Free enterprise alive and well here
Wharton Chamber News

The Free Enterprise System. It would be a shame if these words just conjure up another hackneyed phrase, instead of its significance to our nation.

Free enterprise means that people can do business with one another without interference from the government, as long as it is lawful, meaning no harm is done.

It may take years, it may even take decades, but the Free Enterprise System has a way of correcting abuses of these economic rights.

That's abuse of too much government control, or people going to far, to the detriment of others and to society as a whole.

How long can a society live with economic freedoms but without political freedoms? It is an interesting question.

The People's Republic of China sure is trying to make this conflicting formula work - a strong economy but with a strong arm at the political helm.

The answer is not yet known, of course. Up to now, there has not been a revolt, but it would be a fairly safe bet that the populace will not acquiesce forever.

Why? Our adaptability, and its two-edge sword.

The reason why mankind can survive in the harshest environments and the harshest circumstances is our adaptability. As our environment changes, we often change to accommodate our environment.

This is why dictators on occasion have the staying power that they do. People, frankly, get used to them.

The second edge of the sword comes into play when their shackles start to be lifted - either politically or economically. In China's case, the economic shackles have been eroded to a great extent.

People get used to it. They like it. They want more of it. They want what the United States already has, the freedom to do business but with the freedom of association - a Constitutional guarantee.

Eventually a deep-seated need in our human nature is also revealed. The desire to do better, be better, if not for ourselves but for the next generation.

Yes, we are adaptable, but we are also driven to make things better.

We live here in a small town in a nation that wrote the book on free commerce and free association. What does this all mean to us?

The answer: everything.

We are Wharton. We are the world.

Have a profitable, and free, 2008.