America the Riskless
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From major financial institutions to the gridiron, we move towards a risk-free society
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Dynamism in an economy, as well as a society, is spawned by risk-taking. This has been proven time and again from explorers (e.g. Lewis & Clark) to inventors (Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs). With risk comes reward.
And risk-taking is precisely what Liberals and Democrats are moving us feverishly away from.
The Obama administration looks at every proposed corporate merger with jaundiced-eye as an unworthy risk to consumers. It also opposes everything from fracking to the XL Pipeline for fear of a risk that has, to date, been proven negligible at most. The risk of not having healthcare? Ironically, it is now replaced by the risk of trying to run the ObamaCare gauntlet and its risk of losing existing coverage for insurance that does not provide better benefits and often worse, at a higher price (unintended consequences are Liberals’ strong suit). Major auto and financial companies? Too big to fail according to the president and Democrats so the government, using taxpayer money, backstops their lousy business decisions with bailouts. As to the shrinking workforce that has been occurring since the financial meltdown of 2007, perhaps warranted is a look at all of the government programs that seemingly remove risk from people’s lives but also remove the incentive to be in the workforce as well as the motivation for employers to hire people.
If Christopher Columbus were as risk-averse as today’s society is becoming, there may not have been a United States of America
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And even the gladiator-like endeavor of the NFL has been immunized from risk with numerous protections of the quarterback as well as an anti-taunting rule that doesn’t offend the opposition and risk fights.
Given the recent anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy, we should take inspiration from his call to duty in his First Inaugural Address: “ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country.”
Such a model may bear risk but when one thinks that Christopher Columbus would never have left the docks of Spain to discover America had he had to deal with the risk-averse regulatory environment of today’s federal government, not to mention the unionized crew that would’ve been forced upon him making it economically prohibitive to make the voyage, we should all pray for a little more risk in our society.
-I.M. Windee
