Party Favorites How is your candidate better equipped to handle Wall Street's financial crisis? Don't mess it up any more

Author: Stefan Claypool

There is a misconception that Washington can "fix" our financial crisis. It can't.

However, it can exacerbate the problem, which is why it's important that we consider the security of our financial system when we cast our ballots this November.

In the last year we've seen a disturbing number of government bailouts. Washington has forgotten that in a capitalist economy, businesses are free to succeed or fail on their own merits. It's irrational to punish people for success and reward them for failure, but that's what the, err, distinguished competition wants in the form of higher taxes on thriving businesses and government aid for dying ones. The result is economic uncertainty and a heavy burden for taxpayers.

To solve this problem we must restore market stability and then allow the creative destruction of capitalism to function. Times of uncertainty often beget calls for radical change, but what is needed is steady leadership and the discipline to know the limits of government action. John McCain understands that the solution lies not in sweeping reforms that kneecap businesses, but in small changes that promote stability and responsibility. He'll stop putting failed businesses on the government dole and remove from taxpayers the yoke of supporting institutions incapable of supporting themselves. He'll return the Federal Reserve to what he calls "its core business of responsibly managing our money supply and inflation." He knows that this isn't a problem we can tax and spend our way out of, no matter how much we hope we can.

This isn't a challenge that can be overcome by legislation alone. But by encouraging small, effective reforms instead of grandiose but ineffective change, John McCain will put us on the road to solving our financial crisis in the only way possible - through the market mechanisms upon which America was built.