Will It Work

Today, I am treading very close to being political in a general way. The experiment of Socialism was tried at the founding of colonies in America and it failed miserably. Both Plymouth and Jamestown started by having a common storehouse where the colonists could take what they needed and replaced with what they could. It punished the persons who worked long and hard and rewarded the ones who worked little or not at all. The leaders, Captain John Smith and Governor William Bradford decided to give the people their own piece of land saying, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” It restated the biblical design and gave an incentive to prosper for each individual. When everyone had everything available to them with responsibility for nothing, it was bound to end up in disaster.

One of the reasons the war for Independence was fought was because of England’s impingement on regulating the finances of the Colonies. The dreaded Stamp Act and the tax on tea were especially odious.

The beliefs of our Founding Fathers further shored up free market ideas. Thomas Jefferson’s views shaped the Land Ordinance of 1785 making public lands available for private citizens. Alexander Hamilton displayed his belief in individual responsibility and the sanctity of contracts when in 1791 and 1792 refused to allow government bailout of banks that were the cause of the panic. Benjamin Franklin supported the belief in Capitalism with his printing business and with the wit and wisdom found in the “Poor Richard’s Almanac.

The United States Constitution is filled with core concepts supporting free market enterprise. It includes the Sanctity of Contracts, the freedom of expression, and a limitation on the government to regulate individuals and to levy taxes. It also lays out a responsibility for paying debts.

The Constitution is a major roadblock to those who seek a Socialist paradise. It is why so many politicians and judicial entities today want to diminish the Constitutions power or to actually do away with this document altogether. They want to remove the individual’s freedoms and God established inalienable rights.