Free to Choose

We find ourselves at another time in history when we must choose what kind of economy we want to have.  I read the book “Free to Choose” by Nobel Economist Milton Friedman in 1980.  Friedman proposed a small government and a big private economy.  Like Benjamin Franklin, Friedman saw that we could end up with big government and very little private sector.  Milton Friedman’s videos capture his reactions to our current problems; he said: “You can have a welfare system or open borders, but you can’t have both.”   When asked what form of government the US would have, he answered: “a Republic, if you can keep it”.  

Both men knew that elected officials would be vulnerable to the trap of ‘giving away free stuff’ in order to stay in office and going broke. Friedman would have called this Socialism. Both men knew the other trap was selling your votes to benefit special interests for bribes. Both Friedman and Franklin would have called this corruption. We call it “crony capitalism”.

Campaign finance laws allow special interests to own the Congress.  These special interests include big banks, global corporations and political groups.  What we have now is socialism.  The government controls the means of production with regulations and continues to screw it up, so that the endgame can be Communism, where the government owns the means of production.

Obama and Hillary are Communists, who propose government ownership of resources and the production created by the citizens.  Historically, the US has been a Republic where private citizens control and own the means of production and the government is like a “utility” that exists to handle things that fit a national footprint, like the post office or the military.

The original role of the federal government was to protect the Constitution and the bill of rights, but instead we find that it is the federal government who wants to destroy the Constitution and the bill of rights by ignoring them and violating them.  US government programs have expanded way beyond the “enumerated powers” they were granted.  The Courts have misinterpreted the Constitution to allow the transfer of power to the Congress and the President.  They have created a 4^th Branch of government.  It resides in the Departments, Agencies and Programs and go largely uncontrolled and are now ruining our economy and our ability to earn a living and become self-reliant.

The original role of the family in the US was to exist as the most basic economic unit of the economy.  This worked well and encouraged good behavior.  Families were responsible for their own members.  Wealth transfers by government have been designed to destroy this basic unit.

Our original economy was formed to be a free market private economy where the law of supply and demand would determine the price.  Now government has taken choice away from consumers and it determines the price and the price is too high.  Consumers need to be free to choose.

Our original economy made the US a meritocracy, where each citizen was guaranteed ownership all of his own legal property.  This is part of the “Rule of Law” required by countries who want others to conduct trade with them.  If their laws don’t guarantee property rights, trading partners didn’t do business with them. This punished bad behavior.

Now it appears like global corporations act like “hunter-gatherers” who are happy to operate in countries who could steal their property. They were bribed to open their businesses in these countries, so you could say they have already been paid their “damage deposit”. Nothing is in place to encourage good behavior. It’s like doing business in a crime-ridden inner city.

Politicians need to choose sides. Today, all Democrats and 80% of all Republicans have supported the march to Communism. They know that this election will determine whether Hillary wins and continues toward Communism or Trump wins and pursues a free market private economy direction. The banks and corporations who own these politicians are backing Hillary, but, like the Brexit vote, the people are very likely to elect Trump.

In November, US voters will be free to choose to continue down the path to Communism and corruption, or to support returning to a free market private sector economy.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader