Arthur Brooks, the former liberal prof who discovered to his surprise that conservatives were more generous and happier to boot, lays out the new terrain of the culture war--and this one goes to the core of what makes America the unique nation it is:
The new statism in America, made possible by years of drift and accelerated by the panic over the economic crisis, threatens to make us permanently poorer. But that is not the greatest danger. The real risk is that in the new culture war, we will forsake the third unalienable right set out in our Declaration of Independence: the pursuit of happiness.
Free enterprise brings happiness; redistribution does not. The reason is that only free enterprise brings earned success.
Earned success involves the ability to create value honestly -- not by inheriting a fortune, not by picking up a welfare check. It doesn't mean making money in and of itself. Earned success is the creation of value in our lives or in the lives of others. Earned success is the stuff of entrepreneurs who seek value through innovation, hard work and passion. Earned success is what parents feel when their children do wonderful things, what social innovators feel when they change lives, what artists feel when they create something of beauty.
A timely message, a recurrent one, and this year most critical.
Make America safe for lemonade stands everywhere again! From Hawaii to PA, Kentucky to Missouri and beyond, let freedom ring. Quench your thirst for freedom, folks.
Related: Samizdat Health Care
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