… is from page 292 of Robert Higgs’s 1999 article “The Era of Big Government is Not Over,” as this article is reprinted in the indispensable 2004 collection of some of Higgs’s essays, Against Leviathan:
Of course, the academics still swim, as they have since the early twentieth century, mainly along the left bank, so one needs to examine more closely the ideological mainstream. In doing so, one quickly finds that the seemingly preponderant commitment to individual responsibility and free markets affirmed by ordinary people and many of their elected representatives resembles the proverbial Missouri River – it’s a mile wide and an inch deep.
DBx: The embrace of many American conservatives today of Trump’s trade and immigration restrictions proves Bob Higgs’s wisdom and prescience.