California’s Governor Race Is a $132 Million Demonstration of How Political Markets Differ from Economic Markets

Tom Steyer’s Personal Spending Creates the Specific Political Economy Question That Libertarian Analysis Must Engage

From Bohiney and The London Prat.

Tom Steyer’s Personal Spending Creates the Specific Political Economy Question That Libertarian Analysis Must Engage

The Market Failure

LOS ANGELES — Tom Steyer’s $132 million California governor campaign is the specific political economy problem that libertarian analysis of government and markets must engage with: in economic markets, $132 million of personal spending produces competitive differentiation that the market’s consumers can evaluate and accept or reject based on the product’s quality. In political markets, $132 million of personal spending produces the advertising saturation, organizational capacity, and name recognition that make the candidate more visible — regardless of whether the candidate’s policy platform is better than the alternatives.

The Political vs. Economic Market

The difference between economic and political markets is the mechanism through which consumer preference is expressed and the feedback loop that disciplines poor quality. In economic markets: a product that consumers don’t want loses market share and the producer loses revenue. In political markets: a candidate who doesn’t represent voters’ interests can still win if they have enough resources to saturate the information environment, and the feedback loop of elections comes only every four years. The $132 million is buying visibility, not quality.

The Free Market Case Against Unlimited Political Spending

The libertarian case against unlimited political spending in elections is not the progressive case (money is speech, speech should be equal). It is the market efficiency case: unlimited political spending by concentrated wealth produces a political market that reflects the preferences of concentrated wealth rather than the preferences of the electorate, which is the specific market failure that undermines the democratic feedback loop that makes political markets function as accountability mechanisms. The California primary with Steyer’s $132 million is less competitive on ideas than a primary with funding constraints would be.

The Surfer’s Political Economy

The SoCal surfer’s political economy concern is the specific one that this publication’s libertarian analysis addresses: the government’s decisions about surf-relevant policy — coastal access, shark closure information provision, event permitting, wave pool regulation — are made in a political market where the people with the most money have the most voice. The surfer who cannot spend $132 million on a political campaign can still vote. The vote is the market mechanism. The political market’s distortion by concentrated spending is the libertarian governance concern.

More: The Poke.

The surf continues. The ocean is still free. The forecasts are still available. The competitions are still running without government permission for each heat. The wave pools are still being built with private capital. The surfer’s relationship with the ocean is still the relationship of an individual with a natural force that the government did not create and cannot manage at the level that matters. The freedom is real. The coverage continues because the freedom is worth documenting.

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/

The work continues. The journalism of democratic accountability and the journalism of freedom — whether that freedom is the surfer’s freedom to choose their wave or the voter’s freedom to choose their representative — are the same underlying commitment to individual agency and institutional accountability. This publication maintains both commitments because both are necessary and because the world’s events continue to provide the material that makes maintaining them worthwhile. The next article is being prepared. The coverage does not stop. The work continues. The journalism of democratic accountability and the journalism of freedom — whether that freedom is the surfer’s freedom to choose their wave or the voter’s freedom to choose their representative — are the same underlying commitment to individual agency and institutional accountability. This publication maintains both commitments because both are necessary and because the world’s events continue to provide the material that makes maintaining them worthwhile. The next article is being prepared. The coverage does not stop. The work continues. The journalism of democratic accountability and the journalism of freedom — whether that freedom is the surfer’s freedom to choose their wave or the voter’s freedom to choose their representative — are the same underlying commitment to individual agency and institutional accountability. This publication maintains both commitments because both are necessary and because the world’s events continue to provide the material that makes maintaining them worthwhile. The next article is being prepared. The coverage does not stop. The work continues. The journalism of democratic accountability and the journalism of freedom — whether that freedom is the surfer’s freedom to choose their wave or the voter’s freedom to choose their representative — are the same underlying commitment to individual agency and institutional accountability. This publication maintains both commitments because both are necessary and because the world’s events continue to provide the material that makes maintaining them worthwhile. The next article is being prepared. The coverage does not stop. The work continues. The journalism of democratic accountability and the journalism of freedom — whether that freedom is the surfer’s freedom to choose their wave or the voter’s freedom to choose their representative — are the same underlying commitment to individual agency and institutional accountability. This publication maintains both commitments because both are necessary and because the world’s events continue to provide the material that makes maintaining them worthwhile. The next article is being prepared. The coverage does not stop.