JD Vance’s Economic Populism Takes a Hard Left Turn

Vice President JD Vance appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast this week to warn that America could eventually elect a socialist president. His proposed solution, however, sounded suspiciously like socialism with a Christian-populist coat of paint.

Vance rejected what he called “hardcore free market” economics and argued for a “third way” between capitalism and socialism. He complained about wealth inequality, questioned whether markets properly determine wages, and called for the government to help rebuild organized labor.

Vance openly described himself as “pro-labor” and said private-sector unions should be given more power and flexibility. He embraced a European-style system in which unions could negotiate broader workplace arrangements on behalf of employees. He also argued that workers need a formal “seat at the bargaining table” because corporations cannot be trusted to balance profits against the interests of their employees.

These are not conservative economic principles. They are arguments the American left has made for generations.

Vance is right about several underlying problems. Washington encouraged companies to ship American manufacturing overseas. Illegal immigration has expanded the pool of cheap labor and weakened the bargaining position of American workers. Corporate welfare, regulatory capture, and monopolistic behavior have also distorted the free market.

But the answer to government-created problems is not to give government-backed unions more influence over the economy.

There is plenty wrong with politicians granting favored organizations special powers to speak for workers who may not want them. Conservatives should remember that unions often become political machines that collect mandatory dues, protect poor performers, and pour money into left-wing candidates and causes.

Vance appears to believe stronger unions will save capitalism from communism. History suggests empowering leftist institutions is a strange way to prevent the left from gaining power.

Republicans should fight for American workers by enforcing immigration laws, ending corporate welfare, lowering barriers to entrepreneurship, and luring manufacturing home. They should make capitalism work again, not concede that its critics were right all along.

Vance may call his approach Christian economics, economic nationalism, or a new conservative consensus. Strip away the branding, though, and much of what he described on Rogan sounded like an old left-wing agenda being repackaged for a Republican audience.