Social programs' effectiveness is largely pathetic at times, but the free market offers a extremely small even astronomical chance of help or hope when you are born into poverty and the only scholarship programs are empty PR stunts. The free market is also fragile, as in the case of the Great Depression. You want to know what happened to the demonized USSR back in the GD.... nothing. Beacause their entire economy was tortorously remade into being completely self-reliant. This is bad because now the idea of economic self-reliance can easily be made out to be Communist propaganda. The free market of today is reliant on goods made by Southeast Asian sweatshop slaves. Poisoned tooth-paste and faulty tires are just their way of saying thanks to the American corporations that keep them there against their will. That is apparently okay to you, because you dont care who is getting screwed by the elitist rich as long as they arent christian, white, and live a state over from you. There is a massive poor class created by the free market corporate machine, you just dont care about them, and i doubt that any free-market, corporate puppet, conservative cares either. I dont care about social programs, i just want the everyday products i use didnt make their way here from the bleeding hands of a starving child. Maybe considering letting the government ban these practices and institute programs that encourage and help self-reliant business practices might bring american production of goods out of the 70s and up to speed with Japan and China. I like a free market, free from slave labor and outsourcing, and the government is the only force that can accomplish this.