Whether we like it or not, the Progressive Era and its mainstream historical interpretation—even when fictional—has virtually defined our last century. The dominant, though false, narrative is basically that unfettered free market capitalism led to negative outcomes, “robber barons” monopolized the market to their benefit, and that disinterested federal regulation brought discipline to this system, keeping its benefits while curbing its excesses.

A leaked photo of text messages from US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent captures the absurdity and unintended consequences of the latest US international economic intervention.

One of the great ironies of anti-capitalist resentment is that the envy and contempt fueling opposition to the market does not arise from rigid hierarchies produced by liberty and voluntary exchange, but from a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between liberty and statism.