Entrepreneurs are very typical human beings in that they seek to maximize their own position in life.  Entrepreneurs want to better themselves and increase their standard of living just like every other human being.  The definition of the “good life” is very different among individuals including entrepreneurs. 

 

Like anyone else, entrepreneurs must make a profit or they must reallocate their resources to doing something else that others desire.  In order to make a profit and obtain their “good life”, the entrepreneur must give the customer what he or she desires in order to obtain their “good life,” otherwise, the customer will not trade.  The more profit the entrepreneur makes, the more he or she succeeds in giving the customer what the customer desires making everyone more successful in their attempt to obtain the “good life” each envisions. 

 

Free trade is the peaceful means of everyone getting what they want without resorting to violence.  However, because of the risk the entrepreneur assumes, there is no guarantee that the entrepreneur or anyone else will be successful.  Only when government, the forceful third party, enters the picture does peace turn to antagonism and violence favoring one over another and the chances of overall individual success diminish.

 

In spite of all government rules and regulations entrepreneurs find ways to get around them, usually by raising the price of the product or service they offer the public, so as to give others what they desire in order to make a profit, stay in business, and get what they want. 

 

The employee is an entrepreneur in the sense that he sells his employment talents to others so that he too may make a profit to achieve the “good life’ he defines.  Employees look for the best alternative for their labor in order to make the maximum amount. 

 

Essentially, all human beings are entrepreneurs because all humans organize, manage, and undertake the risk of selling their abilities to give others what they want in order to get what they themselves desire.  Any government interference in that trade whether it is a minimum wage law, price control law, rules about where and when that employment, product, or service may be sold and bought, or licensing, restricts the production of the good, service, or employment in question and thereby increases the cost of those same goods, services, and employment. 

Government interference in the market place increases the agony of the individual to become employed to produce the desired product or service, inviting individuals to find ways around those same laws, rules, and regulations resulting in making individuals criminals where they were not before and creating antagonism and possibly war between individuals where there was none before. 

 

Free trade is peaceful trade.  Government controlled trade is warlike trade.  Entrepreneurs are profit seekers because they cannot continue to be employed otherwise.  There cannot be excess profits by the entrepreneur in the free market.  There can only be excess government interference in the lives of entrepreneurs.  Thank goodness for entrepreneurs. 

 

The Freedom Library Education and Scholarship Program begins again Tuesday evening, September 18 at 6 PM at The Freedom Library.  For two hours every Tuesday evening for nine weeks, individuals participate in a concentrated study of the United States Constitution.  Upon completion of the class a paper is written applying the principles found in the Constitution to a current event.  Those writing the top four papers as determined by The Freedom Library scholarship committee will be awarded a $1,000 scholarship.  Go to www.freedomlibrary.org to find out more about the scholarship.  Download the application form, complete it, and send it to The Freedom Library to register for the class.  Call 726-8050 with any questions.  All individuals from age 13 on up are eligible to participate in the program.  The scholarships will be awarded at The Freedom Library Constitution Seminar December 4 where Dr. Earl Taylor, President of the National Center for Constitutional Studies will discuss the applicability of the Constitution to many of today’s situations.

 

Also, mark your calendar for November 1 at 7 PM at the Booth Machinery conference hall as Ben Franklin provides an evening for the Yuma community to visit with the sage of America.