The Republican faith in free markets has always struck me as being odd given that in every other place, man has long concluded that randomness is definitively inferior to things guided by intelligent beings.
Given how many Republicans believe in "intelligent design" it seems ironic that when it comes to economics, Republicans are strict evolutionists.
The economy is like a garden. If you just let it run wild and free, eventually it'll get taken over with weeds and the best part of it will fail. That's because a garden, unlike a wild field, is measured based on how well it produces certain things based on human subjectivity.
Similarly, the economy should be helping society as a whole. Too much interference and you can end up ruining the whole thing, just like with a garden. But like a garden, intelligent beings should be carefully managing it to weed out undesireable elements where undesireable is defined as things that are harmful to society. The entity best placed to manage the economy is the federal government whose members are voted in by society at large.
Most people recognize that the economy exists to serve society, not the other way around. That's why Democrats are more trusted with the economy than Republicans. This financial crisis is a solid reminder of this fact.