Free Enterprise

What group of people distinguish Free Enterprise (capitalism) and the "American way of life" from Totalitarianism, Socialism or Communism?

Businessmen!...All the other social groups -- farmers, professional men, factory workers, scientists, teachers, government workers, soldiers etc. -- exist under dictatorships; even though they exist in terror, in chains, in misery, and in progressive self-destruction. But, there is NO SUCH group as businessmen under a dictatorship. Their place is taken by armed thugs: by politicians, bureaucrats and commissars.

Businessmen ARE THE SYMBOL of a free society -- the symbol of America! When they eventually perish, civilization will perish. Instead, if we wish to fight for our society, we must begin by fighting for its unrecognized, unacknowledged, yet its best representatives. The producers are the greatest and most unrealized minority. These men who grow rich only if they are able to offer better values -- better products or services, at a lower price -- than others are able to offer. The American Business Men, as a class, have demonstrated the greatest productive genius and the most spectacular achievements ever recorded in the economic history. This was achieved by individual freedom and voluntary interaction. The concept of a "man that was free" had been a profoundly alien concept until that point.

What reward did those businessmen receive from our culture and its pseudo-intellectuals? The position of scapegoat for the evils of bureaucrats. All the evils, abuses, and iniquities, popularly ascribed to businessmen and to Free Enterprise, were not caused by an unregulated economy or by a free market, but by government intervention into the economy. The Captains of Industry from the 1800's, the Commodore Vanderbilt's, the J.P. Morgan's, the Andrew Carnegie's, the men that built this country -- these were self-made men! Men who earned their fortunes by personal ability, by free trade on a free market....But, there existed another kind of businessmen, the products of a mixed economy (one which is not completely free), the men with the political pull, who made fortunes by means of special privileges granted to them by the government -- such as the Big Four of the Central Pacific Railroad. It was the political power behind their activities (charters and subsides). The power of forced, unearned, economically unjustified privileges -- that caused dislocation in the country's economy, hardships, depressions, and mounting public protests. But, it was the free market and free men which took the blame! Every calamitous consequence of their government controls was used as justification for the extension of the controls and of government's power over the economy.

The free market is a continuous process that cannot be held still, an upward process that demands the best (most rational) of every man and rewards him accordingly. While the majorities have barely assimilated the value of the automobile, the creative minority (the businessman) introduces the airplane. The mental parasites -- the imitators who attempt to cater to what they think is the public's taste -- are constantly being beaten by the innovators whose products raise the public knowledge and standard of living to ever higher levels. It is in this sense that the free market is ruled, not by consumers, but by the producers. The most successful ones are those who discover new fields of production, fields which had not been known to exist.

The word freedom is usually left out of the definition of Capitalism in most dictionaries. But thanks to it, serfdom officially ended in the 1800's and mankind had the longest period of peace from world war from 1815 to 1914. Free Enterprise is the only system which regards men as free and not part of a tribal construct. The tribal notion of the "common good" was vastly outperformed by "the right's of the individual to live freely". Free Enterprise is not compatible with "rule by force" and gives people the natural incentive to prioritize their lives. Collectivist forms of government try to force people to achieve advancements. Although history proves this to be futile, they believe they can centrally plan their way -- socially engineer themselves to prosperity. The United States of America has become the most prosperous nation of all time for the exact opposite reason! There was no central plan! Therefore "Completely Free" Enterprise is the only morally justifiable way for human beings to live!

 

[Editor's Note: This blog entry is from a guest writer and a good friend of mine. His name is John and I originally posted a piece some time ago from him regarding the election. Now he's back with another piece and I hope you enjoy it. Make sure to comment on it and let me know what you think. This piece was not edited.]