Defining Free Enterprise

Capitalism is synonamous with Free Enterprise. The so called "Free Press" has done its best work demonising Capitalism because those entites who control the main stream media feel threatened by anything that is truly free. Most certainly we do not have a truly "Free" Press in America and most Journalists are indeed Socialists in their ideology and political beliefs, but then thats a subject for another Blog.

So what is Free Enterprise and why is it that we so rarley hear much if anything about it? And equally important, what does it have to do with Personal Development and Creating True Wealth?

Sometimes its easier to define something by saying what it is not. In this case we could say that "Free Enterprise" is the opposite of "socialism."

Lets start with a couple of definitions right out of the good ol dictionary.

The DoubleDay Dictionary (published in 1975) defines Capitalism as:

1) An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privtely owned and operated for private profit.
2) The principles, power and results, etc., of this system.

It defines Free Enterprise as:

1) An economic system base upon private ownership and operation of business with a minimum of government control.

Curiously it defines a Capitalist as:

1) An owner of capital, especially one with considerable wealth invested in business.
2) A supporter of capitalism
3) Loosely, any wealthy person

note: not all wealthy eople are capitalists, many are indeed socialists who run huge corporations and subsequently governments and they use the "unearned" wealth of their corporations and or country to benefit themselves. Many of these huge corporations are so big as to be similar to mini countires. I will do a piece on corporatism sometime in the near future so you can see the difference.

Lastly it defines Socialism as:

1) The theory of collective public ownership or control of the basic means of production, distribution and exchange with the avowed aim of operating for use rather than for profit.

2) A political system or party advocating or practicing this theory.

A socialist by the way is anyone who practices and supports socialist ideals.

Now lets tie this all together.

First of all the so called "Free" press (especially in America) is owned by a handful of very wealthy people, but for the most part, they are not to be confused with captalists.

I am going to digress a little bit to make a point. Most people are lazy, that isn't the point I'm making but it is a statement of fact. Our society has become lazy especially where our thinking is concerned. In fact most of the thoughts running around in our heads dont even belong to us we are so lazy. Thats right, we dont even think for ourselves and the media or so called "Free" press knows this fact better than anyone.

Here is my point. Capitalism has become a "dirty" word in most parts of the world because it has been misrepresented by the mass media. The fact that Capitalism and "Free Enterprise" are virtually the same thing maks talking about free enterprise something of a no mans land.

Why is this important to me? because it is "Free Enterprise" that made America the strongest nation in the history of the world and this nation has given birth to more "self made millionaires" and billionaires than any other collection of countries combined.

Free enterprise is founded on the principles of capitalism. Pure and simple and Capitalism is in a struggle with Socialism to win over the "average person's" heart, mind and body.

I could do a piece on "socialism" and how it came from the struggles of opressed peoples of the earth who were subjugated by tyrany and kings and dictators. I could add to that by pointing out that socialism has become what it originally fought to replace. But these topics would be best included in another blog. What I want my readers to know is that Capitalism isn't a dirty word and a Capitalist isn't an evil person who is out to destroy the earth, its atmosphere, cute fuzzy little animals and darling porpises all for the sake of profits. If you think this way its because you're guilty of being a lazy thinker who has never picked up a dictionary and started thinking for yourself. Well it's time to start thinking for yourself and turn off the television and throw away the newspaper and get back to the basics of knowledge and wisdom which is profoundly absent in the main stream media.

Free Enterprise is about the inalienable rights of a human being to seek and provide for his or her own family the best way possible using the most "legal" and lawful means available to them and to do so for profit. Is there anything wrong with that? As noted earlier in this post it all depends on who you ask.

Your freedoms and the opportunity to provide as best you can for your family is something that is systematically being "socialized."

I am passionate about Free Enterprise and proudly call myself a capitalist because I am willing to think for myself and take a stand for the rights of all people to self determination and because I believe in the system that originally founded the good old US of A!.

If you take a moment or two and consider the definitions I listed earlier you'll begin to realize that "Free Enterprise" is not an easy thing to find these days but I can tell ou first hand it does exist. It is an endangered spiecies however because most people are lazy, they don't think about it let alone engage in it (but I believe that too is beginning to change).

To illustrate my point I'll refer to an email thats been going around the web recently about a Professor of economics who recently flunked his entire class.

His class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one woud be rich...the great equalizer.

By the way, this is being done with health care in every country in the world and is right now on the table in the USA (but may not be voted on until the fall). You see forcing everybody to pay money to an insurance company to "lessen the burden" of health care on the poor is simply a socialist program, and it benefits the insurance companies and governement the most. There is no incentive to stay healthy for most people and lets face it, the lazy people will be taken care of and healthy people will pay for it.

Back to the profssor...

He said "OK...lets do an experiment in this class on Obama's plan."

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so in theory no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The econ test average was a D, no one was happy.

When the third test rolled around the average was an F.

The test score never increased after that however the bickering, blaming and name calling did and it all resulted in a lot of hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All the students ended up failing to their great surprise, and the professor told them that "socialism would also ultimately fail, because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when the government takes away all the reward no one will try or want to succeed."

This is a real life story and unfortunately I dont know the authors name, if I did I would happily give him or her credit for making this point so elloquently. It also reminds me of my history lessons from way back when the revisionists had not yet gotten a hand on the text books children in America were using to study about our country and how it all started.

You may have hear how the Mayflower brought a rag tag group of colonists to America and they struggled but the kindly indians taught them how to grow corn so everybody lived happily ever after. Would you like to know the rest of the story?

America was a very harsh environment to live in. The early colonists found it hot (this is before global warmng wich is another story) except in the winter, infested with mosquitoes and bugs of all kinds, vermin, and hardships galore to mention a few of the kindlier comments made by the first Europeans who settled on our shores. The Indians were the least of their worries and actually the indians were somewhat entertained by those wierd people with white skin that turns bright red in the sunlight. You see the earliest colonies all had one thing in common, they failed!

Thats right, but the price of failure for those hearty souls was not what it was to the professors class in economics, these colonists were living a real life experiment and failure meant disease, starvation and certain death. One colony after another perished. It even got to a point where the nobility of Europe was less and less willing to finance such regretable outcomes.

You see each of the "failed" colonies had something else in common...socialism. Back then it wasn't called socialism but when studied in any detail it was socialism by another name "colonialism." They each had a charter given to them by the king of whatever country was trying to settle in this country and that charter spelled out exactly what "rights" of the people were granted and to whom. It also dedicated the "bounty" of the land for the king and each governor was to collect from his noble subjects the fruits of their labors, pay tribute to the king or queen and divide equally that which was left over to the poor and wretched souls who had produced it. Truly this is the system that gave birth to socialism and it proved to be a fatal error of judgement for colonists and governors alike.

Just like the experiment in the economics class, none of the colonists wanted to work hard so that the people who didn't could end up with the same "fruits" of the labr they weren't doing. The result was bickering, blaming, lazieness and name calling and in the end when the harvest proved to be too little even to live on let alone "pay homage" to the king they all perished in the cold and harsh winters.

And now for the rest of the story...

This is also the system that gave birth to another idea called capitalism.

There was a colony of misfits who nobody in England really wanted, they had set sail aboard the Mayflower and arrived in the New World a little bit late in the season to raise crops so they built what shelter they could and were very grateful to the indians who shared what extra they had including their knowledge of hunting with the newcomers. The first winter was harsh and many died from starvation and freezing to death. However the enterprising Governor of this colony said to himself wait just a minute. It is an honor to be governor however I do not intend to perish in this "New World" just to prove how honored I feel. I have an idea and I know from my own experience back home that it will work.

I will give private property ownership through my charter to the colonists. They will own 100% of their land, homes and personal property and more importantly they will own 100% of whatever they produce. Then I will allow them to freely sell, trade and or barter their goods and services among each other. We'll collect a tax on these transactions so the king will get his share and everybody will prosper.

As it turned out prosper they did. In fact they prospered so much that there was more than enough to go around for everybody including the indians who had been kind and taught them to hunt, grow corn and beans and such. There was so much "bounty" of the land that there was more than enough to pay the kings tribute and then some and the colony grew and prospered.

So now you know the rest of the story and now you know what "Free Enterprise" really is. Surely you can see that the colonists created true wealth by benefiting themelves personally. Their "Personal Development" became the foundation of a great nation and the experiment in "Free Enterprise" allowed them to show the world what was possible when individuals were given the freedom to decide their own fate.

I believe Economic Justice can best be won by Free People through Free Enterprise, this belief is based on the real world results of experiments that many people have give everyhting they had to give in order to participate. I honor their contributions with my commitment to thinking and acting for myself.

Creating True Wealth with Personal Development and Free Enterprise isn't new, it is the heart and soul of any great nation that wishes to prosper beyond its wildest dreams. As long as there is freedom we can all chart our own destinies.