Growls

Last Sunday’s Washington Post contained an excellent essay by the president of the American Enterprise Institute in which he explains that America's newest culture war is between free enterprise and government control. Brooks explains it this way:

“It is not at all clear which side will prevail. The forces of big government are entrenched and enjoy the full arsenal of the administration's money and influence. Our leaders in Washington, aided by the unprecedented economic crisis of recent years and the panic it induced, have seized the moment to introduce breathtaking expansions of state power in huge swaths of the economy, from the health-care takeover to the financial regulatory bill that the Senate approved Thursday. If these forces continue to prevail, America will cease to be a free enterprise nation.

“I call this a culture war because free enterprise has been integral to American culture from the beginning, and it still lies at the core of our history and character. "A wise and frugal government," Thomas Jefferson declared in his first inaugural address in 1801, "which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." He later warned: "To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it." In other words, beware government's economic control, and woe betide the redistributors.”

After citing several polls showing that Americans strongly support free enterprise, Brooks says that we are essentially a 70-30 nation, and asks, “If we love free enterprise so much, why are the 30 percent who want to change that culture in charge?” He notes the tipping point began in 2008, and then opines:

“The meltdown presented a golden opportunity for the 30 percent coalition to attack free enterprise openly and remake America in its own image.”

“If we reject the administration's narrative, the 70-30 nation will remain strong. If we accept it, and base our nation's policies on it, we will be well on our way to a European-style social democracy. Punitive taxes and regulations will make it harder to be an entrepreneur, and the rewards of success will be expropriated for the sake of greater income equality.

Brooks offers the "70 percent majority" hope, however, saying, “Today there is a very real threat that the 30 percent coalition may transform our great nation forever. I hope this threat will clear our thinking enough to bring forth leaders -- regardless of political party -- with our principles at heart and the ideas to match. If free enterprise triumphs over the quest for political power, America will be the stronger for it.”

P.S. The Q&A from a live forum the Post held with Mr. Brooks on Monday, May 24, 2010, is also worth reading. As one reader said, "I hope everyone in America reads" Brooks' essay.

UPDATE (6/2/10): Noemi Emery writes about "entreneurship and happiness" and cites from Brooks' book in her column today. She writes that in his new book, "The Battle," Brooks:"

"has statistics to prove that lottery winners (after the first thrill subsides) are not happy, that welfare recipients are very unhappy, and that trust fund babies are often the least well-balanced and happy of children. People living in social democracies are less happy at work and in general than are Americans, and the happiest Americans are entrepreneurs and creators."