E28: “The Grim Old Days”, capitalism and the free market, “the dumbest trade war in history.”
Tony Morley September 23rd, 2026
“The ideals of free enterprise and global leadership, central to American conservatism, are responsible for the greatest reduction in human misery since mankind began its long climb from the swamp to the stars. This remarkable progress has been America’s gift to the world.” — Arthur Brooks
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The Grim Old Days
Chelsea Follett's The Grim Old Days is available for pre-order this October 2026, and is well worth ordering. The book paints the astounding and often forgotten contrast between our pre-industrial past and the modern age.
“Trying to imagine the preindustrial past might conjure the image of an idyllic country village with pristine air and residents merrily dancing around maypoles. The healthy, peaceful, and prosperous people in this fantasy of pastoral bliss do not realize that their contented, leisurely lives will soon be disrupted by the story’s villain: the dark smokestacks of the Industrial Revolution, what the poet William Blake called “satanic mills.” Yet such rose-colored views of history bear no resemblance to reality.”
“The preindustrial world was far more gruesome than modern minds can fathom—marked by unthinkable poverty, drudgery, cruelty, and pain. From child abuse and famine-induced cannibalism to bloodletting and streets that doubled as open sewers, ordinary existence was fraught with horrors.”
The Grim Old Days: An Introduction to the Preindustrial Past
The Grim Old Days: An Introduction to the Preindustrial Past [Follett, Chelsea] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Grim Old Days: An Introduction to the Preindustrial Past
Chelsea Follett (Author) Format: Hardcover
Not All Cultures Are Equal
@tonymmorley for Quadrant
This op-ed was published by Quadrant on September 7th, 2026. A reproduced copy is contained herein. If you'd like to support our work, please consider giving the piece a bump on X/Twitter.
“Western culture is, at its core, an expression of boundless optimism about the human condition; an absolutely steadfast conviction that no person or people should be permanently resigned to, or deserving of, poverty, ignorance, or tyranny by virtue of their geography or ancestry.”
Not All Cultures Are Equal - Quadrant
The relativists’ favourite cliche, ‘Who are we to judge?’ is no expression of humility. It is cowardice dressed up as tolerance in the cause of multiculturalism
Tony Morley
“The relativist rebuke, “who are we to judge?” is not humility; it is cowardice, dressed up as tolerance and multiculturalism.”
Don’t blame free markets for populist failures
“We should remember what actually created two centuries of economic opportunity: individual freedom, competitive markets and the rule of law.”
Don’t blame free markets for populist failures
Norbert J. Michel argues that American economic struggles are driven by government spending and intervention rather than the failures of free-market capitalism advocated by modern populists.
Norbert J. Michel, opinion contributor
“On the right, national conservatives blame free trade and global competition; on the left, progressive populists scapegoat corporate greed, capitalist markets and deregulated financial systems.”
Humans are flourishing more than ever. Thank this engine of advancement.
“Between 1990 and 2015, over 1 billion people were lifted out of poverty. Another goal was to cut child mortality by two-thirds. The milestone hasn’t been reached yet, but progress has been stunning, with child mortality rates falling 60 percent since 1990.”
“To what do we owe this phenomenal progress? Capitalism. It’s the only system in which individuals have the freedom to own their land, homes and businesses — and to be paid for their talent, labor and innovation.”
Private Property: For Abundance and Diversity
“In more recent times, many—including many left-liberals—have downgraded property rights, and advocated that they be severely limited, often supposedly to protect the interests of the poor and disadvantaged. Yet the poor and disadvantaged have the most to gain from strengthening protection for property rights. Stronger protections would raise living standards for them, and for society as a whole.”
Private Property: For Abundance and Diversity
The right to hold and use property enriches and protects us all.
Ilya Somin
“As early liberals understood, property is essential to liberty. Almost every important human activity requires the use of property. This is most obviously true of those involving property in land, such as housing or most types of work. But the same is true of those requiring other types of material goods. We cannot feed and clothe ourselves without property rights in objects.”
One Dumb Tariff (Among Many)
“It’s time to bring the dumbest trade war to an end — on both sides of the border. Donald Trump’s auto tariffs, Canada’s agricultural tariffs, and every other nonsensical protectionist policy ought to be scrapped for the good of all.”
“President Trump’s trade war with Canada is, as the Wall Street Journal editorial board put it, “the dumbest trade war in history.”
Postliberalism Gets the ‘Common Good’ Wrong
“A pluralistic society needs a common institutional framework precisely because its members will disagree about ultimate ends. The rule of law, ordered liberty, private property, free association, and other constitutional restraints explicitly allow people to pursue many genuine “goods” without first requiring political agreement about the highest form of human flourishing.”
Postliberalism Gets the ‘Common Good’ Wrong
Individual liberty is an essential feature of the constitutional order, not a competing good. To claim otherwise, critics must reject or rewrite our Founding.
Logan Tantibanchachai
President Trump Stubbornly Clings to Archaic Mercantilist Economics
“Like a throwback to the 18th century, the president mistakes accumulating the means of exchange for building actual prosperity, as if we'd all be better off with overstuffed wallets than with the things our funds can purchase.”
President Trump stubbornly clings to archaic mercantilist economics
He who dies with the most hoarded cash does not, in fact, win.
J.D. Tuccille
“His position seems to be that we're better off hoarding cash than we would be using (or losing, from his perspective) our money to purchase things that we want.”
The Civilization of Commerce: Invisible Hands and the Pursuit of Happiness
“One of humanity's greatest achievements is the market economy. Since the late-eighteenth century, it has radically reduced poverty and created opportunities for millions who might otherwise have been condemned to lives of misery.”
The Civilization of Commerce - Encounter Books
One of humanity’s greatest achievements is the market economy. Since the late-eighteenth century, it has radically reduced poverty and created opportunities for millions who might otherwise have been condemned to lives of misery. Yet despite these accomplishments, markets have long been accused of causing profound injustices and creating a stultifying materialism that impoverishes the human […]
Samuel Gregg
Should We Accept Degrowth as a Serious Academic Concept?
“Evidence suggests that economic growth can be decoupled from environmental harm, while greater economic freedom can improve social and ecological outcomes. Degrowth is more of a rhetorical strategy than a serious academic concept.”
Should We Accept Degrowth as a Serious Academic Concept?
Degrowth is less a practical economic program than a rhetorical vehicle for redistribution.
Mark Koyama
It’s About Free Markets, Stupid
“Unlike “capitalism,” the term “free markets” emphasizes as its defining feature that people are free to make thousands of decentralized decisions for themselves”
It’s About Free Markets, Stupid – The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Ideas Have Consequences is the title of a conservative classic published in 1948. In that best-selling book, Richard M. Weaver foresees the decline of the West due to a loss of faith in its governing ideals. Something parallel is going on today in the current political debate about “socialism” versus…
E. Donald Elliott
“The real issue is whether we leave most economic decisions for people to make for themselves or turn everyone into a ward of a supposedly beneficent state that decides for all of us what kinds of cars we may drive and what we may buy at the government-run grocery store.”
The Value and Virtues of Capitalism
“Rather than incentivizing exploitative behavior, free market capitalism promotes precisely the opposite, which is to say it promotes improving the lives of consumers, employees, and other stakeholders in order to be the most attractive seller possible.”
The Value and Virtues of Capitalism
Socialism is on the rise, and capitalism is on its back foot. The implications span all parts of our society but certainly include corporate governance. As is o
Stefan Padfield
“Part of promoting free market capitalism includes defending the marketplace of ideas as capable of distinguishing truth from falsity and good ideas from bad ideas.”
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