For Dems and Repubs, trial by philosophy

So the country is perched at the edge of a cliff. Most observers, regardless of political stripe, agree that the economy is very close to something apocalyptic.

The crisis doesn’t look like any other recession we’ve ever experienced; it’s beginning to look more and more like a depression.

The question now is, what can we do — if anything — to fix it.

President Obama has argued that we need something like bipartisanship to dig our way out of the trench. All shoulders to the wheel.

That argument hasn’t produced results. Not, I’m convinced, because Republicans are foot-draggers or saboteurs.

The truth is that the two American political parties have radically different philosophies for how governments and economies work.

The Republican/conservative version goes like this: Individual work and entrepreneurship creates wealth.

Government, when it pushes beyond a very limited role, actually suppresses that kind of financial creativity — through burdensome regulation, heavy taxes, and by convincing people that their needs will be met without work.

Most conservatives now say that the GOP abandoned some of these core principles over the last decade, by boosting entitlement programs and failing to shrink the size of government.

But they insist that the central arguments remain sound.

Democrats and progressives, on the other hand, believe that laissez-faire capitalism no longer works.

Without the steadying hand of government — to provide stimulus when an economy is depressed or to apply the breaks when things are overheating — things can spiral out of control.

In a global economy, regulation is essential to maintain a level, safe playing field.

This isn’t socialism or communism (sorry, Rush), but capitalism with a rule-book.

So which approach is most likely to have the best results? There are three points worth considering.

1. As Mr. Obama argues fairly enough, Republicans had the last decade or so to make their version of capitalism work. (Some would say that their paradigm has been in place since Ronald Reagan was in office.) The results have been problematic at best.

2. The vast majority of economists disagree with the conservative philosophy. Here’s the key passage from Sunday’s Washington Post treatment.

While economists remain divided on the role of government generally, an overwhelming number from both parties are saying that a government stimulus package — even a flawed one — is urgently needed to help prevent a steeper slide in the economy.

Many economists say the precise size and shape of the package developing in Congress matter less than the timing, and that any delay is damaging.

3. Mr. Obama — and his party — just won a landslide election, which argues that he should have a chance to play out his vision for the government.

Obviously, it’s possible that the Democrats are wrong. The stimulus might not work. Or, it might work and America might inch more closely to a planned economy where there is less innovation and less entrepreneurship.

But for the first time in our lifetimes, this philosophical clash is no longer academic, no longer a matter for think-tank debates.

In rooting for the stimulus to work, we’re not rooting for progressives – we’re rooting for the nation.