Capitalists are getting a bad wrap these days. According to left-liberals of the socialist variety, it was our free market ideology that caused the very economic crisis we face today. "Not enough regulations!" they shout. "Your precious free market capitalism has failed!" Apart from sounding like total commies, their straw man accusation is just plain ridiculous. We have more regulations than we've ever had before. But according to the mainstream media, the people who spew such idiotic nonsense are credible experts on the matter, and we should turn to them to fix the problems we face today.
If you're like me, you believe in private property. You believe that, in general, the government shouldn't make our decisions for us. You believe that we have a right to our life and liberty, and that outside interference is a violation of our God-given rights. You believe that people have a right to keep what they earn and spend it as they see fit. You believe that excessive taxes and regulations do more harm than good. You believe that dependency on government hurts our national character and discourages self-sufficiency. You believe that forced redistribution of wealth is theft, that an all-powerful government owning a share of your income is slavery, and that murder by government officials is no less evil than murder by private individuals. In today's world, however, this makes you a "radical."
If my description sounds like you, congratulations. Not only are you a capitalist pig, but you're also an enemy of the State. From watching mainstream media news outlets, you'd think that people like you and me were crazy, right-wing racists who only dislike Obama's policies because of his race. One mention of the Constitution or the Founding Fathers, and you'll be shot down as an old-fashioned nutjob stuck in the past.
Just know that you're not alone. Several other Americans besides you and me are demonized everyday simply for believing in free markets, sound money, and individual liberty. Believing in freedom makes you a "radical." But don't wear this label with shame. If being a "radical" means believing in the principles our ancestors fought so hard to preserve, then be pretty damn proud to be a "radical."
Next time someone tells you that only government can fix the problems we face today, remind them that government was the very cause of the problems we face today. The excessive taxes and regulations imposed on us from power-hungry bureaucrats over the decades have crippled business, killed the employment rate, rose prices, sent jobs overseas, prevented new and better goods and services from coming on the market, decreased the value of our dollar dramatically, and made us worse off because of it.
Diverting resources from productive operations and transferring them to failing operations hurts the economy. That's exactly what your "leaders" did when they got involved in medical care, the housing market, the automobile industry, banking, and every other private sector operation that fuels our economy. Bailouts to large corporations only perpetuated the problem further by propping up economically unsound institutions.
Let us not forget about the Federal Reserve, a creature of Congress that holds a monopoly on the power to "create" wealth. But it doesn't create wealth. It destroys it. By endlessly printing worthless dollar bills to pay for a welfare-warfare state that we can no longer afford, the value of your dollar is literally stolen from you through monetary inflation. The dollar is weak, and may even crash if we don't stop printing, spending, policing the world, and maintaining a global empire that costs our nation trillions of dollars every year.
Our country is bankrupt, yet we continue to promote easy credit, borrow billions of dollars from China each week, fight no-win wars that weaken our national security, print money without end, prop up an entitlements system that destroys national productivity, and let our unsustainable debt plummet into the trillions. But your government "leaders" sit by as our economy collapses, failing to realize that their "help" does more to accelerate the damage than it does to heal our broken country.
Because the Fed continues to exist, government spends and expands without limit. An elastic currency backed by nothing allows government growth to inflate beyond measure, because no matter how much they tax, spend, and regulate, the Federal Reserve will always be there to bail them out with more worthless pieces of paper we call "money."
As you can see, the problem isn't that government bureaucrats aren't doing enough. And trust me, that isn't the problem! It's that they're doing far too much. But no matter how obvious this may seem, you'll be immediately discarded as an ignorant lunatic if you dare say this out loud. You shouldn't be discouraged by people who hate you for not blaming the free market for our problems. As Ron Paul, the only honest Congressman in Washington, has stated with utmost clarity and conviction, "Capitalism should not be condemned, since we haven't had capitalism."
I'm proud to be a capitalist, and so should you. By allowing people to cooperate with one another in pursuit of their own separate interests, capitalism has unleashed more competition and innovation than any other system on earth. Because of capitalism, America has reached heights of wealth and prosperity that other countries could only hope to achieve, no matter how hard their governments tried to "provide" for the people.
And in case your left-liberal friends try to claim that capitalism lacks compassion, tell them that the poor have always fared far better under capitalism than under despotic dictatorships. A wealthy country fueled by an efficient capitalist economy that leaves people to their mechanisms does much more for the poor than a destitute country fueled by socialism, communism, fascism, and even democracy, which is nothing more than mob rule.
When you allow people to control their own resources, wealth and prosperity spreads and flourishes. But when you deprive people of their resources and seek "equality" and "fairness" through the barrel of a government gun, wealth and prosperity crumbles beneath the waves of tyranny. Common sense tells us that peace and freedom are preferable to destruction and control.
Unfortunately, this isn't the mentality that exists today. Joe Sobran described it perfectly. "Today, wanting someone else's money is called 'need,' wanting to keep your own money is called 'greed,' and 'compassion' is when politicians arrange the transfer." It would appear that advocates of socialism and other forms of government-controlled economic systems aren't really so selfless after all.
Capitalists, on the other hand, aren't the selfish, pompous, arrogant jerks the Establishment makes us out to be. They don't seek to loot others through government force on behalf of themselves or others. They seek to keep their own money and let other people keep theirs. Capitalists simply ask for all of us to be free from force of arms and threat of violence. They believe we should cooperate, as opposed to endlessly demonizing each other through class warfare.
They believe that each individual has a right to his or her life, liberty, and property, and that taking such God-given rights away from people is equivalent to theft, murder, and slavery. Being against such atrocities makes you far more compassionate than the folks who excuse such behavior in the name of "equality" and "social justice."
Be proud to stand up for true American principles. Those who ridicule you will be proven wrong by the test of time. Economic collapse and the destruction of the dollar will prove once and for all that freedom works, and government doesn't. If you believe in following the Constitution, limiting government to its minimal functions, and restoring our God-given rights, then congratulations. Not only are you a rebellious enemy of the State, but you're also a patriot.
And don't be afraid to take action. The time is now. It's up to you, me, and everyone else who loves their country and everything it stands for. With God guiding our minds, hearts, and spirits, we shall prevail, because, as Thomas Jefferson once said so beautifully, "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."
