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.
OK so when you find intelligent beings on the Democrat side, let me know. 
Given how many Republicans believe in "intelligent design" it seems ironic that when it comes to economics, Republicans are strict evolutionists.
That's an interesting concept but I don't recall the economy having a "likeness" to God so I don't see why we would treat it as an "intelligent design", especially when it was created by those who are obviously imperfect, us.
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.
Actually, to be more precise, the economy is like a lot of gardens. Like AD said, For each garden a gardner is responsible to make sure the bad stuff stay out to keep the good stuff from dying. If we don't depened on a single people to do so many things, why would we expect the Gov't to handle so many Gardens?
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.
Yes, it should be helping our society as a whole, but not being controlled by a single entity. The garden needs to be able to expand and the gardner is there to help it florish. A single entity can not look over many gardens, this is something obvious.
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.
I find it funny you mention Democrats and trusted in the same sentence when this whole housing crysis has been proven to be their fault. Not that you will admit it or aren't currently admitting.