbook for the resurgence of the free enterprise movement.”
–Richard B. Cheney, former vice president of the United States“What makes The Battle so important is its unique combination of intellectual clarity and the best succinct analysis of the values of the American people I have ever read. . . . Arthur C. Brooks has written a book which will take its place with Charles Murray’s Losing Ground as one of the pivotal books around which American history turned.”
–Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives“The book is a perfect Father’s Day present and a great gift for any college grad or newly minted JD, MBA or MD who needs to understand the country’s situation today.”
–Hugh Hewitt“Perhaps Brooks’s greatest skill is articulating the moral case for the free market. He doesn’t just offer generic platitudes but understands deeper principles of human flourishing.”
–Ray Nothstine, associate editor at the Acton Institute
