T HE R OAD TO F REEDOM
O ur country faces a lot of choices today.
We are deciding between monetary policies, tax systems, and political parties. These things are important and we need to get them right. But the most important choice we face is deeper than any individual policy or election. It is a choice between two ideas of America.
The first idea is that the key to our success as a nation resides with the government. Practically, the government will restart our economy with more stimulus, more taxes, and more borrowing. Morally, the government holds the secret to fairness through more income redistribution and taxation of the wealthy. The government will lift up the poor and disadvantaged. We need government programs in order to pursue our happiness.
The second idea of America is that the key to our success lies in free enterpriseâthe system our Founders left us to maximize liberty, create individual opportunity, and reward entrepreneurship. Freeenterprise creates the opportunities our ancestors came to America seekingâthe opportunities that allowed them to pursue their happiness in a new land. It is the free enterprise system that treated them fairly for the first time; instead of being penalized for lacking a noble birth, they were rewarded for their hard work and personal responsibility. Free enterprise made a country of immigrants into the most powerful, prosperous nation in the history of the world.
This second idea is not antigovernment. It does not hold that government employees are bad, that we all should make our own rules, or that we should dismantle the state. The entrepreneurial idea for America simply limits the government to its proper role. The government offers one tool to help provide a minimum basic safety net and solve some of the market failures that act as a barrier to private enterprise. Good government is only large enough to do these things.
The choice between these two very different ideas of America has dramatic consequences for our future: Will we see growing bureaucracy or more entrepreneurship? Will we be a culture of redistribution or a culture of aspiration? Will we be a nation of takers or a nation of makers?
Politicians who pretend that we do not have to choose between these two ideas of America are mistaken or less than honest. They want us to think that statism and free enterprise are ultimately compatible; that bureaucracy is not antagonistic to self-government; that we can remain exceptional when our system is indistinguishable from collectivist systems around the world. But this is deceit. Not choosing is effectively just the choice for big government. Unless we actively choose free enterprise and make the tough choices to limit the government, we will slip down the road toward European-style social democracy. We know this to be true because it has been happening for nearly a century.
To be honest, big government is an easier choice than free enterprise. In the short run, it allows us to avoid sacrifice. Politicians who ask for sacrifice face a tough battle with voters, so they tend not to. But this lazinessâon our part and on the part of the governing classâendangers all of us in the long run. It will mean the end of our Foundersâ vision for our country. It will end any hope of limited government. And it will saddle our children and grandchildren with crushing debt.
Free enterprise can seem like an especially tough choice at the present moment for America. It requires us to make hard decisions about spending and borrowing, just as we struggle to end the Great Recession. It means doing without some things and saying no to powerful claimants, cronies, and sometimes even our friends.
But as I hope this book has shown, the rewards of free enterprise dramatically outweigh any costs. Free enterprise teaches us to earn success, not learn helplessness. It rewards merit, which is the fair thing to do. And in the end, it is the only system that can improve the
O ur country faces a lot of choices today.
We are deciding between monetary policies, tax systems, and political parties. These things are important and we need to get them right. But the most important choice we face is deeper than any individual policy or election. It is a choice between two ideas of America.
The first idea is that the key to our success as a nation resides with the government. Practically, the government will restart our economy with more stimulus, more taxes, and more borrowing. Morally, the government holds the secret to fairness through more income redistribution and taxation of the wealthy. The government will lift up the poor and disadvantaged. We need government programs in order to pursue our happiness.
The second idea of America is that the key to our success lies in free enterpriseâthe system our Founders left us to maximize liberty, create individual opportunity, and reward entrepreneurship. Freeenterprise creates the opportunities our ancestors came to America seekingâthe opportunities that allowed them to pursue their happiness in a new land. It is the free enterprise system that treated them fairly for the first time; instead of being penalized for lacking a noble birth, they were rewarded for their hard work and personal responsibility. Free enterprise made a country of immigrants into the most powerful, prosperous nation in the history of the world.
This second idea is not antigovernment. It does not hold that government employees are bad, that we all should make our own rules, or that we should dismantle the state. The entrepreneurial idea for America simply limits the government to its proper role. The government offers one tool to help provide a minimum basic safety net and solve some of the market failures that act as a barrier to private enterprise. Good government is only large enough to do these things.
The choice between these two very different ideas of America has dramatic consequences for our future: Will we see growing bureaucracy or more entrepreneurship? Will we be a culture of redistribution or a culture of aspiration? Will we be a nation of takers or a nation of makers?
Politicians who pretend that we do not have to choose between these two ideas of America are mistaken or less than honest. They want us to think that statism and free enterprise are ultimately compatible; that bureaucracy is not antagonistic to self-government; that we can remain exceptional when our system is indistinguishable from collectivist systems around the world. But this is deceit. Not choosing is effectively just the choice for big government. Unless we actively choose free enterprise and make the tough choices to limit the government, we will slip down the road toward European-style social democracy. We know this to be true because it has been happening for nearly a century.
To be honest, big government is an easier choice than free enterprise. In the short run, it allows us to avoid sacrifice. Politicians who ask for sacrifice face a tough battle with voters, so they tend not to. But this lazinessâon our part and on the part of the governing classâendangers all of us in the long run. It will mean the end of our Foundersâ vision for our country. It will end any hope of limited government. And it will saddle our children and grandchildren with crushing debt.
Free enterprise can seem like an especially tough choice at the present moment for America. It requires us to make hard decisions about spending and borrowing, just as we struggle to end the Great Recession. It means doing without some things and saying no to powerful claimants, cronies, and sometimes even our friends.
But as I hope this book has shown, the rewards of free enterprise dramatically outweigh any costs. Free enterprise teaches us to earn success, not learn helplessness. It rewards merit, which is the fair thing to do. And in the end, it is the only system that can improve the
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