Our government creates the opportunities for the capitalists. The capitalists take advantage of these opportunities to build wealth for themselves and all the American people. Everyone benefits from our economic system.

The secret of America's tremendous success has been its partnership between adventurous opportunity creating government leaders and hardworking imaginative capitalists willing to take advantage of the opportunities made available to them. Together they create tremendous wealth for the nation so that all of its citizens can benefit from their efforts.

The Government/Capitalist Partnership - The partnership between our government and capitalists is the source of the tremendous wealth and the high standard of living we have achieved in this country and also in much of the world. The capitalists grow the food we eat, the tools we manufacture, machines, products and build the infrastructure that we depend upon. They are the people who make things happen.

We all live off the abundance created by the capitalists' imagination and dynamic energy. By levying income and inheritance taxes on the wealth created by the capitalists the government is able to provide all sorts of social benefits, military might, infrastructure, roads, schools, dams, bridges, buildings, etc. for the common good of all its citizens. The partnership between farsighted government leaders and the capitalists created America's tremendous wealth.

Revolutionay War starts things off! - It all started even before we had a country, with our Revolutionary War for independence. For years American colonists had to put up with England's heavy handed obstruction of the colonists attempts to establish capitalism in the colonies. Finally the colonists had enough and decided it was time to fight for our freedoms. It took many years of hard fought battles by the citizens' militia (citizens from all walks of life) to gain our freedom and the right to establish our own businesses and carry on international trade. This was done with everyone fighting for this common goal. Most conservatives (Torys or Loyalists) had moved to Canada where they remained loyal to King George of England.

The first goal is to establish a country that was friendly to capitalism and the rights of its citizens. This partnership between government and capitalists was firmly established through trial and error and The United States of America was born. The capitalists were now free to start their businesses and to begin building their wealth for themselves and America.

But capitalists are also like a herd of wild horses, if they are to do any good they must be controlled and guided but their ambition and creativity must not be stifled. If left on their own some of them would tear the country apart and foul the environment in their quest to make a profit. Some of them would amass great fortunes for themselves with little regard for anything else, for some their greed knows no bounds.

Thomas Jefferson's "Louisiana Purchase"  opened up vast new lands, nearly doubling the size of America's territories. This action by our government opened up tremendous opportunities for the capitalists to "do their thing" which they have been working at ever since. The exploration of these vast new lands by the Lewis and Clark expedition revealed the tremendous opportunities that were now available.

Commodore Perry's naval victory in the Battle of the Great Lakes had far reaching effects for our country. The British navy no longer dominated the Great Lakes. The battle had cut the British supply lines to the west and forced them to abandon Fort Detroit and retreat to the east with General Harrison in hot pursuit. These battles were the turning point of British control of the Great Lakes and western territories.

The Great Lakes where now dominated by the Americans along with the vast Native American territories west of the Great Lakes to what became known as "America's Bread Basket". After the great Chief Tecumseh's death and retreat of the British the native tribes alliance's fell apart and they were forced to sign treaties with the Americans opening up their vast fertile territories for settlement.

Governor (New York) Dewitt Clinton's decision to build the Erie Canal made possible by Commodore Perry's victories was the next important government public works project to be undertaken. Thomas Jefferson said it wouldn't be possible to build a canal like this for another 100 years. The completion of the canal in 1825 made it possible for of thousands of European farmer capitalists to gain access to the vast fertile lands west of the lakes. The completed canal was such a success that hundreds of miles of canals were built by other states only to be eclipsed later in the century by another new technology - the railroad industry.

Dewitt Clinton's Erie Canal project created immense new wealth opportunities for the American capitalists and also encouraged other government leaders to take on larger and larger projects that eventually turned our country into the most powerful rich adventurous nation in the world.

Some other acquisitions and projects that enabled America to become world's leading progressive super power!!

President Polk an expansionist leader acquired through negotiation and war achieved our country's "Manifest Destiny" with all the western territories that brought more vast riches and tremendous opportunities for the capitalists.

President Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War (1862) gave his approval for building a transcontinental railroad. It was the largest public works project yet undertaken by our government. Finished in 1870 it linked San Francisco with Chicago and opened the country's far west for vast new capitalist wealth building opportunities.

President Andrew Johnson snapped up Alaska when it became available from Russia creating tremendous more wealth opportunities for the capitalists.

President Teddy Roosevelt OK'd the building of the Panama Canal another government wealth building opportunity for the capitalists.

Later President Franklin D. Roosevelt was responsible for building the great TVA project that electrified the south and he OK'd the building of many large dams that supplied clean electrical power all over the nation. All these giant government projects to electrify America enabled the capitalists to take advantage of these great opportunities and by using their imaginative powers build ever greater wealth for America. Tremendous new manufacturing indutries were made possible by these government projects.

During World War II the government's Defense Department partnered with the capitalists to create the greatest war machine the world had ever seen and catapult America into the world's premier super power.

After World War II President Eisenhower a progressive Republican inaugurated the building of a vast network of super highways all over the country that tied the country together logistically. These highways created additional wealth creating opportunities for the capitalists.

Later in the 20th century President Kennedy started a rocket ship building project that took us to the moon. Our government's creation of NASA provided the capital and incentives for vast new space technology industries to come into being. America's defense industry opened up vast new opportunites for thousands of new inventions and discoveries. Among them was the nuclear industry which opened up even more wealth generating opportunities. These government inspired cutting edge technologies propelled America into the 21st century.

The government backing of the internet gave the opportunity to hundreds of "nerdy" capitlists to create hundred of billions of dollars of new wealth for the country. They contributed to changing society with their spectacular innovations forevever. Now with the help of NASA, private capitalists are beginning to build their own rocket ships. We will have to see where they will take us - who knows but it should be exciting.

All these partnerships between the farsighted adventurous government leaders and the imaginative capitalists taking advantage of the new opportunities created by government involvement in new science and technologies such as; the defense industry, the computer industry, the internet, NASA, medicine, GPS, etc, has created trillions of dollars in new wealth possibilities for America's capitalists.

A BIG PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT!  This is the secret of America's tremendous success. It is a partnership between progressive opportunity creating government leaders, imaginative capitalists and hardworking workers willing to take advantage of the new opportunities that are made available to them by a powerful prosperous government making opportunities for its dynamic capitalists!

The Failure of Communism.  The difference between social capitalism and communism is the communists stifle or kill their capitalists while America's capitalism system encourages and provides opportunities for their capitalists to do their thing so that everyone can benefit. Karl Marx with his "Communist" ideas failed to understand that if the capitalists were given the opportunity and guided in the right direction that "Capitalism" could do much good. Marx wanted to destroy the capitalists instead of benefiting from tremendous wealth they produce.  This was the fatal flaw of communism.  

Russia has finally emerged as a capitalist nation. Their people have finally been freed from the yoke of communism and are now embracing capitalism with all its new rewards and dangers. Millions of new capitalists are getting into the act coming up with new ideas, starting new companies trying to create wealth for themselves BUT if the government is wise it will keep a tight grip on their reins but not enough to stifle their efforts. Already the new Russian capitalists have had to be reined in from their greedy excesses.

China, although it is still a communist dictatorship has enbraced capitalism wholeheartily after seeing what it had done for Hong Kong and Taiwan and is now flourishing. It has already become a major manufacturing and financial power.

Although the capitalists are the prime wealth creators of our nation, they are also like a herd of wild horses, if they are to do any good they must be controlled and guided. Some of them are greedy beyond belief. If left on their own some of them would tear the country apart, and foul the environment in their quest to make a profit. Some of them have amassed great fortunes for themselves while paying their workers as little as possible. With many of them their greed knows no bounds, their primary motives are profits and power alone with little thought of benefitting the citizens that helped make these opportunities possible.

Many of them say "its my money and I'm not going to share it". Many of them hide their money off shore. Once they become successful they forget about the help they received from the government and workers. Their latest policy is to make the government as small as possible and do away with all social benefits for the "common people". The recent scandals of some of our large corporations have once again shown that the government must maintain enough regulations to keep them honest.

keywords: "Free market", "deregulation" and "small government"  to the capitalists means greater freedom to make more profits whether it is good for the country or not and soon leads to economic chaos. Relaxing controls too much allows the capitalists to run wild and the country suffers. We need sensible government regulation to keep these capitalists on track so that they are able to create their wealth BUT also have everyone in the country benefit too. Enough regulation to keep them honest while offering them many opportunities and allowing stiff competition to keep them on their toes.

Just take the earlier days of America for example: In the southern part of our country the capitalists amassed great fortunes using slave labor to harvest their cotton crops - and they even thought it was their right to do it. Up north in the coal mines and the sweat factories they worked children sixty hours a week and paid as little as possible to all their workers under the worst working conditions. They also fought improving these conditions and wages every step of the way.

It was only after bitter bloody fighting in the Civil War that the slaves were freed and the labor and environment laws passed, alleviating some of these injustices. In some parts of our country these conditions still exist. There are still illegal sweat shops in many places of our country, including California, New York and even over in Saipan using mostly illegal immigrants. In some states they are tearing up the land - surface mining coal, and clear cutting our forests, while good old boy politicians and complicit judges watch and do nothing.

Fortunately our political system has over the years, been able to harness and somewhat control the potent force of these energetic citizens through the passage labor union and safety laws, child labor laws and environmental laws. The income tax law has redistributed some of their wealth and made our country the richest, super power in the world. If we are to maintain our high standard of living, maintain our infrastructure and remain militarily strong we must make sure we do not stifle the imagination and incentives of these dynamic people while also keeping the reins tight.

Footnote: DANGER LURKS IN AMERICAS FUTURE! - "Capitalism Gone Wild"  During the past 25 years the right wing conservatives controlled the country much of the time. When they were in control they passed large income and inheritence tax cuts for the themselves which simply shifted the nation's debt to the future generations and sent the nation's debt spiralling upward. Their strategy is to keep America up to its ears in debt so the average citizens will be unable to enjoy the social benefits they deserve. They also refused to pay for their wars by putting everything on credit. Even now they refuse to pay for their wars and continue put more and more debt on the citizens shoulders.

When the progressive Democrats finally regained control in 2009 the Bush Adminstration handed over the trillion dollars of debt they had amassed during their time in power to Obama. At the present time they are doing their utmost to block everything Obama tries to do in hope of getting back in power. Last October they blocked Obama's job bill that economists say would have created 1.4 million jobs and now blame him for slow job growth.

When the radical Republicans were voted out of power the country was in the grip of runaway capitalism and headed into a financial disaster. The country was headed into a deep depression with our largest banks failing and the stock market falling precipitately. Millions of investors were losing their savings in their 401Ks, mutual funds and pension plans. They lost billions of dollars as the stock market plunged. Now the Republican Tea party conservatives want to cut all their social benefits to pay for their misdeeds.

The Obama Miracle - Within less than three months after assuming power President Obama's financial team stopped the downward spiral of the stock market and turned the market upward and its been heading up ever since despite all the attempts by the regressive Republicans to block and filibuster everything Obama tries to do. The Republicans just wanted the "free market" take care of itself but that may have taken 10 years or more. This would have meant a long 1930's type depression.

Obama's team did it in 3 months! There is still much damage to repair but if the citizens of our country are able to keep the conservatives at bay we may have a chance to enter back into a stable prosperous nation again. To do this the government must be big and strong enough financially to offer opportunities for the capitalists well into the future.

 by Donald Louis Hamilton July 2012, updated 2014.

Don Hamilton is author of - "The MIND of Mankind" - A challenging book that explores the incredible creative powers of Mankind and the mysterious nature of the Universe. Everything humanity has achieved is a result of its "Human Imagination". It created the MIND of Mankind.

Comments from a satisfied reader - "Hello Mr. Hamilton, Just finished your book ... great job! Do you have any other similar books available?? I was looking for information on creation/evolution when I came across your book. This book should  be included in the educational systems of the world ... all ethnic groups could benefit greatly from this writing." - Matt

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