The left once possessed a near-monopoly on the critique of economic freedom. The bourgeoisie exploited the proletariat, according to Karl Marx's classic condemnation, and the profit motive degraded property owners even as labor produced little for the laborer but physical misery and spiritual alienation. Few on today's left advance Marx's full-blown attack on capitalism. But from out-and-out socialists to pragmatic progressives, the contemporary left typically makes a political priority of harnessing state power to manage the economy and redistribute resources as dictated by progressive...
