This House believes that government does more for liberty than the market does

It has long been an allegation, made by Republicans, that Democrats are in love with big government and that this poses a threat to individual liberty. They claim that free markets are the only true defender of individual freedoms and that democracy and laissez faire economics are, effectively, two sides of the same coin. The argument essentially says that low taxation and light regulation mean freedom, liberty and democracy. The linkage between “free markets and free peoples” was a fundamental tenant of Reagan Conservatism (as it was for Thatcher on the other side of the Atlantic) and it has been a dominant theme for the party ever since.

The logical conclusion of this belief is borne out in the rhetoric of the party – if not always in their actions.

Democrats, on the other hand, are far more relaxed about the role of government. Their ties to organized labour specifically but also to other traditions on the left tend to mean that they see collective action as being a virtuous method to tackle social ills and see no great difficulty with the state being an actor in events. However, for them the market is a threat to liberty, denying individual choices in strip malls and individual rights in sweatshops. They argue that, far from being the friend and champion of liberty the market needs the oversight of an elected government, which can act as an advocate for individuals’ rights in a world dominated by huge corporate institutions.

A large part of this divide may well lie in the simple, knee-jerk tendency of democrats and Republicans to lay any evil, perceived or real, at the door of big business or big government respectively.

Republicans promote themselves as champions of individual rights against an over-mighty state, while Democrats see a greater role for collective action in securing justice and liberty for ordinary citizens. Clearly neither of these stereotypes is universally true for either party. However, within the mind-set of each party their respective views of the role of government are powerful motivators.

It would no doubt come as a surprise to many on both sides of the aisle to know that the two presidents who oversaw the most rapid growth in government expenditure in recent times were George Bush Jnr and Ronald Reagan. However, that is not the focus of this debate.