The first belief in the Republican Creed of Virginia is “that the free enterprise system is the most productive supplier of human needs and economic justice.”[read_more]
Our free enterprise system is better known as Capitalism, and that system uses excellence and competition as their guideposts. Nothing else.
The founder of modern economics Adam Smith explained how economies work using the example of the Butcher, Baker and Brewer. All three make, buy, and sell in their personal self-interest – and in turn benefit one another and everyone in the community.
When the Butcher, Baker and Brewer work with the same rules in openness and honesty, their businesses establish a fair economy. Not a socialist fantasy of absolute equality, but a free enterprise promise of equal opportunity and fair play.
A fair economy creates businesses out of the need of the people. Businesses create individual opportunities for jobs. Businesses make the poor richer and create real wealth for many. A growing economy means economic freedom for every individual. Regardless of race or gender. Open opportunities means choices for jobs and chances to open new businesses. And, every business must make a profit. Every business has to make money.
Yet, it’s said that the love of money is the root of all evil. That’s true when money is worshiped instead of God. But, money itself is the root of much good. Money – let’s call it capital – is the lifeblood of every economy. It allows everyone from the butcher to the baker to the brewer to the individual consumer and everything to work in harmony – and for profit. Everything – businesses, families, non-profits and even churches – must make a profit. Everything takes in more than it spends or it collapses (unless you have to power to just print the money, and that is a discussion for another day).
That’s simple enough until governments intervene improperly. Local governments have a responsibility to establish the rules for fair play. When the rules are tilted to create winners and losers – as they often are – corporations, unions and political sharks compete for laws and regulations to favor themselves. It’s called crony capitalism. Republicans and Democrats both use cronyism for their friends’ gains.
Richard Viguerie describes crony capitalism more accurately. “Crony capitalism is crony government.” Crony government is corrupt government.
It doesn’t matter what color or gender the butcher, baker, and brewer are for the economy to work wonderfully. What does race or gender have to do with the economy? What’s the skin color for Adam Smith’s Butcher, Baker and Brewer? I tell you, it does not matter.
Two great words in English – excellence and competition – create an upward spiral of wealth, quality, and innovation. Everyone benefits – even the poor. Our poor have adequate food, shelter, clothing, and often air conditioning, cable TV, cell phones and a car because we have an economy that allows such.
Excellence and competition aren’t based on race, gender, or any other label for “protected classes of persons.” Excellence and competition produce the best goods and services.
It’s time to end preferences, set asides, additional points in ‘scoring’ contracts, and quotas for all protected classes of persons. It’s time to end legal categories of “protected classes of persons.”
Let’s build the best economy in Virginia. Let’s capture the greatest economic excellence and competition with the most fair play. Then we all win, whether you are a butcher, baker or brewer, or just whoever you want to be.
