What was Reagan talking about when he said, “Government is the problem”?

Election 2014

The following is re-posted from the Online Townhall Meeting hosted by Greg Raths, conservative Republican candidate to represent California's 45th Congressional District.

Signing the Mayflower Compact

America's success did not come at the hands of its government. It grew to become the most successful nation in the world in all of history because of its lack of government. Those who argue with this premise are arguing with history. Once you understand this, you will realize that America's success cannot be restored until government is restored to its proper and limited role. Let's begin by examining the premise. We'll save the discussion of government's proper role for another time.

Although the first Europeans who arrived in the new world came to plunder it, America was founded by those who came later, the entrepreneurs. Does that sound strange? It's true. For example, Virginia was founded by entrepreneurs, the Virginia Company. Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth were also founded by profit-seeking corporations. Pennsylvania and Maryland were founded by proprietors, again entrepreneurs. The only thing restricting their efforts were the sovereigns who chartered their businesses. However, time and distance freed them from micromanagement and allowed them to grow and prosper while businesses back home struggled under stultifying government.

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Visit Greg Raths for Congress to learn more and support this candidate, a retired Colonel, USMC, combat fighter pilot, corporate executive, and community leader.

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Following the American Revolution, entrepreneurs sprang forth in unprecedented numbers. Whereas there were only seven corporations in all of the British Colonies prior to Independence, Pennsylvania alone minted more than 2,000 of them in the years between 1800 and 1860. Imagine how many more entrepreneurs created sole proprietorships and partnerships during this same period. Not only were they creating wealth, but also countless jobs.

One of the great incentives to this growth was the freedom to fail. Whereas bankruptcy was considered a moral failure throughout the old world, it was recognized as a fact of life in the new one. Most importantly, bankruptcy allowed entrepreneurs to learn from their mistakes and to create better businesses. 

Unfortunately, like Europe of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Centuries, we've allowed government to grow like a cancer and interfere in commerce. Politicians and bureaucrats prop up corporations that they deem too big to fail. They tax We the People so they can invest in businesses advanced by cronies who help them stay in office. Already having spent all the wealth of the nation, they borrow more, thereby depleting the capital available to honest entrepreneurs who might create better businesses and make them grow.

Of course, there is a proper role for government in commerce. It should monitor and regulate business to insure a fair and level playing field for all Americans. Unfortunately, it grew well beyond that role. When did this happen? At the same time that America's economy began to decline. How did it happen? Because We the People allowed it, but we can also correct it.

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