The New York Times reported yesterday that Senator McCain thinks “it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.” Indeed, even though the instruments of the credit crisis were so complicated they “weren’t particularly well understood by even the most sophisticated banks, lenders and hedge funds,” he offered no policy to address those or similar instruments – and even suggested, in the words of the Times, that “government should eliminate obstacles to the ability of financial institutions to raise more capital.”

When taken together, these extraordinary comments show just how committed Senator McCain is to a particular theory of political economy that rejects government action in the economy. What would it take for Senator McCain to acknowledge the need for government action in the economy? Would he ever act?

I’m reminded of Franklin Roosevelt’s Commonwealth Club address: The question, Roosevelt said, was “whether individual men and women will have to serve some system of government of economics, or whether a system of government and economics exists to serve individual men and women.” We should ask that question of Senator McCain today.