A month or so ago I received a call to action email warning against the governments ever- increasing interference with the “American ideal” of the free market economy. The author warned that the United States government is ever approaching an “anti-thesis to freedom” in the form of communist socialism. The email was specifically criticizing the government’s recent rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a subject appropriate for the author–an ambitious capitalist who operates a Down Payment Assistant program. He drew an illusion to each act of government interference to the loss of a star on the flag. I made the following reply:

Photo by fauxto_digit

The fist of power so-commonly represented on the hands of monuments to our forefathers.

Dear Sir,

Perhaps, you’ve yet to realize that government does not exist separate from economic systems. It is in the state’s best interest to maximize, or at least stabilize, the economy, in order to secure a position as a world power. The government must interfere with laissez-faire capitalism (as you can see by the recent failure of several high-profile financial institutions) otherwise it collapses in upon itself in due time. A free market economy is volatile on a large scale and can only survive with a government entity to manipulate and regulate it. As markets grow, the government will have to interfere more often, and there is a necessary decrease in freedoms.

But what would you prefer? Would you prefer to live in a powerful nation or a free nation? Do you see what happens to free nations, which are not powerful? Take Tibet for an example, a country whose government is in exile and has been occupied by a powerful country, China. Now, I imagine you would rather lose all of the stars on the American flag, than loose the benefits of being an American and live in Tibet. I on the other hand, would prefer to live in a free nation because this is the only right way to live.

The pursuit of power requires the sacrifice or freedoms. Often, it is justified with the intent to garner more freedoms over the long-term,but over the long-term it is obvious that this pursuit of power among nations becomes a perpetual course with no end in sight. You see, when one nation has claimed superiority over others, other nations strive to meet or surpass that superiority. The superior state must then protect and improve its economic status, lest it loose power. And even those countries that have relatively little power, are forced to pursue power in order to protect themselves to some degree. The struggle for power is an unending process, and the freedoms sacrificed along the way are not likely to be returned to the people.

And the whole bit about communism is so out-dated. I certainly am no communist sympathizer, but if you think that the United States government is going to think twice about a decision to abridge freedoms in the name of ensuring economic power, you’re wrong. The state only exists to perpetuate itself. Concerns for rights and freedoms of the people are always secondary. It’s just that the Communists were more upfront about it.

Sincerely,

Preston Benson

Lemonade Stand by adwriter

There’s something I find particularly disquieting about the early capitalistic endeavors of children. A sign drawn in multicolor marker in hand at the street corner: a desperate shake or wave of the sign not just informing you, not just asking you, but begging you to buy their exorbitantly priced lemonade.

It’s not as if you can pretend to have overlooked their place of business in the favor of another: you would feel quite immoral. How could one ignore that youthful exuberance, those seeking eyes, and the angelic halos cast by the summer sun?

Coming across the typical lemonade stand, at first, you are likely to feel a call to flight. Oh, if one were to stop at every lemonade stand! You try to look away so as not to be entrapped by the guilt-inspiring tractor beam of puppy-dog faces.

The second instinct, however, is one of pity. While these young boys and girls are not likely to be risking any great financial investment, there is some great hazard at hand to their naive egos. And for a horrifying instant, one worries that there is no one but oneself to save their enterprise and their innocent faith in capitalism.

On approach to the rickety stand, young eyes reeling you in like a floundering fish, you can’t help but feel awkward. For an instant, you wonder if you had any choice, in the first place, as to the, now, inevitable purchase.

You’ve entered the radius of proximity of prospective customer. But at a lemonade stand, a prospective customer is a guaranteed customer, and you know you’ve been involuntarily committed. The little capitalists know likewise. You pretend you still have options, and maybe you stall as if stumped between a choice of Country Time instant lemonade, or Country Time instant lemonade.

You look quickly for pricing information, none to be found, so you ask with a smile and sparkle in your eye: “How much is this, here, lemonade by the glass?” The terse response “two-fifty” rings so loud in your ears with the tone of impatience and unfriendliness, that you forget to be outraged by the price.

Your grudgingly keep a smile on your face and pull for your wallet in sheer embarrassment. You’ve been conned, and you know it. Couldn’t they at least hide the lemonade powder, so you didn’t know you were being ripped off? But you realize that that is a more advanced capitalistic lesson that they have yet to learn–a lesson they don’t need to learn as long as they have baby faces.

And when you receive your half-full Dixie cup of instant lemonade, you think you’ve reached maximum exasperation. That is, until you’re handed your 50 cents change and notice the youthful eyes intentionally avoiding the giant fish-bowl labeled “Tips” in hand-written three-inch bubble letters. And you falter, you almost choke on your first and last sip of lemonade, and you deposit one quarter after another with protracted, yet concealed, bitterness.

The quarters still ringing in your ears, you walk away, hurt, wounded and extorted. Such are the lessons that dispel the myth of childish innocence and stand as testament to their ability to effectively exploit the capitalist system.

Originally composed June 24, 2008