Vice President JD Vance has a warning for Republicans amid socialism’s continued rise in the United States. That, if the party fails to offer an effective economic vision, one that directly addresses the issues on voters’ minds, it will have no one but itself to blame. 

He went on to praise the president’s policy goals of reshoring manufacturing, stabilizing home prices, reducing interest rates, and rebuilding the nation’s industrial base. At the same time, he fired a shot at free-markets, arguing that repeating old slogans about the free market is not enough to offer voters a meaningful alternative.

"Our response to socialism, which is a dangerous and destructive ideology that's been tried in the past and failed, our response to that can't be just to ignore the economic concerns that I think are feeding this rising interest in socialism," the vice president said. "And I guess I would say to that young person that you as an American citizen deserve to have a good life in this country, and you deserve to have a government that is making it easier for you to start a family, for you to afford to get a good education, for you to have a good job, for you to afford a home."

"And what I would also say is that whilst these things sometimes take a little bit of time, we are already seeing the positive results come from the president's economic policies," Vance added. "We're seeing trillions of dollars of new investment into this country, which means good middle class jobs for young people, middle income people all across our country. We're seeing housing prices finally stabilize. They doubled during the Biden administration. They have finally kind of flatlined during the first year and a half of the Trump administration. We also want to get interest rates down, of course, so that young people can afford a home. We want people to be able to afford the good things about this wonderful country that we all live in."

"And my warning to my fellow Republicans, Will, would be if we don't get this right, don't blame young people for being sympathetic to socialism. We've got to blame ourselves," he continued. "And I think what is so unique and refreshing about Donald Trump's economic policies is that it's not the same old economic ideas that you would have heard 30, 40 years ago. He's talking about rebuilding our industrial base, rebuilding the heartland, making our streets safer, making it possible for young people to afford to buy a home. This is how you stop socialism."

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However, the vice president then went on to take an indirect shot at free markets.

"You don't stop socialism by throwing slogans at people about the free market," Vance said. "As much as I love the free market, you stop socialism by making people's lives better. And that's what we're trying to do every single day."

Let’s be clear: the economic decline of the past 25 years has been driven by state interventionism, not free markets. No president since Ronald Reagan can fairly be described as a consistent, ideological free market warrior. 

Markets have been the most reliable mechanism by which living standards have improved around the world. The vice president may be right that Republicans will not win this fight by repeating free-market dogma. But they will win by presenting a serious vision for an economy guided by the principles of people incluing Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, and former President Ronald Reagan.