Risk and Reward - Success and Failure

Our founding fathers spoke of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. TheFundamentals, because of our economic bent, tends to think of economic freedom as the bedrock of the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness concept. It’s great to be able to write this blog and ridicule idiotic politicians, economists and the media addicted personalities that abound in our society. But we get to do that because we are not working in the field from sunup to sundown, toiling to make a few pennies and grow a few crops to feed our families. This freedom from that type of toil is the consequence of risk and reward, success and failure and the phenomenal productivity that results. Freedom to choose is a much greater concept than that advanced by pro abortion interest groups. This larger form of freedom to choose is based on the concept of risk and reward. Do I spend my money to get this degree or that training? Do I use my savings to open up a franchise? Should I quit this job and start a new one? Can I take this gadget I’ve been working on for eight years and sell it to the consumer? Should I try to qualify for the tour? What if I fail? What if no one buys my gadget? What if my new employer doesn’t like me? How long should I keep waiting on tables and hope I get my break? These are not the questions being asked by members of the UAW and AFSCME or government employees.

What causes a culture that has so benefited from risk and reward, success and failure to drift into the apparent safer waters of less risk, less reward and failure avoidance? Health care for all. Financial security for all. Safety nets for all. Feel good. Equality for all in all things. Affirmative action. Let’s not confuse the virtue of charity with the wonderful virtue of risk taking. Failure is not a bad thing. No pain, no gain makes sense in economic matters as well as athletics and medical treatments.

Is it simply that this democracy is suffering from the bad consequences of letting politicians control the public treasury? It is interesting to note that the political support for the safer society is being promoted by the party in power and they find their voter support to be primarily in ethnic, racial and predominantly female voting groups. The party out of power finds its voter support to be primarily a white male voting group.

Fellas, please take note. It should not be a great surprise to demographic analysts that white male voters are dwindling in their pluralities. It may be that there is no turning back from the safer and much less risk-reward oriented society that is responsible for the strong economic progress of the world over the last 200 years. Other societies with a strong male presence are testing our competitiveness. All American men need to embrace this fight. The women will follow our lead.

Is capitalism just too tough for the voters who support the party in power? Or, do those of us who support a risk and reward, succeed and fail environment just need to do a much better job of message creating and message delivering and messenger selection? This is a fight worth fighting. If you believe in risk and reward, success and failure, it is time to join the fight.