An Introduction

For me, the world of blogging is completely new and uncharted territory, but in hopes of keeping up with the times and not letting the technological world pass me by, I am entering into this forum. I was the laggard among my friends accepting Facebook in 2004, a little quicker to jump on the Twitter trend of 2009 and not real sure about my relativity to the blogosphere in comparative terms, but none the less, I have arrived. All can take comfort in the fact that my mind and its endless wonders will be opened to the general public and free of charge. I welcome disagreement, actually respect disagreement when a counter argument can be presented, and look forward to finding at least a couple of folks who think like me. I could spend a great deal of energy explaining myself but I think that will come with time. So, without further ado, let’s get to it.


In the 1770s, while America was hard at work securing its freedom as a country, Adam Smith was hard at work putting pen to paper and laying out the basic frameworks of economics and the power of markets and market structures. The Wealth of Nations was published in 1776 and helped shape the formation of America’s economic development; funny that some other major events that shaped the American future happened at right around that same time. And while Adam Smith can't necessarily take credit for the rise of America or any other country through economic superiority, he is considered the Father of economics and was first to understand and explain the benefits to purely competitive markets, the effects of supply and demand, and how prosperity for all is rooted in economic freedom and the political rights that allow its citizens to compete in the free market, utilizing competitive advantages and supply and demand as the best way to allocate finite resources.

The capitalistic structure that would come to define the United States had already begun to resonate as an idea in other parts of the world but was really able to take shape and become a unique strength in the upstart of a new country. It was the ideas behind political and economic freedom that allowed America to grow into the Worlds economic superpower in less than 200 years. For the first time in history, the development of a country was built on the will of the people and abilities of those people to use their competitive advantages and as Adam Smith identified, a diversified dexterity to allow each member of the society to contribute to the society based on their strengths. I could go on for a while about the economic development of the country and how different events shaped the history, but to keep it simple, the idea of a free market, capitalistic society is responsible for the rise of America into a superpower in short order. However, even with a proven track record of success, there are some in positions of power today and sprinkled throughout our history who feel it necessary to back track towards socialism and undo the very system that built this country. I will refrain from naming names though.

Al Gore, oops, wrote an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday and led off with an opening statement summing up the strengths and overall power of the free market system. Before I realized it, a smile had crept up on my face and I thought maybe ole Al and myself were finding some common ground, however, as I continued to read I found the word I dreaded, but…… He went on to degrade the free market system and inserted his personal ideas to take power out of the market and grow the government. It was kinda like he said, I love a good salad, but I don’t really like lettuce, croutons, vegetables, crackers or salad dressing of any kind. Really? Seems convenient to promote the very system that made this country great and then proceed to tear it apart to fit a political agenda that grows government and undermines the capitalistic system. I guess that’s politics though, and he almost sucked me into his article with genuine historical success but I caught him when he started trying to push his political ideas. Didn’t quite get me there you sly politician. So why would a political party promote distancing our country from the very foundation that it’s built on? Why fix a system that’s not broken? Is it worthwhile to focus on short term fixes for long term issues? Moving forward maybe I can take a look into a few of these questions and throw my opinions around. It’s my blog so I guess I can do whatever I want, right?

Milton Friedman, building on economic theory of the previous generation was quick to point out that even the free market, capitalistic system has its problems, but it is by far the best solution available for economic viability. He also has spoken in great length about the need for and the role of government. Some will call government a necessary evil, I might not go to that level, but I will not hesitate to say that the role of government should be limited and the same people that built this country, the American people, should be in charge of driving the market into the future and future prosperity. The only way that is possible though is through limited government intervention and the knowledge that over implementation of government policy handicaps our country. I have a lot more to say about this topic, but I’ll give it a rest for now.