For The Preservation Of Free Enterprise: Greg Vital Op-Ed

Photo: District 29 Republican Candidate Greg Vital 

Photo Credit: electgregvital.com

Published August 23, 2021

By Greg Vital –

President Joe Biden’s July 9, 2021 Executive Order intends on playing chess with the free market by introducing competition to penalize large corporations for existing. And while the EO claims to alleviate a reduction in wages for small businesses, those who own and operate companies know the bleak reality: someone has to lose.

This shift creates the same issue for larger companies that it intends to remedy for smaller ones, resulting in reduced wages and job loss. Competition in the free market can’t be manipulated in an artificial way as Biden’s EO intends to do. Only the needs of American consumers and the innovation and creativity of corporations — large and small — can do such. And since when has any government entity served as a successful substitute or decision maker for the public sector? 

Free enterprise is and has been a fiercely roaring engine responsible for driving America forward, making all things possible that encourage self-efficacy and a reduced dependency on government for as many citizens as can benefit. This is a goal we should all strive for. If not, then for what reason does our government exist? And what example is there of a successful capitalistic society that simultaneously depended on the state?

Free enterprise is an open gate, wide enough to accommodate any American entrepreneur who seeks to benefit from it as I have for more than 30 years. Executive orders, like the one that President Biden seeks to impose on our businesses, only serves to narrow that path, punishing companies for simply being too great and leaving layoffs and missed business ventures along the way.

*** Click Here to Support Conservative Journalism in Tennessee. We can’t bring you great Editorials like this without your support!***

Ultimately, public demand is the generator of economic opportunity upon which entrepreneurs are prompted to deliver. Never should it be left to the White House — under Biden or anyone — to decide who best caters to the citizens’ wants and needs.

The rising socialist ideologues emerging from today’s version of the Democratic party believe that their party carries the burden of correcting society. Like repairmen, they look for any and every nail to hammer. But knowing firsthand the power of a free enterprise economy with fewer boundaries, not all things considered “help” are of value to its intended beneficiaries.

If the White House truly wants to be of assistance, it should not only consider assuming its own history of economic ineptitude, but also endorse a free market best run by the only entity that can ensure a roaring and robust economy — the people. It is essential that we all remind ourselves of the virtues of free enterprise, which leads to higher incomes, reduced poverty and self-sufficiency, while fostering greater creativity, innovation and the competitiveness needed to stimulate economic growth unlike socialistic ideologies. 

As a business owner operating more than 35 senior and assisted living communities across five states, I have firsthand witnessed the significant economic impact generated that goes beyond serving seniors and their families. Each community we’ve built serves as a catalyst for career opportunities for nurses and essential partnerships between colleges and universities to help healthcare workers realize their career aspirations and improve the lives of their own families. So for the nearly 2,000 employees and their families, a free enterprise system works and has for decades.

In contrast, a more socialist system tends to sound good on paper and initially seems to be for the small guy, it eventually collapses, resulting in potential entrepreneurs, business owners and corporate leaders being reduced to a people with aspirations limited by government dependency. The cost to operate a business becomes burdensome and discouraging. And government services become more tempting as job opportunities become harder to come by.

As Americans, we should make it our moral obligation to teach and preserve a freer way of life for all by encouraging free enterprise and to strongly reject any notion that the government should artificially and unnecessarily restrict business in any way, shape or form.

I conclude by juxtaposing two quotes by esteemed American economist Milton Friedman that, in essence, describe what we should endure in light of Biden’s hand in the capitalist cookie jar. 

That: “Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”

 But also, “Nothing is as permanent as a temporary government program.”

As the Biden White House makes its gradual attempt to right what they perceive are economic wrongs, we need to question whether any decision brings us closer to a free society or further away from it, because the seeds sown today will take generations to uproot if it can be uprooted at all.

About the Author:

Greg Vital is the only Republican candidate running for House District 29 in Tennessee.  Vital co-founded Morning Pointe Senior Living 25 years ago, which now operates more than 35 senior care and Alzheimer’s care centers in five Mid-South states, employing more than 1,600 people and its corporate headquarters is located in Ooltewah, Tennessee.