How Did the U.S. Become the Most Prosperous Nation in the World?

            The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns economic freedom. Because the world is engulfed in a coronavirus pandemic, governments are responding in ways that could put a damper on economic activity. However, the crisis should not be an excuse to institute governmental controls over the lives of Americans. Our leaders must take steps to end the controls as soon as possible to allow the economy to bounce back to robust health.


            During the health crisis, The Heritage Foundation released it 2020 Index of Economic Freedom on Tuesday. According to Terry Miller, the index “shows a world more committed to the principles of free-market capitalism than ever before.” There are 180 countries ranked in the index, and 124 improved their economic freedom scores over the past year. “The average score in the index is at its highest level in history, and the commitment to free-market reform is stronger than ever.”


            Miller reported that “the world economy has more than doubled in size” and “Poverty rates have declined by two-thirds” since the fall of the Soviet Union and other socialist/communist governments in Eastern Europe. This “unprecedent prosperity” in the developed economies and the “fantastic opportunities for growth” in underdeveloped countries comes as a benefit of the “globalization of world commerce.” “Hundreds of millions of people are enjoying better lives because their governments have embraced, at least in part, the U.S. way.”


            Is it any wonder that Americans – and Democrats in particular – grew concerned with the rising of self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders in the polls? Now that the Democrats are down to two contestants – Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden – it seems that everyone is climbing on the Joe Biden bandwagon.


            Anyone with eyes to see knows that Biden is senile and slipping further down the slope as time passes, but Democrats obviously think that he has a better chance at beating Trump than Sanders. This must say something about the chances of socialism taking hold in a nation that has a roaring economy – or did until hit by the coronavirus from China. 

The bare shelves in our grocery stores and the governmental controls on our ability to assemble, travel, and work make a great show-and-tell item about life in a socialist country. If you doubt what I am saying, just look at Venezuela! There is no comparison between a roaring economy in a free-market enterprise and a stunted one that exists under socialism.

Hundreds and thousands of the rising generation fell under the spell weaved by Sanders and other socialists in our nation. This fact should tell us that the education system in our nation is indoctrinating our children and youth. We need to make some changes in our educational system. Maybe the coronavirus will help us to make those changes since the children and teens are now being home-schooled and the college students have been sent home to study online. Parents and grandparents may see more of what the students are learning and set their thinking straight. No one in their right mind would choose socialism over capitalism if they knew the facts about the two system.

I agree with Miller when he said, “we live in the most prosperous country in the history of the world, and the fundamental principles of economic freedom have played a vital role in making that happen.” Parents and grandparents must be instrumental in helping the rising generation to see the truth as it really is and facts as they really are. Let us stick with the economic system that brought us to prosperity in the first place and let it help us regain our roaring economy once we beat back the coronavirus sent to us by Communist China.