Economic liberalism is not in vogue, to put it mildly. In the US, the energy in the Democratic Party lies with self-described democratic socialists who are critical of free markets. On the right, vice-president JD Vance argues that economic growth is overrated, economic science might be “fake,” and the bipartisan liberal consensus on economic policy has “failed” for the last four decades. Critics argue that liberalism has not delivered broad-based prosperity — an attack that can be convincingly defended against with statistics and quantitative analysis. But their critique goes further, asserting that liberalism is morally corrosive. This, too, is off base. For one, the free enterprise system pushes against the problematic tendency in American life to see people less as individuals and more as members of a group. The system is premised on the idea that society should accept the preferences, knowledge and decisions of individuals and families. This system argues that the welfare of society should be measured not by hazy perceptions of national greatness or by progress towards objectives set by elites, but instead by how well off individuals and families are — in their capacity as individuals and families. See my @FT column, below, for my full argument — including where I think anti-liberals are superficially right but deeply wrong.