To consider the current business and political climate, let’s reflect during this 4th of July weekend on the path which brought us here. The fight for American Independence was long and bitterly fought. The conflict with the British began in 1775 and did not end until 1783. American colonists were divided on the issue of breaking-from-the-Brits into various camps. In other words, there was division – remote political similarities between America then and now. With regards the current U.S. business environment, there are also historic precedents for what we see now.
An early America colony dallied with socialism before the word was popularized by Karl Marx. Snoopes, Forbes and a host of online resources assert the experiment for a communal socialist utopia in 1620 Plymouth colony failed. So the modern American failures of socialism in Detroit or some California cities ought to be no surprise. As Margret Thatcher once quipped, the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.
So it’s fascinating to see self-described socialist Bernie Sanders surging in polls against Democratic presidential nomination front-runner Hillary Clinton. Sanders is pushing the entire Democratic field left. He is packing meetings and rallies with up to 10,000 attendees, while Clinton’s campaign continues to duck the hard questions about their family foundation’s affairs, emails, or any actual policy accomplishments. You know there is trouble in the Democratic front-runner’s camp when former president Jimmy Carter politely says in public that it’s hard to point to any real foreign policy advances during the Obama years.
That foreign policy part of former President Carter’s recent talk almost sounded like an applause line from Carly Fiorina’s stump speech.
On the Republican side, Donald Trump’s harsh lingo about Mexican illegals brought a backlash by NBC, Univision, Macy’s and others. Hispanic leaders are calling for all Republicans to repudiate the Don. Meanwhile, Trump is gaining more media attention than anyone else in the field. He too is surging in the polls.
It is way to soon to endorse anyone. So it’s pure observation to say that the Sanders and Trump surges speak volumes about America today. The Donald is akin to a voice of political incorrectness. He may be more outspoken than NJ Governor Chris Christie. Trump says he can beat China and others. It’s worth noting that the recent crash in China’s stock markets demonstrates they aren’t invincible. On the left, Sanders is getting credit for being “authentic.” Isn’t that what seems to be the draw for each of these political opposites? That they’re giving the people “straight talk” from their hearts and minds, that reflect each’s unique perspectives?
So a fragmented America is once more torn between left and right on economic policies. Our no-spin viewpoint is simple. Free markets are proven to work. It is no surprise that the most robust economies in the U.S. tend to be in the most business friendly, limited-government states. Layer on ever-growing government control, taxes and regulations, and you kill the goose that laid the golden eggs. The Plymouth colony abandoned the communal model. The objective observations of Greece, PR, Detroit, IL and other examples at home and abroad suggest that PM Thatcher was spot on. Communist Russia collapsed economically and politically in the late 80s and early 90s. Like China, they turned to some of the principles of Western capitalists to save their then impoverished nations. North Korea is perhaps the most communist nation on the planet, and its an economic basket case. How much more proof do we need than the above?
So why have so many in America abandoned the free enterprise solutions that made our nation great? Four words might sum it up: propaganda and revisionist history.
On the moral level, an easy case can be made that you ought not take by force what another worked for or invested in to earn. A defense of private property almost made it into the Jefferson-drafted Declaration, but the wording was changed to read “the Pursuit of Happiness.”
“The Business of America is Business…”
Without having to endorse that slogan, the concepts of low taxes, low regulation, small government and a balance of power to keep government decentralized and localized were baked into the early U.S. ethos. Morality based on faith played key roles too.
On this 4th of July weekend, it is well for us to consider our economic and political roots. MHPros are understandably fretting over the upcoming appraisal rule and it’s possible impact on MH sales. Each business and professional must do short term what’s necessary. But we ought to think beyond the immediate issue, and look to its root cause.
However well meaning, The Big Brother Government mentality is harmful to the very people it’s ostensibly meant to “protect.” By harming millions of American consumers – those owners of our fine homes – it will naturally harm the professionals working in the industry.
We can prove that CFPB regulations hurt consumers and business alike. Harming business in turn harms our current MH owners and more would-be MH home buyers. When a consumer advocacy group has apparently been bought off with federal tax dollars in a conflict of interest, how can their advocacy be trusted? Note they’ve ducked the issue, if their position was defensible, why have they not defended it?
We MHPros must be the true consumer advocates! We must be the ones to share the self-evident truths – and work to fully restore – the principles which made America great.
The Founders, Leaders and Heroes of America did not wait for public opinion polls. The best of our nation’s leaders looked for first principles and applied them.
From out of the darkness of the darkest night, on that remote place where no man-made light is found, there the stars shine brightest. The truths that set humanity free are eternal. We must work on the pressing topics of the day, without failing to pursue the longer term goals that will protect us and our youth in the years and generations to come.
Limited government – a republic that protects the rights of the people – must not perish from our land, nor from the earth. May God ever bless, guide and inspire the U.S.A.. ##
(Image credits: WikiCommons. Poster Credit: MHProNews)
See the prior, relate Masthead at this link below.
http://mhpronews.com/blogs/tonykovach/americas-and-the-manufactured-housing-industrys-crossroads-july-2015/
