In 2008, the tea party was born in opposition to Washington’s bailout of Wall Street. Those bailouts were sold as one-time responses to an emergency, yet they became a blueprint for deeper federal entanglement in private markets. Now, less than two decades later and with no crisis underway, the Trump administration is not only bailing out companies — it’s buying them outright. From taking golden shares in steelmakers to demanding a cut of Nvidia’s sales to China to the latest decision to buy a 10% stake in Intel, the line between free enterprise and state control has never been more blurred. 

Washington has already funneled billions into semiconductor companies through the CHIPS and Science Act, effectively forcing every family to write an $800 check to chipmakers. But government handouts were just the beginning. By turning taxpayers into involuntary shareholders in Intel, the administration has crossed from distorting the market to directly commandeering it. If you wouldn’t buy Intel stock with your own savings, why should Washington force you to do it with your tax dollars?

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National security is not served by picking a single corporate champion out of the 20 American companies that produce nearly half the world’s chips. On the contrary, it sets a precedent that any president could invoke “national security” to justify the government takeover of virtually any company in any industry.

A government stake in Intel would also warp competition and innovation. Washington now has every incentive to tilt the playing field — whether through favorable regulations, subsidies, or contracts — against other competitors that lack Uncle Sam as a silent partner. The strength of the American economy has always come from open competition. That vitality is lost once the government starts picking winners and losers.

Such an arrangement will also politicize decision-making inside Intel. Executives who know the government is a shareholder will inevitably weigh political pressures alongside economic ones. Will Intel focus on investments that maximize innovation and profit, or on projects that curry favor in Washington?

The constitutional and legal problems are just as serious. The Constitution permits eminent domain in cases of true public use, such as building a road or military base. But government ownership of a private company is not a public use. Nor does the CHIPS Act authorize the executive branch to convert taxpayer subsidies into stock purchases. That is policymaking by executive fiat, stretching presidential power far beyond its proper limits.

History teaches that state ownership of industry produces stagnation, not prosperity. The Soviet Union collapsed under full state control. But even partial state ownership — whether in Britain of the 1970s, Japan of the 1990s, or present-day China — has consistently stifled growth and innovation. America should not repeat its mistakes.

Beijing already offers the world a model of state-owned enterprises and political control. America must offer a different vision. We will never beat China by becoming China. We win by preserving the principles that made America the most prosperous nation in history: keeping taxes and regulations low, rewarding risk-taking, and unleashing the ingenuity of our people. 

TRUMP, ACTIVIST INVESTOR IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Conservatives believe government should create the conditions for growth, not become a shareholder in private enterprise. Taxpayers should not be compelled to buy stock in Intel or any other company. If Intel is a sound investment, private capital will flow. If it’s not, Washington has no business propping it up.

The Trump administration’s deal may be well-intentioned, but it is a profound mistake. Conservatives should oppose it just as fiercely as the tea party opposed the bailouts of 2008. America doesn’t need Washington as a shareholder — it needs Washington to get out of the way so that free enterprise can thrive.

Marc Short is chairman of the Board of Advancing American Freedom.