The real culture war: American Enterprise Institute President Arthur Brooks talks about the 70 percent of Americans who support free enterprise and why they're underrepresented in Washington.

• Author: Gillespie, Nick
• Position: Interview

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THE UNITED STATES faces a new culture war, argues American Enterprise Institute President Arthur C. Brooks, one that pits big government against free enterprise rather than red states against blue. In his new book, The Battle (Basic Books), Brooks says about 70 percent of Americans "don't see free enterprise as just an economic matter." Rather, "they see it as kind of a lifestyle issue," as "the bedrock of American culture." The other 30 percent, he contends, is made up of a "socialist, redistributionist" minority that has outsized influence due to its hold over media, universities, and other key institutions.

AEI, one of the most influential think tanks in Washington, is a conservative outfit founded in the 1940s and known especially for its influence on George W. Bush's foreign policy. Brooks joined it as president in 2009. Prior to that, the 46-year-old taught business and government policy at Syracuse University. His other books include Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism (2006) and Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America--And How We Can Get More of It (2008).

Brooks' route into academia and think-tank leadership was anything but direct. He started as a professional musician, barnstorming around the country with a chamber ensemble and eventually landing a gig playing French horn for the Barcelona city orchestra. After earning a B.A. from the pioneering distance-learning institution Thomas Edison College and a master's degree from Florida Atlantic University, he received his Ph.D. from the RAND Corporation, where he began his analysis of the intersection of culture, economics, and politics. A Seattle native, Brooks still swears by Bach and Anton Bruckner even as he wades deeper into D.C.'s political and ideological battles.

Last summer Brooks sat down with reason.tv Editor Nick Gillespie to discuss the best way for fans of free enterprise to "stop losing arguments" and start expanding freedom. This is an edited transcript of an hour-long conversation that can be viewed in full at reason.tv.

reason: What is the 70/30 nation?

Arthur Brooks: It's the split between the people who like the free enterprise system culturally and the people who reject the free enterprise system culturally. Most Americans don't see free enterprise as just an economic matter. They see it as a lifestyle issue, as the bedrock of American culture. You go out there and ask people, "Do you believe that free markets are the best way to organize our economy, despite severe ups and downs?" Seven in 10 say yes. About 20 percent say no, and 10 percent evidently don't understand the question.

reason: So who are the leaders of the 30 percenters in the U.S.?

Brooks: They're people in the idea business, basically. They're people who are above average in income, above average in education, in industries like law, journalism, entertainment, public policy. They're writers, they're artists, they're opinion leaders. Who are, generally speaking, doing pretty well economically.

reason: The Obama administration is one of the villains of your book. Is Obama actually against the free enterprise system? He's called himself a redistributionist, at least in the famous clip with Joe the Plumber, but is he actually for getting rid of private property?

Brooks: No. Is he a full-blown, card-carrying socialist? Of course not. It's nonsense for us to be too hyperbolic about this stuff.

But let's keep in mind the way social democracy works. Virtually everybody in the United States who's a free marketeer believes that markets fail occasionally and we actually need rule of law and a pretty smart government such that the free enterprise system can flourish. It's even legitimate--according to F.A. Hayek, if you look back at The Road to Serfdom--to provide a basic standard of living for folks.

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The problem is when we get into two other objectives. One is to say it's not fair for some people to earn so much more than others. To level for the sake of leveling. And number two is to take risk out of people's lives. Those are the two impulses of social democrats.

When you look at the whole idea of increasing marginal tax rates on families earning $250,000 and above, which is a pretty small percentage of Americans, people in the Obama...