Liberty Matters

 It seems that with every passing day we hear more bad news about our economy. Weak GDP reports, low consumer sentiment, and low consumer spending have become the norm lately. And then it happened. Bear Stearns, the nation’s fifth largest investment bank, collapsed. What does the government do? They step in and keep this private business from completely failing by financing it’s buyout. Does this not bother anyone else?

The problem with this move is that they are using your tax money to do it. Since when should we be financing the bail-out of private companies that made the decision to engage in risky business practices? What ever happened to allowing a company to prosper or fail according to its own merit? In this case, the problem seems to be, at least according to the government, the sheer size of the bank. Their rationalization is that by allowing this bank to fail too many people will be hurt and the economy, already on life-support, will slip into the recession they are so diligently avoiding admitting is currently in the process of unfolding.

What has become of our government? Originally created to work as a tool of the people it has now become an all-powerful entity beholden only to itself. We, as the populace, are now mere subjects of this entity; slaves to the beast. What good does this do us? The populace continues to give up its ability to make decisions for itself in exchange for the perceived security a big government offers them. We need to remember, however, that at no time in history has big government succeeded. It has always failed and, in doing so, hurt the very people it promised to protect.

The sad truth is that the general population will always look for ways to get the most while doing the least and big government will be more than happy to oblige. All they ask in return is for more control over you. What we end up with is the current economic problems we are experiencing. When government intervenes in what should be the free market it ends up hurting everyone in the long run. Sure, this move might help in the short term, but it should be likened to putting a band-aid on the problem. It does not directly attack the root cause of the problem which is government’s intervention in the free market in the first place.

So, while we may be forced to deal with paying for the mistakes of a private business right now, take the opportunity to learn from it and demand that the government release its hold on the populace. Don’t be scared to demand that people be allowed to make bad choices and then be expected to live with the consequences of those decisions. This is the only true liberty.