Let Economic Freedom Ring!

This week being a week in which our civil rights are examined and celebrated, it is a good time to also examine our freedom. We as Americans enjoy freedom on a greater scale each and every day and more than any other society in the history of mankind.

Freedom, as I have regularly pointed out in my writings and as I have spoken to so many of you on the campaign trail, is a miracle and a true gift; it is something that we must cherish or lose.

Last week the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal released their 18^thannual Index of Economic Freedom. Economic freedom is the ability of individuals to control the outcome of the fruits of their labor, and the opportunity to make one’s own financial decisions. Heritage and the Journal have measured this by studying its pillars: the rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets. Property rights, freedom from corruption, government spending, free trade, labor policies, and one’s ability to invest in and create businesses all factor into a country’s economic freedom.

In their estimation, economic freedom declined across the globe in 2011 as countries on nearly every continent attempted to spend their way out of debt crises. Government spending in the United States has grown to be the equivalent of over 40 percent of our gross domestic product! Worse, total public debt exceeds the size of our economy.

Spending more is not the way for our nation (or any other) to achieve greater economic freedom, any more than it would be for an individual or a family. We can’t dig our way out of the hole in which we find ourselves; we have to climb out. The rungs on the ladder that will help us to climb back to the level of economic freedom we have lost are to cut spending and increase productivity.

To increase productivity, we MUST allow individuals AND entrepreneurs (the backbone of our economy) greater freedom to control the outcome of the fruits of their labors. We cannot allow the government to continue to slap regulation after regulation on small businesses. Hiring will grind to a halt. Some 13.1 million Americans are out of work. Jobs that could be created simply will never come to fruition. The uncertainty of a future filled with onerous regulations is putting the brakes on bringing our economy out of its doldrums.

It is imperative in this election year that we as Americans select leaders who understand what economic freedom means; and more importantly, leaders who value it. Let us not wish for the good old days – with the right leadership, the best days are ahead of us. The grand key to a prosperous future is fiscal restraint. We can and will climb back to prosperity for our nation, and lead the world by example.

Chris