Posted on 05/08/2009 6:17:10 AM PDT by okie01
“…in the good Providence of God, apparent failure often proves a blessing.” — Robert E. Lee
It is often said that we in America take our freedoms for granted. Our founders assured us of freedom to worship as we see fit, freedom to speak our minds, freedom to pursue our dreams, freedom to own the fruits of our labor and freedom to criticize and, if necessary, change our government.
If we take these freedoms for granted, as surely we do, then it is certain that we take another important freedom for granted. It’s a freedom that is almost never discussed and one that we might not even realize that we have.
Yet this freedom, perhaps more than any of the others, is central to the success of the American economic and social model.
We can never thank our founders enough for giving us the freedom to fail.
Just as you can never truly love absent the risk of heartbreak, you can never truly succeed absent the risk of failure.
In ancient Greece, if a man failed financially and could not pay his debts, his wife and children were cast into debt slavery until creditors recouped losses through their forced labor. Debtors prisons were common throughout Europe until late in the 19th century.
With the threat of imprisonment hanging over every citizen, there was little risk taking. And that was one important reason that economic opportunity for average citizens did not exist. Without the freedom to fail, there was little freedom to succeed.
In America, our freedom to fail is enshrined in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. The founders recognized that human enterprise could only succeed if there were adequate mechanisms for disposing of failure. The resulting U.S. Bankruptcy Code that has evolved over the past two-plus centuries provides an orderly process for dealing with financial failure. That orderly process sets the stage for later success.
Failure is a better teacher, and fear of failure is a better motivator than is the anticipation or realization of success. It is often said that whom the gods would destroy, they make prosperous.
This is not to say that failure is pleasant. Financial failure shatters dreams and ruins marriages. Financial failure contributes to mental and physical illness and has put many in early graves. In the current environment, any middle class family, any small business owner or any big company CEO who is not considering the possibility of failure is not paying attention.
Yet failure is a necessary part of a free market economy and absent the freedom to fail, and absent a willingness to allow failure to take place, we severely limit our ability to succeed.
For decades, General Motors, Chrysler and Ford stood astride the world in the automotive industry. Today, two of these three are insolvent and operating only because our government has loaned them our money.
Using GM as an example, better in my opinion to let the company fail than to prop it up with taxpayer capital. GM is not beyond redemption. Over the past 15 years, GM has invested in world-leading design and assembly technology and is right now building outstanding vehicles, capable of competing with the best of Europe and Japan.
That technology, that expertise and that capital plant would not vanish if GM were allowed to fail. Quite the opposite, in fact. If GM failed, investors would see opportunity in buying GM’s performing assets and human talent in order to move forward with a new, revitalized carmaker — one that retained the best of the old company together with the hard lessons learned. Such a process would make America’s auto industry stronger and we would all be better off.
I am appalled at the idea of the U.S. government, together with the labor unions, owning control of America’s largest automaker. I fear that it won’t work. I would rather see our leaders in Washington do what their predecessors have done throughout the history of the American miracle. Let American business have the freedom to fail so that we can all benefit from the resulting freedom to succeed.
Read it, print it, share it, give Paul Gleiser the distribution he deserves (he's a talk show host in Tyler, TX...and he also owns the station).
Ping.
“…in the good Providence of God, apparent failure often proves a blessing.” — Robert E. Lee
Let My People Fail is an excellent read but on the other hand Lee also said....
“Governor, if I had foreseen the use those people designed to make of their victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox Courthouse; no sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would have preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave men, my sword in my right hand.”
Gen. Robert E. Lee
And if you want epic fail, wait until the government and the UAW are done with GM and Chrysler. Ford is looking better and better - next car I buy my wife will be a Ford (although her beloved 95 Suburban will probably be around for another decade or so).
This works for individuals and private companies but NOT for government. Especially the democrats. If they learned from their mistakes they would eventually give up on their social engineering schemes but they don’t. If 0bama had sat down with a group of economists and asked what has worked in the past, we wouldn’t be headed to hell in a hand basket. They don’t care about results, only power and getting reelected.
That's for sure. I talked to the ex-boyfriend who broke my heart 10 years ago, and he's gone completely insane. Thinks he witnessed JFK's assassination in a vision when he was six months old or something, thinks he has discovered a new religion, is wandering around Tibet commenting on his destiny and his secret links with royalty. Man, it's frightening.
I used to think if only I'd done things differently, I could have won his heart. Now I'm grateful I didn't.
This is what is wrong with the public schools - the kids are not allowed the fail. They simply float along until adulthood hits them with those nasty things known as consequences.
-- Robt. E. Lee
You don't think this administration is going to let either GM or Chrysler (especially GM) fail, do you?
When the government-mandated over-priced electric econo-boxes from GM don't sell and Ford is running away with the market, well, we're going to need "some market adjustments to level the playing field", aren't we?
Like a subsidy to GM or its buyers -- to make them "competitive". Or stronger CAFE standards that only GM can meet. Or, more likely, the "National Automotive Wage Standard Act of 2012" which aims to "level the playing field" between Detroit and, say, Alabama.
In each and every case, it will be the taxpayer who foots the bill -- in order to keep GM afloat (and the UAW well taken care of).
Thus, in the end, we all fail. But the liberals will still have their power. They think...
Oh, they won't let them 'fail' by their understanding of such. But to anyone in the private sector, it will be an epic failure that will make publik skools look stellar by comparison.
You certainly attract the most interesting types. ;-) How’s your screenwriting?
Not bad. My friends and I are making our own short film. How are you doing??
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