“Common good capitalism” is all the rage these days with national conservatives. But what exactly is it, you may ask? That’s a good question. As far as I can tell, it’s a lovely sounding name for imposing one’s preferred economic and social policies on Americans while pretending to be “improving” capitalism. If common good capitalism’s criticisms of the free market and prescriptions for its improvement were ice cream, it would be identical in all but its serving container to what much of the left has been dishing up for decades.

The wider adoption of the term Common Good Capitalism (CGC) can be traced back to a speech given by Sen. Marco Rubio (R–Fla.) at Catholic University in 2019. While there are different strains of common good capitalism, they all have in common the goal of producing a more balanced and stable economy that better serves the nation and its people.