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The commerce clause expands the role of government to encompass the regulation of all things that affect interstate and international commerce. This assertion is hazardous to the ideas of liberty, freedom, the general welfare of our country and the global economy as a whole.
Political activism is a major part of student life and education at Loyola. Hundreds of our peers and professors pride themselves on their up to date opinions regarding many of the world's diverse socio-political issues, issues that directly affect the stability of our economy.
A friend of mine began a discussion regarding free trade, claiming that free trade does not and cannot work. I responded by asking what led her to this conclusion and she responded that she simply looked around her. In all serious politeness I had to remind her that she knew nothing of what free trade was. All political policies affect the economy. Every decision involves opportunity cost. There is no such thing as a free lunch. All of these policies are to the benefit of some while at the expense of others.
Any political activist that fails to recognize and understand economic forces is jumping in the deep end of the pool but doesn't know how to swim. Before you claim assertions about the hazardous aspects of capitalism and free market economies take the time to read, learn and educate yourself about the effects of free market forces. Labor markets, supply, demand, fractional reserve banking, business cycles, interest rate parity, and inflation rates, if you don't understand the meanings of these words then in all due respect, you have no business claiming to know anything about politics or social problems.
An example of this uneducated policy making is minimum wage legislation. At first glance, low-income voters think minimum wages are great and they are eager to vote for them. Ask any economist about supply and demand forces in labor markets and they will tell you that placing a price minimum on labor results is unemployment. Everyday voters and political activists don't realize this because they don't take the time to recognize the real economic effects of political policies.
Last semester my political science class, taught by a staunch democrat, touched on the topic of affirmative action. The majority of college professors, especially Loyola's are left-wing advocates. When a student mentioned the question of whether universities should also try to diversify their faculty by ideological standpoint, the professor dismissed this concern, claiming that there are plenty of right-wingers over in the business building, particularly in the economics department. Is this an admission that the people who are educated and knowledgeable about the forces of economics often tend to be right wing?
At a liberal arts university that claims to educate the whole person, I am saddened that all graduates must complete credits in art, but not all students have to take business or economics. Everyone will eventually have a job, exchanging their labor for goods and services that they are incapable of producing themselves, but not everyone will need to know the color wheel.
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