Many pundits debate the woes and pitfalls of capitalism. They claim that it does not work and a new system needs to be created; however, the system is only broken because the people have allowed an imbalance to occur. This imbalance is found in the relationship between individual freedom and government intervention. If we are to restore the economy we must recognize and restore the connection between capitalism and free enterprise with a strong adherence to constitutional liberty.
At the core of capitalism and free enterprise is a fundamental belief in the preservation of property rights. Many economic philosophers agree with the connection to constitutional liberty, which former President James Madison made in a National Gazette essay written in 1792. “As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.”
“As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.”
In current society, the idea of private property continues to erode with the ever-expanding nature of government. Increasingly, we see government impose more business regulations, and through business subsidy and business bailouts, pick winners and losers instead of allowing market dynamics to work. History has shown us that there will always be times of plenty and times of famine and it is human hubris that allows elected officials and bureaucrats act to try to eliminate this natural economic cycle.
As a nation we must resist the urge to allow government to intrude in areas in which they do not belong, because a short-term bailout will become a long-term ensnarement. Our founding fathers understood that individual liberty and limited government is paramount for a free society and a free market. We must be vigilant to protect this freedom or we will fall on the ash heap of broken civilizations as a victim of excess government power.