I will not be at the Presidential Debate next week when it is held at Belmont University. We have no better chance of getting a ticket than anyone else. It is a random selection of undecided voters.
But if I was there, I would ask the following question: "Which of your policies will help entrepreneurs revive the American economy?"
It is not that I would expect an answer that would sway my vote. Neither candidate has a platform that supports what is really needed to spur entrepreneurial activity. They both are in favor of an activist government that lays a heavy hand on the economy. Both favor big government solutions to any and every problem. That is the last thing we need to spur entrepreneurial economic development.
The voters clearly understand that entrepreneurs are the best hope for our economy, as seen in a recent survey by the Kauffman Foundation.
"Americans in big numbers are looking to entrepreneurs to rally the economy," said Carl Schramm, president and chief executive officer of the Kauffman Foundation. "More than 70 percent of voters say the health of the economy depends on the success of entrepreneurs, and a full 80 percent want to see the government use its resources to actively encourage entrepreneurship in America."
Unfortunately, Americans don't seem to vote in favor of candidates who would act in ways to support our emerging entrepreneurial economy. They continue to vote for candidates that expand the tax code, expand regulation, and expand government intervention.
I hope that sometime soon, very soon, they will begin to understand what entrepreneurs really need and vote accordingly. Let's vote in people who will get government out of our way.
Well said Dr. Cornwall. The unfortunate truth behind the republican and democratic parties' candidates' lack of policy favoring entrepreneurial endeavors is that by default, they also drift away from any favor to bring our nation towards a state of free market principles where the people as a whole dictate the value in the assets that (with disgust, now) back their currency.
We, speaking as a nation, were not founded by people with such centralized, power-skewed perspectives. I fear that we have lost sight of the wisdom of our founders and the principles on which our country was established. The very document that dictates those principles so eloquently has been nearly forgotten in this current charade of media-blitzed snippets of half-truths and fear-imposing dialogues of a chosen (and often non-elected) few. The greatest change that the entrepreneurial world can hope for is the return to our roots - the roots of a republic.
When Benjamin Franklin exited the Constitutional Convention he was asked by a woman, "Sir, what have you given us?" He answered, "A Republic Ma'am, if you can keep it."
My prayer is that the same spirit that you write of in the Entrepreneurial Mind of creative invention and innovative implementation, will find itself in the struggle to save our Republic and return the power over the economy to the people - where it belongs.
A resource that I have found of particular interest and help is the Ludwig von Mises Institute. It is a group founded in the Austrian school of economics and offers much insight into the debacle that we are currently facing.