In my last conversation with Michael Novak, shortly before his death in 2017, he expressed his regret that socialism was undergoing a revival in America. “Well,” Novak said wearily, “I guess you’re going to have to re-explain — yet again — all the problems with socialism. Apparently, someone has to do it [pause] every [pause] single [pause] generation.”

Novak was a natural optimist. Yet he knew that once people become enamored of whatever is being called “socialism” at any given time, changing their views becomes extremely difficult. In the mid 1960s, Novak saw most of his academic contemporaries embrace economic positions …