"Politically Impossible?" William Hutt and Milton Friedman

Classical Liberal Economist William Hutt researched the economic theory behind collective bargaining and labor unions, and discovered that despite their solidarity and moral persuasion, the theory behind strike-threats for better wages never panned out.

Unions artificially force wages up, and prices go up as well. The market forces already in place do a better job of promoting opportunities than labor coercion ever can.

Another one of his works: "Politically Impossible?" looked at the political fiction (and ploy)

When Hutt was not exposing the ultimately exploitation of the worker by the unions, he dissected the political concerns regarding the impediment to economic solutions from pandering elected officials.

Milton Friedman has a great quote to expose why voters, activists, and political leader reticence:

“Only a crisis - actual or perceived - produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.”

 

Conservatives should draw hope from this observation.