Free Enterprisers All; E. Zarbin

We speak of business and gov ernment as doing this or that as Mr. larbln Is In the buslnes~ of writing, reporting, editing. He Is associated with the Arizona Republic In Phoenix. 218 though they have lives of their own independent of and apart from human action. Many people have come to regard government as omniscient and be lieve it should regulate business. They want business regulated for a variety of reasons, but I suspect the most common are to hold down prices and to repress competition. Government regulation, of course, doesn't just happen. It is people politicians and bureaucrats consciously deciding to interfere in the relationships individuals de velop with one another to satisfy wants and needs. The regulators appear on the scene out of their own conceptions of what constitutes justice and injus tice and in response to demands by groups whose favor they curry. The destructive results of political FREE ENTERPRISERS ALL 219 interference in the marketplace are all about us. Yet, all about us, too, are continuing technological ad vances, and signs of wealth and prosperity.

The fear-and I think it is very real-is that people will mistake these material innovations and monuments as evidence that free enterprise is well and thriving. Rather, I see these as demonstrat ing that private individuals intent on improving their own conditions are more creative than the misan thropes who have done their best to regulate us. It seems predictable that the regulators will someday catch up and succeed in creating total chaos because they have means-coercive authority-un available (and, indeed, undesirable) to individuals (beyond self-protec tion, including defense of property). Even then, creativeness will not be fully stifled, because individ uality and the drive of people to improve themselves and their condi tions will not abate. The evidence is ample that under the meanest and severest condi tions, individuals will organize and operate to improve their circum stances. They need not be instructed or directed in this. They do this out of the most basic dri ve-survi val.

Thus, free enterprise, or enter prise, is nothing more than unham pered individuals doing what is necessary to maintain their lives and health. Whatever they do to accomplish this, so long as it is peaceful, is appropriate. It is observable that, once people are capable of meeting basic needs, they will turn to an unknown and un imagined number of ways to effect entrepreneurial exchanges. In this respect, their activities may be iden tified as being both self,;.choosing (free) and self-organizing and self operating (enterprise). In essence, all of them, whether identified as employee, employer, or self-employed, are free enterprisers and are in the business of improving their own lots. It is arbitrary, and imprecise, though perhaps convenient, to con fine the term free enterprise to business. But it ignores that every productive person is engaged in business. It is simply that most peo ple, for an unknown number of rea sons and causes, have not organized and operated in business in the sense of being a partnership, corpo ration, or individually owned com pany.

Because many people do not or ganize and operate in the Hconven tional" business sense, this in no way diminishes their participation in free enterprise. For example, throughout my working years I have sold my ability as a researcher, writer, and editor to others. These others have relied on my willingness to produce, just as I 220 THE FREEMAN have depended upon them to meet commitments made to me to induce me to accept employment. I regard my employment as a partnership. My well-being, the well-being of those with and for whom I have worked, have been mutually dependent. There is not a single nongovernmental enterprise that could not be put out of business in short order if the People working in it withdrew their labor. At any time, even now, I could withdraw my labor and organize and operate myself as a ((business." But my business would be no differ ent than it is today so long as I didn't change my occupation. My becoming and remaining self-employed would depend, of course, upon consumer demand and satisfactory service.

Serving Others But this should ever be the way of the unhampered market. Entry into the market should be uninhibited. Sellers-and all who work are sellers of their time and abilities-remain sellersjust so long as what they have to offer is de manded. When auto sales decline, car makers layoff workers. The same can occur in any nongovern ment business, industry, or profes sion. Free enterprise, then, is the free dom of individuals to organize and operate for profit singly, in partner ship, or however else they care to come together. The individual has as much right to think of himself as being a businessman, or being in business, as Persons usually iden tified as being in ((business." ® IDEAS ON LIBERTY IN a free country such as ours, laws aren't designed to apply to specific individuals but to all of us equally. Ifwe attempt to legislate against the particular man who squanders his wealth on riotous living and idle and nonproductive pleasures, we also automatically legislate against the overwhelming majority of the persons who use their wealth wisely for the benefit of all.

Personally, I can see nothing wrong or evil about self-interest and serving others because you have to have them serve you in turn. Like anything else, the profit motive and the resulting accumulation of wealth can also be used for evil purposes by evil people. But by and large, the motivation of profit is primarily responsible for the vast amount of mutual service we find among us today. It is responsible for the constantly increasing standard of living in our country and the world in general. It is a moral method of encouraging all of us to serve each other better and effectively. BENJAMIN F. FAIRLESS Jarret B. Wolistein The Idea of Equality **j IT IS doubtful if any social concept in the entire history of man has been more fervently championed, more fiercely denounced, more misun derstood, more poorly defined, or more misrepresented than the idea of equality. Many Christians proclaim all men ~~equal in the eyes of God." The United States was founded on the principle of Uequality of rights." The basis of modem Western jurispru dence is ~~equality before the law."