Principle #3

Let's start with a few terms that get thrown around all willy nilly like.

Capitalism - is an economic system in which trade and industry are privately controlled for profit rather than by the state. Through capitalism, the land, capital are owned, operated, and traded for the purpose of generating profits, without force or fraud, by private individuals either singly or jointly, and investments, distribution, income, production, pricing and supply of goods, commodities and services are determined by voluntary private decision in a market economy.

Socialism - refers to any one of various economic theories of economic organization advocating state or cooperative ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equal opportunities/means for all individuals with a more egalitarian method of compensation based on the full product of the laborer.

Marxism - "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need (or needs)" is a slogan popularized by Karl Marx in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program. The phrase summarizes the principles that, under a communist system, every person should contribute to society to the best of his ability and consume from society in proportion to his needs, regardless of how much he has contributed. In the Marxist view, such an arrangement will be made possible by the abundance of goods and services that a developed communist society will produce; the idea is that there will be enough to satisfy everyone's needs.

Instead of giving this long diatribe on Conservative Principle #3, Capitalism/Free Enterprise, I thought a simple nursery rhyme would suffice. If you want a more detailed explanation, Commonsense Ben has a nice article on Socialism. I just think this is funnier. Consevatives will laugh, and it's simple enough for a liberal to understand. So it's a win-win.

THE LITTLE RED HEN

Once upon a time, on a farm in Virginia, there was a little red hen
who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few
grains of wheat.

She called all of her Socialist neighbors together and said, 'If we
plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. 'Who will help me plant
it?'
'Not I,' said the cow.
'Not I,' said the duck.
'Not I,' said the pig.
'Not I,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she
did.

The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain.

'Who will help me reap my wheat?' asked the little red hen.
'Not I,' said the duck.
'Out of my classification,' said the pig.
'I'd lose my seniority,' said the cow.
'I'd lose my unemployment compensation,' said the goose.
'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she
did.

At last it came time to bake the bread.

'Who will help me bake the bread?' asked the little red hen.
'That would be overtime for me,' said the cow.
'I'd lose my welfare benefits,' said the duck.
'I'm a dropout and never learned how,' said the pig.
'If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination,' said the
goose.
'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen.


She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to
see.

They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red
hen said,

'No, I shall eat all five loaves myself.'
'Excess profits!' cried the cow.
'Capitalist leech!' screamed the duck.
'I demand equal rights!' yelled the goose.
The pig just grunted in disdain.

And they all painted 'Unfair!' picket signs and marched around and
around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.

Then the farmer came. He said to the little red hen, 'You must not
be so greedy.'

'But I earned the bread,' said the little red hen.

'Exactly,' said the farmer. 'That is what makes our free
enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as
much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the
productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those
who are lazy and idle.'

And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen,
which smiled and clucked, 'I am grateful, for now I truly understand
the 'Socialist System.'

But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again
baked bread because she joined the 'party' and got her bread free.

And all the Socialists smiled. 'Fairness' had been established.

Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one
really cared...so long as there was free bread that 'the rich' were
paying for.

I believe it was Mr. Ronald Reagan that said "The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money".

Right now we run a hybrid of Socialism-Lite and Capitalism-Lite. We went from FDR's "New Deal" to BHO's "Raw Deal". And I guess our elected officials never heard the Tony Robins definition of insanity.

Principle #3

Capitalism/Free Enterprise never fails.