By Douglas V. Gibbs
I was talking to a friend of mine recently who corrected me when I said “Free Market.”
“We want a Fair Market, not a Free Market,” he said.
His intentions are essentially correct, but echoes an error that has plagued the American System since the word ‘Free’ got a makeover along the way from the Founding Fathers to our time today. With freedom comes responsibility. When we say “Free” in the terms of what America is about, of course we don’t mean “Free-for-all” or “do as you please without any restraints.”
But, understanding that, we have to be careful that we don’t lurch too far in the other direction. Words have meaning, yes, but we are supposed to apply common sense along the way. There are always exceptions, alleviations and reasonable expectations as we navigate the waters of history and liberty. I have the freedom, and the right, to swing my arms. I am free to swing my arms as I wish on my property and in my house, on a sidewalk as I walk down it, or in a crowd – providing that I am responsible with that right. If I swing my arms while performing another task it may create a dangerous situation. So, using common sense, I don’t swing my arms while operating my tractor, driving my car, or eating dinner. I also don’t swing my arms in a crowd because, while I have the right and freedom to swing my arms, others have a right not to be struck in the face. It is my responsibility to be reasonable with my freedom to swing my arms, and while there should be no government prohibition regarding the swinging of my arms there will likely be consequences according to the law if I try to swing my arms while driving my car, and there will definitely be consequences if I swing my arms into someone’s face, or if I crash my car because of my arm-swinging activities.
Yes, I am “free” to swing my arms, but the word “free” does not mean that there are no limits, or that there should be no limits. Most of those limits, however, need to be self-imposed while assessing the situation, a few might be imposed by the culture (a good thing if it is a virtuous culture), certain members of the public who have a respected voice, or the laws imposed by the government based on the details of the situation and the impact those details might have on the overall functioning of an orderly society, or the rights of others.
For the most part, that is how all of our freedoms, rights, and American activities are supposed to operate and be governed. There should be no law against swinging one’s arms, but there should be one against striking someone in the face. While I should be able to swing my arms in a responsible manner and in a way I prefer without government dictating to me my personal activities, and government should not call for the removal of my arms because I might use my arm-swinging pursuits in an irresponsible manner, the government should have laws in place that may address the results of me swinging my arms in an irresponsible manner; and if government doesn’t have such laws, once a few faces get smacked the people will likely call for those laws and they will emerge as time passes.
Such is the true nature of Freedom and Liberty and the real application of the consent of the governed.
Freedom and Liberty are not calls for a libertarian free-for-all. But the dangers of Freedom and Liberty being used in a manner that could have sour consequences does not mean we need to go in the opposite direction and succumb to rigid government regulatory tyranny.
Our Free Market is the same – so of course when I say that I believe in and that I am a firm supporter of Free Market Economics, I am not saying that I believe in a no holds barred out of control chaotic free-for-all. But, at the same time I do not support the irresponsible uncontrolled meanderings of government, corporations, or a mercantilistic combination of the two claiming to be residing in the false name of Free Economics.
We seek balance, and checks and balances, as we do with all things American.
Today, we have a civilization deeply influenced by ideologies and philosophies that stand in opposition of Free Market Economics. Karl Marx created a term to label the Free Market ideals of American Economics to make it nothing more than any other “-ism;” Capitalism. For fear of being a stereotype of the things that leftwing ideologues claim are the results of the sins of Free Market Economics we have moved away from the laissez-faire intent of the Founding Fathers, and now we have some kind of hybrid of what we once had and the Socialist Left’s version of what would be “fair.”
Suddenly, what has been advertised as irreconcilable opposites (capitalism and socialism) share a common core in their rejection of the originally intended idea of Free Market Economics as envisioned by the Framers of our young fledgling country as it was being forged during the fires of revolution and a dying Old World of Monarchies and Empires. The new Free Market claims to champion freedom and progress, with government sticking their giant wooden spoon into the bubbling stew to make sure everything mixes accurately and that no bad ingredients get thrown into the whole mix. For some that might seem noble on the surface, and when it comes to certain things government involvement with rules and regulations might even seem necessary. But at what cost? How is it that we are willing to give up a winning combination through paradoxical contributions that is actually facilitating the disappearance of the foundational principles of what the Free Market is actually truly about? They have replaced our liberty with regulations, our workers with foreign labor, and they have conjured up a hyper-administered system that benefits the global elites while claiming they are protecting us from the corporate robber baron elites who are laughing in the corner with the very people claiming they are our saviors.
Those who have convinced us that a truly free market is dangerous and that regulatory influences by government across the board are absolutely necessary have changed the system, and do so unapologetically because their implicit goal is to dismantle the Free Market, terminating the foundational principles that not only were instilled into our system by the Founding Fathers, but have historically crafted and sustained Western Civilization.
Historically, when Free Market ideals are unleashed in a system, even if in a limited manner thanks to the over-intrusive nature of today’s style of governing, the Free Market always wins – economies always improve and prosper. Every time! While they promote socialistic ideas that call for governmental intrusions into the very heart of what the concept of a Free Market is supposed to be about, inserting their forms of regulation or control over the means of production, the location of the workforce, the rules of marketing, and the method of delivery – if one dares to question one iota of their theories we are warned how dangerous a Free Market can truly be if a Free Market is unleashed without their ideological foot on the brake. Freedom, if untethered to government influences and control, they assure us, can be catastrophic. Then they parade in front of us the realities of the industrial titans of the Gilded Age, the claim of collusion between corporate elites and legislative members both at the State level and the federal level (an argument used to usher in another death nail into our republican form of government with the Seventeenth Amendment), Teddy Roosevelt’s trust busting and monopoly dismantling (which actually just added the government to the overall monopoly), and the advocacy of a global free market that contributed to a prioritization of corporate profit over the stability of local communities and the exportation of labor to overseas locations (namely our geopolitical enemy, China) of which the accusers are actually the purveyors of.
The Free Market was never supposed to be a free-for-all, but that doesn’t mean it was intended to be suffocated by excess regulations put in place by people who have never navigated through the turbulent waters of starting a business, wading through the red tape of running a business, paying the taxes, dealing with employees and the wild array of other issues associated with receiving and shipping, and operating under a constant threat of government fines and hostile lawsuits. Our Free Market is limping, but not gone, and it doesn’t need to be called anything other than what it is supposed to be, a Free Market – I don’t care how much the term has been demonized by lefties, progressives, socialists, Democrats and communists … but then, I am being redundant.
A responsible Free Market does not outsource production to lower-cost countries, does not collude with government, does not import illegal aliens to perform work they falsely claim the average American would not do (proof the Democrats are still in the business of slave labor) and does not attack the sensibilities of its consumers through methods that are devoid of ethical values and designed to bring about the self-destruction of the vary Free Market values they claim to tolerate.
Fortunately, the extinction of the Free Market as originally intended is not inevitable. We do have those in our midst who recognize that while laissez-faire may be gasping on an operating table in the Emergency Room, we have available to us all of the proper medications: localism when it comes to regulations and local production, domestic trade freedom, business ethics, creating an environment that encourages American manufacturing, American employment, American innovation, and putting into place policies and a restraint on certain federal intrusions that encourages the dignity of American values and production over blind corporate profit sought in an irresponsible manner.
The Free Market is a responsible market based on private ownership, private production, private innovation and growth that impacts communities and the entire market rather than a boardroom hidden somewhere in some high rise tower with colluding government interests shaking hands with them behind closed doors. Otherwise, thanks to the heavy weight of Cultural Marxism, we might end up with a system drowning in socialist ideas, centralized government engineering, government owned and/or controlled means of production, a mundane infrastructure devoid of innovation and growth, and the end of the dawn of American enlightenment as envisioned by the Founding Fathers.
And before you respond with some Leftist Democratic Party commie talking point, please don’t forget one more thing about their tendencies: They (the opponents of Free Market Economics) lie about everything. They want to convince you that their way of doing things works even though history says otherwise. None of the ups and downs in a naturally operating Free Market has anything to do with racism, sexism, transgenderism, cultural fairness or whatever else they claim has anything to do with it – it’s all about the numbers. Supply and demand. Consumerism. What the market calls for, likes, and doesn’t like. Moral degradation doesn’t sell, but quality products do – especially when the cost of doing business is reduced because government gets out of the way and as a result prices come down. Unfortunately, the opposition of the Free Market goes way beyond what you see on the surface. It’s poisoned by wickedness. Pure Evil. There are forces that seek to oppose the very foundation of America, and going after Free Market Economics is a key way to do so. They need chaos. They need destruction. In the streets, inside hearts, and in the economic system. In the end it all has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with ideology, and the systematic destruction of the American System – laissez-faire and all.
Yes, a responsible Free Market is fair, but it is not a Fair Market, and I won’t call it that. It’s a Free Market. Responsible, private, and operational with as little government interference as possible. That’s what the Founding Fathers intended, and it is our duty to embrace that inheritance, no matter what the socialist lefty commies say about it. And if we do it right, we will not only launch a Golden Age and Make America Great Again, but we will push back into their shadowy hiding places the forces against a Free Market once again…at least for a while.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
