Generally I  explain economic and political issues in just a few sentences. The dangerous situation the world is in today can be explained in one sentence. Here it is.

The rejection of free markets and democratic principles is the danger and the source of most other dangers in the world today.

Markets have never been completely free. On a percentage scale the United States had an economy that was as high as around 80% free market in nature.  There was a time when there was no such thing as a free market. At that time there was no prosperity within the masses. The higher living standards the masses experience around the world are the result free markets evolving as an alternative to economics by force.

Today in the United States goods and services are rationed more by government decisions than by a price system. This puts the poor in the country at a huge disadvantage because who gets what is decided by political power. The poor have no political power and political power controls incomes and the distribution of goods and services.

Americans as a whole reject the free market concept. It feels more natural to trust government.

Even more serious, Americans are rejecting democratic principles. For two decades, congress has been passing laws over the objections of their constituents. That means citizens have no control over government. Lack of representation is an old problem. Perhaps there is a remedy for that. As of late, mostly 2016, Americans have stopped accepting the outcome of elections.

What good does it do to have suffrage if issues voted on are solved with a fight after the election?  The reasoning is, “I will vote and if I get what I want I will be satisfied. If I don’t get what I want, I’ll use belligerence to overturn the results of the election.” A country can’t survive making decisions that way.

Peace and prosperity come from free markets and democratic principles. Americans reject free markets and won’t adhere to democratic principles. With that I ask you. How much peace and prosperity are we to expect over the coming years?

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