Crony socialism involves government tax and regulatory favoritism to protect special interests from market competition, so they can make more money at public expense.  Senator Cruz calls this operation of the Washington Establishment to benefit their favored lobbyists and special interests "the Washington Cartel." That is an apt description, because crony socialism operates in practice as an anti-competitive Cartel, shielding those favored from open market competition. Here is a current example of the Washington Cartel operating crony socialism in practice. Federal law requires consumers to have a prescription from a licensed optometrist before they can order contact lenses.  But the practice of optometrists is to write those prescriptions for particular brands of contact lens manufacturers.  That prevents consumers from shopping around among competing brands or manufacturers to get the best price, which makes contact lenses for the 40 million Americans...(Read Full Article)