Making a Market for Freedom

"Oh...people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come."
--Terence Mann (Field of Dreams)

When the United States of America was founded, there were no other countries operating under the auspices of inalienable rights, equal treatment under the law, and self rule. Instead, the dominant design was one of rights conferred by rulers, discretionary treatment under the law, and submission.

The US was like the entrepreneur with the radical new idea. It made a market for a design that did not exist elsewhere: liberty. The idea was to create an environment where people could pursue their interests unencumbered by aggression from others.

It was not a perfect design out of the gates. But it was so radically different from other designs that people around the world took notice.

Almost immediately, there were buyers of the idea. Immigrants, flocked to the US to trade previous positions of restraint for the prospect of living in pursuit of their dreams.

It was that market, the market for freedom, that rapidly elevated the standard of living of the United States to a position that made it the envy of the world.

Unfortunately, for over a century, we have been poisoning the market for freedom. The poison is part socialism, part imperialism. Liberty is being replaced with aggression--often done in the name of 'security' or of 'the greater good.'

But the greater good does not benefit from restraining the individual. For most people, standard of living is now stagnant or falling. We find ourselves borrowing more and more in an attempt to stay even.

Liberty remains the radical, entrepreneurial idea. Revive this market, and watch people once again come together to create and trade in pursuit of their dreams.