Book Report...

I recently read this book and want to recommend it as a "must read". I learned so much from it. Being a believer in free enterprise, I must admit my knowledge of its principles was very incomplete. This book was a succint and straightforward reckoning of the difference between free enterprise, and the big government statism advocated by our current president.  If truly our country is at this crossroads, we must know what we are fighting for, and against. There is much at stake.You'll be a lot more informed and confident in the conflict if you read this book.

Some quotes from Mr. Brooks:

"Free enterprise is the system of values and laws that respects private property, encourages industry, celebrates liberty, limits government, and creates individual opportunity."

"Under free enterprise, people can pursue their own ends -- and they reap the rewards and consequences, positive and negative, of their own actions.

"More than any other system, free enterprise enables people to earn success and thereby achieve happiness. For that reason, its not just an economic alternative, but a moral imperative."

Big government/statism wants us to believe that success is not earned; it is a right. And if we do not have it, we are victims of some kind of exploitation. Our outcomes have nothing to do with merit or effort on our part.

"People who believe they have earned success -- measured in whatever life currency they want -- are happy."

Big government defines success for us -- all possessing the same amount, equal outcomes.

"If we know we have the possibility of earning success, we know we can improve our lives and our lot. That is one of the great gifts of the American free enterprise system -- the opportunity for people to re-invent themselves, to work toward a future that is better than their past. This is the American Dream."

Home ownership is NOT the American Dream. Having stuff is NOT the American Dream. The American Dream is the optimism of a better tomorrow.

"Earned success gives people a sense of meaning about their lives. And meaning is the key to human flourishing. It reassures us that what we do in life is of significance and value, for ourselves and for those around us. To truly flourish, we need to know that the ways in which we occupy our waking hours are not based on mere pursuit of pleasure or money or any other superficial goal. We need to know our endeavors have a deeper purpose."

"Free enterprise enables us to find meaningful work through free markets that match our skills and passions."

Contrast that thought with the European markets and their mandated pay, vacation, and their push to career choices made early and set in stone...They may have job security, but they have no choice to pursue their own skills and passions, and the rewards of such. Maybe that's why they riot when they find out they have to work for 2 more years before retirement...

"Successful, flourishing -happy- people are those who believe that through their own efforts they can determine their own destinies. Those who are powerless, and unable to affect what they consider important aspects of their lives, are among the most miserable people of all."

"The purpose of free enterprise is human flourishing, not materialism."

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what Mr. Brooks has written, and the value of free enterprise has become paramount to me.  This will be an epic battle in our country, and we need to know what we are standing for.  And, as Mr. Brooks states in the book, "We need to find a better language with which to talk about our free enterprise values." (Italics mine) If we are going to win this battle, we need to keep pointing people to the principle values behind all the talking points.

I hope this book report may have whet your appetite for this book. It is a short read -- without cumbersome economic terms...You won't regret checking it out.

Note: All blue type is direct quotations from the book. Black type: my opinion only...read the book! Mr. Brooks deserves a better look than my observations accomplish!

Someone's liable...

Yesterday, I was listening to the Joe & Patti Show on KGMI. They were discussing the legal case of an injured firefighter whose court-award of $12million was challenged when he was investigated and found to be physically capable of much more than his original complaint claimed. Despite the video footage and photographs that showed him playing bocce & horse shoes, and even dancing, his award was re-instated.


A caller defended this guy saying that you can’t see all the consequences of the original injuries, so it’s not fair to judge. Someone may be disabled and not look that way...Besides, the caller stated, “SOMEONE is liable...”

Apparently, that’s a given. When something bad happens, SOMEONE is liable.

In this case, the firefighter was injured when he got up to use the restroom one night in a firehouse he was not familiar with. In the dark, he chose the wrong door, and stepped off into the hole for the fire pole down to the first floor. He suffered a head injury, 10 broken ribs and worse, if you can imagine that.

This just stuck in my craw, and I don’t mean the specifics of this case. You can argue about what this guy did or didn’t do, and whether he should have the money but that’s not what’s bugging me. I’m sorry that this guy suffered such severe consequences from an unfortunate mistake, but what about personal responsibility? No one shoved him over the edge. Why isn’t HE the one responsible? Why is SOMEONE (read: ELSE) liable? Why is this the immediate response?

There seems to be the attitude that because this firefighter has lost something, someone must make it up to him. It’s a general attitude these days, I fear. If I have less than you, someone should make it up to me...and most likely you. Or the government should...Or those rich, uncaring corporations...

People want to dissociate merit, or effort, or the lack thereof, with outcomes. They want us to think that we’re all the same, and deserve the same. We are all made in the image of God, and deserve the same respect, and the same opportunities – but we do not have all the same motivations, nor do we all deserve the same kind of outcomes. And sometimes we make bad, maybe even stupid, mistakes, that set us far back from where we want to be...

If you take the time to think about it, you recognize that while we all want security and happiness, no one defines them in the same way. As we persist in the pursuit of equal outcomes for all, we restrict our ability to freely pursue that which is our own unique definition of security and happiness. I may have to settle for yours, you may have to settle for mine, or worse, we both have to settle for the government’s definition of these.

So much is wasted by encouraging people to wait around for others to make up what they lack, when, all the time, opportunity and freedom are right there for us to grab hold of in pursuit of our unique dream of security and happiness.

This is America, people! -- the place where initiative, creativity and hard work allow us to take our talents to undetermined heights! Why are we ceding our dreams to wait for equal footing? We’ll never get it and we don’t even need it.

It’s time we stopped whining for equal outcomes, and grabbed the equal opportunities that already exist.

If someone is liable for what you lack, most likely that someone is YOU.

An Almost Wordless Wednesday...

Got this in the mail...

I decided to do this with it...

Thanks to the Republican Party for this little exercise that reminds us how the Federal government works.

When they send you money, you end up sending it back, and about 80% of it gets lost in the process.

God bless -- no, God HELP America!

It's not exactly a Death Panel, but it seems like it...

I heard on the news tonight that an Arizona man who has leukemia has been given a virtual death sentence because of budget cuts implemented by Gov. Jan Brewer.

The Arizona legislature, not just Gov. Brewer, made cuts to the state's Medicaid funding because federal mandates about who is now eligible for coverage have created huge cost burdens. They were forced to cut optional services, which included some transplants...including a non-family member bone marrow transplant which would likely save the life of Mark Price, father of six.

The media has brought this to light, most likely because they are not fans of Jan Brewer...because if they were honest about it, they would have to admit that when Obamacare was in process, they mocked the people who predicted that decisions would be made that would cost people their lives.

In this case, it seems that the system requires that more people are covered, at the expense of others with more uncommon problems. Arizona Attorney General, Terry Goddard, and the Democratic nominee for governor, accuses Gov. Brewer that she has not made "tough decisions; she's made mean decisions that hurt Arizona families".  So is that how the families that have gained coverage feel? That the Governor is "mean" for including them, at the expense of others? I doubt it...

I can understand the frustration and grief of the Price family...but how do you decide who gets what? If you make an exception, what will it be based on? Is one person more deserving of life than another?

While proponents of Obamacare would have us think that all our health problems can be addressed and resolved through their system, it's just not true. They would have us believe that everyone has a right to an equal outcome...It's just not possible. There is not an infinite, ever-flowing stream of funding...Choices will have to be made, and when we are dependent on one source, we have no opportunity, or freedom, to pursue our own resources...When this course is followed, eventually we do have an equality of outcomes -- and no one is happy with them.