In the midst of the recent anti-war protests, I was interested in one group that got a good bit of media attention attacking the American free-enterprise system. This particular group is pretty well liberal across the board, but they are always bitter in their attack when business is involved. They consider profit to be a dirty, four-letter word, and in their lexicon businessmen and greed are always linked together in the same sentence. Why the media picked it up I'll never know, but the charge was that Bush and Cheney were starting the war with Iraq so American businesses could make a profit. That was their charge.
Let me suggest that one of the major reasons we Americans have the standard of living we enjoy is because of our competitive free-enterprise system. Let me suggest that competition in the business world is good, and that any business that does NOT make a profit will, and should, go by the wayside. Let me suggest that it is infinitely better for American consumers to decide where to spend their hard-earned money than government.
But above and beyond this, it is very obvious that in every war from World War II on the Armed Forces of the United States were immensely better equipped than any army we faced, anywhere. We lost a lot of airplanes in World War II, but the planes kept coming. We needed landing craft in the South Pacific, and landing boats showed up. We needed supply ships, and guess what? Look at the equipment our armed forces have in this Iraqi war, and ask yourself: where did that come from? I think it is fair to say brave and well-trained people will always be the key to American military superiority, but I would rather put our young people in battle backed by American free-enterprise than by any other economic system yet devised.
This is Gordon Sawyer, and may the wind always be at your back.
Tuesday
August 5th, 2025
7:42AM
