People who fall into this group will have to do what members of all special interest groups have to do: gain favor in Washington. It all sounds so dirty. Industries have always lobbied Washington to open (or in some cases manipulate) the market. Why? Our so called “free enterprise” system is regulated by pages upon pages of law. Any time an industry wants to open a plant (think EPA) or market a product (think FDA), the government becomes part of that decision.
There are actual cases where children have had to shut down lemonade stands because they didn’t have a license or governmental approval to set up their stand at a particular location. A few campaign contributions to a pro-lemonade stand candidate and maybe greasing a licensing board member or two could have fixed that. Considering that government is so heavily involved in everything from the lemonade stand on up, it's surprising that people would even be shocked when they hear about sweetheart deals being cut in the halls of Congress.
The special interest group I am speaking of is "the American citizen." If you belong in this special interest group, chances are your lemonade stand is not in compliance. The guy down the block who owns a convenience store that sells lemonade knows all the right people in all the right places. And, because he pays more in taxes to the government, they will side with him over your little lemonade stand every time. The law, as written by the candidate the convenience store owner contributed to and the lobbyist who he met for lunch, says you can’t put your lemonade stand there.
Think about how long ago the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" was made and you'll understand how long Americans have felt the frustration. For nearly a century, the little guy (who happens to be part of the overwhelming majority of Americans) has operated on the premise “you can’t beat city hall.”
But this premise is no longer being accepted. The sheep have actually woken up and are now beginning to believe that they can change things. This is not a Utopian pipe dream. This is millions upon millions of people finally figuring out together that we have been screwed by our government, lied to by our media and convinced we can’t be successful by our culture and the constant beatings we take in day to day life.
"It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government," Ronald Reagan said in his first inaugural address.
People used to think that when something went wrong that the government needed to pass a law to fix it. But after having passed so many laws, the tangled web we weave creates scores of new problems and leaves the original problem masked or buried in perceived correction. The cure is worse than the disease.
Government regulation has become a cancer that has spread throughout our free enterprise system. It now threatens to shut off our most vital organs: our financial institutions, our industry and our energy sector.
Unless the government is reigned in by someone who believes the market should decide whether or not your lemonade stand survives and is willing to seriously slash the size and scope of the government, our free market system will die a slow and painful death.
Liberals and statists will decry this idea. They fear that left to our own devices, we will be greedy and corrupt. Apparently, they missed the part about how big government as it exists today is already greedy and corrupt. Our Founders did not envision a nation run by bureaucrats. They didn’t create the Department of Health and Human Services or the Education Department. They didn’t create the EPA or the FDA.
Fear not, those who misunderstand our position as anarchistic. There is something called the Attorney General’s office. It’s job is to prosecute fraud. There is something called the court system to resolve disputes. And, there are things called Angie’s List, the Better Business Bureau and the Internet to spread the word when someone or some business acts unscrupulously. You don’t need a bureaucrat to impede hundreds of businesses because of a few bad apples. We just need the market and the rule of law to weed them out.
The free enterprise system is not the economic Wild West liberals want you to think it is. When people make a lot of money, it means they hire people. Those people no longer need to be on welfare or food stamps. When individuals can better themselves economically by gaining experience in their industries and by providing goods and services to others, the good of the society is perpetuated at a much lower cost than by which government can do it. When people run into hard times, safety nets that don’t become permanent drains of taxpayer dollars are there for them. It’s a lot easier to get out from under when there is an up to go than when there is no up to go.
When people become more self sufficient and more self-regulating, they can govern themselves from the bottom up. Move our society and culture in this direction and the need for big federal government and cookie cutter bureaucracies is seriously and significantly reduced. Many of our businesses don’t rely on trillions of dollars taken by force from the people. If they did, they would become bloated and inefficient. They would eventually fail or they would be shut down. Think about this. If the financial company that you had your retirement plan was run like social security, they’d be shut down for being a ponzi scheme.
Imagine a business environment where businesses popped up everywhere in the manufacturing and energy sectors. Collateral businesses such as construction companies, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, delis and clothing stores would grow around the bigger industries as they developed. The big trees shade the nice lawn.
Redistribution of wealth, “compassionate” government and punishing those who have more than you do doesn’t work. History has proven this. Our country is on the brink of failure because of this.
We could have jobs and economic growth tomorrow if we fix our tax system and our entitlement programs, allow businesses and people to keep more of what they make, stop impeding the growth of our industries with cobwebs of regulations and drill, baby, drill.
Sarah Palin can make all of this happen. If these things are in your best interest, you should be supporting her.
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