Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle… and the life of the candle will not be shortened. -Buddha

We’re going to wrap up our discussion on the philosophy of money this week. And we have to start with this – if we assess the great moral philosophers that have come to us over the years, we’ll find that many of them came to the same fundamental ideas… just from different cultures.

These ideas are like strings running throughout history. They are small and not easily seen. But they connect people, events, and philosophy across geography and across time.

One of the ideas consistent to moral philosophers across time is the “Retreat and Return” model. Both Jesus of Nazareth and the Buddha followed this model.

For Jesus, he went out into the desert for forty days prior to beginning his ministry. He did this to clear away distractions and focus his mental strength on the task at hand.

That task was to demonstrate the hypocrisy of those who preached a rigid rules-based approach to morality. Jesus pointed out that the religious authorities of the day might follow their arbitrary rules, but they did not live a life of compassion and service towards their fellow man.

The Nazarene knew this would earn him some powerful enemies. But his mission was to show people a better way. Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. This is the North Star of morality. And as Jesus demonstrated, any rule that conflicts with this one is neither valid nor just.

If we think about it – it’s amazing that we’re still talking about a guy that died over 2,000 years ago. That speaks to just how successful Jesus was with his mission. But again, it required him to go out into the desert for forty days to get fully prepared first.

The Buddha’s story follows the same model.

Siddhartha Gautama – the Buddha – was born a prince. He lived a luxurious life surrounded by relative material abundance… but he found that life hollow. Thus, Gautama renounced his life of luxury and retreated to the wilderness.

At first Gautama subjected himself to a life of extreme asceticism. He forced himself to endure severe physical hardships thinking that doing so would unlock a sense of purpose. But it didn’t.

As the story goes, Gautama sat under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India to reflect on his experiences. He proceeded to meditate for several days until he reached a higher state of awareness. Gautama called this enlightenment. Only then did he return to society to teach others about what he had learned.

The pattern is clear. Both Jesus and the Buddha pulled away from society to delve deep into their inner selves. This allowed them to find clarity, wisdom, and strength that they didn’t know was there. Then they returned to society ready to pursue their true calling.

To me, the path to financial independence follows this same “Retreat and Return” pattern.

Remember, financial independence refers to a situation where we don’t have to trade our time for money anymore. To get to that point, we must first build a robust asset reserve. Then we need to build passive income sources capable of covering our expenses.

This is a dynamic we all want. But not many of us are willing to do what’s required to get there.

As we discussed yesterday, the path to financial independence is a lonely one. It requires us to pull away from certain social norms and focus intently on our goal.

This takes discipline, courage, and, at times, thick skin. But if we can pull it off, we’ll be free to spend our time and energy on our true calling. We can return to society as a positive force. And we can have a tremendous impact on our little corner of the world.

This strikes me as the path to Maslow’s “self-actualization”. That’s because if we can gain financial wisdom and independence, we can focus our time and energy on being pure creators.

And make no mistake about it – humans are creators in this world. We alone among all the other species on Earth have the ability to think and create at will. That means we are the architects of our own destiny.

It’s a simple thing… but this may be the most profound insight in the world.

As best I can tell, all living creatures serve a function. Think about it…

Bees pollinate flowers which leads to continual plant growth. As part of this process, bees transform plant nectar into honey – a highly concentrated energy source for insects, birds, bears, and us humans.

For their part, plants produce the oxygen and food that animals need to live. And some plants serve medicinal purposes as well.

Then cows and goats ingest grass and turn it into milk. Earthworms break down organic matter and fertilize the soil. Bacteria aids the decomposition process and recycles nutrients back into the ecosystem. The list goes on and on.

But here’s the thing – those species are limited just to a few tasks.

Meanwhile, we humans have no such limits. We can pursue any task we desire. And then we can create new inventions and new tasks should we choose to. We are creators in this world.

Perhaps this is what Jesus was getting at when he talked about moving mountains. Here’s the Nazarene:

Amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain: Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove. Nothing shall be impossible to you.

Food for thought.

-Joe Withrow

P.S. Building a strategic asset portfolio is the first step on this journey of financial independence. If you would like help in building a customized asset portfolio, our flagship Finance for Freedom course is for you.

More information right here: Finance for Freedom

The overman represents the highest potential for human creativity, strength, and achievement – a sort of ultimate affirmation and embracement of life.

This quotes describes 19^th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the “Übermensch”. That word means “overman” in English.

There are different interpretations and misconceptions around Nietzsche’s overman philosophy. But on the surface it’s a simple idea.

Nietzsche suggested that life is individual in nature. That is to say, we each experience life as an individual. And the highest purpose for each of us is to become the best version of ourselves possible.

To do this, we must let go of ego, petty conceits, and external expectations. And we must focus our energy only on thoughts and acts that make us smarter, stronger, and more virtuous.

Notice how this is very much in alignment with the more popular work of Abraham Maslow. Maslow explained man’s “hierarchy of needs” in a 1943 paper titled A Theory of Human Motivation.

According to Maslow, humans are motivated by five basic categories of needs.

Continue reading “The Lonely Path to Financial Freedom”

“The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.” – Andrew Carnegie

We left off yesterday with a serious question: What’s the point?

We’re talking the philosophy of money this week. And I suggested yesterday that the true purpose of money is to acquire assets. Only then will we have the financial security we need to take care of ourselves and our families should our active income go away.

But the goal isn’t simply security. The ultimate goal is financial independence. We want to create a financial situation that allows us to walk away from our job or our active business at any time, should we choose to do so.

Still, even this falls short of answering our big question.

Do we seek financial success just because we want to quit our job and pursue entertainment every day? No – that path is hollow and unfulfilling. Anyone who has retired without productive hobbies can attest to this.

To me, financial success is about becoming a fully autonomous actor in this world. I believe that’s what Carnegie hinted at in his quote above. Taking full possession of one’s mind requires us to be financially independent. Our time and energy must be 100% our own.

If we can create such a situation, that’s when we’ll be completely free to pursue our calling… whatever that may be.

The late Gary North used to talk about this a lot. He often referenced the difference between a job and a calling.

Your job puts food on the table and pays the bills. Your calling is that one productive thing in life that you can do better than everybody else. Or at least almost everybody else.

At the end of the day, it’s all about living a purpose-driven life. And that’s how we steward our civilization another generation forward.

Those of us in developed countries today are blessed to live in a world of abundance. Most of us probably take this for granted, but we shouldn’t. We owe those who came before us an immense debt of gratitude for the foundation they left us with.

I had the chance to sit down and talk with my 96-year old grandmother over the weekend. She grew up on a self-sufficient farm in rural Oklahoma from the late 1920s to the early 1940s. That means she lived on the farm through the Great Depression and World War II.

What stuck out to me though is that her parents maintained an optimistic outlook through it all. They looked out and could see the technological advancements that were coming. They knew their children wouldn’t need to be self-sufficient farmers themselves.

As such, they encouraged their children to go out into the world and walk their own path. And that’s exactly what my grandmother did.

So here she sits in our modern world full of gizmos, gadgets, and conveniences galore. But she remembers growing up in a house without electricity or refrigeration.

She told me she can close her eyes and still see the old root cellar to this day. That’s where they kept all their canned goods. It’s also where they would go if it looked like a tornado was coming through. Grandma said she would love nothing more than to slide down that old cellar door one more time.

My point is this – we’re not very far removed from a world that didn’t enjoy all the convenience and luxuries we have today.

It’s thanks to the hard work and perseverance of our ancestors that all of us in the developed world enjoy a life of incredible abundance. Even those of lesser means today live far more comfortable lives than everyone alive one hundred years ago.

At the same time, I think we have a responsibility to our kids, our grandkids, and those who will come after them. What can we do to leave them with the same strong foundation that we received from those who came before us?

That answer of course is different for each of us. But what I do know is that it’s a whole lot easier to take on productive projects when we have created a strong financial position for ourselves and our families. That’s where it all starts.

We’ll leave it there for today. Tomorrow we’ll talk about the lonely path to financial independence.

-Joe Withrow

P.S. We just put together a new program we’re calling the Passive Income Bundle. It’s a bundle of courses that walk investors through three different approaches to building passive income. 

If you’re looking for new ideas for letting your money work for you, the Passive Income Bundle won’t let you down. You can find it right here: Passive Income Bundle Page 

Is there a more snakier subject in the world of finance than money itself?

Sure, we all use money daily. Many of us spend most of our waking hours working for it. We know it’s important. We need it to buy the things we need to live.

But how many of us think deeply about our money? How many take the time to analyze it? To consider just what money is… and why it is?

I spent twelve years going through the public school system. Then I spent another five years at a large public university.

First I studied chemistry – but it didn’t take me long to realize that wasn’t for me. So I switched gears and spent my time studying finance and economics. I read their textbooks and memorized their principles and their equations. But guess what? They didn’t commit even a single drop of ink to the subject of money.

Instead, the finance and economics books presented their material as though money was a static entity. A cosmic fixture. Something that never changes.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

We live in a world where central banks and national Treasury departments can create money from thin air any time they want. There are no restrictions. Our money is “fiat” money. Fiat is Latin for “let it be done”.

You know what that reminds me of? In the book of Genesis it’s written that one day God said “let there be light”. Then there was light.

Well, our central bankers and Treasury Secretaries take the same approach to money. They say “let it be done”, and trillions of new dollars appear from nothing. And when they do, the new money steals value from the money that got here before.

In other words, the act of creating money from nothing destroys the purchasing power of the money. This is why we see costs of living rise sharply over time. Houses, rent, cars, groceries – you name it and it’s probably risen dramatically in price over the last several decades.

But this isn’t a situation where those items got more expensive. It’s just that our money isn’t as valuable as it was before. Like a geriatric retiree, it can’t buy as much as it once did.

Yet, we are led to believe that money is money is money. And we are taught that “having money” makes us wealthy. What a scam.

That’s why I see the subject of money as “snaky”. I’m not sure if that’s a word, but it seems appropriate.

If we don’t understand the true nature of our money – fiat money, then we become easy to deceive. That is to say, we are more apt to make bad financial decisions. Then we are doomed to remain stuck on the hamster wheel – constantly having to trade our time for money. Money whose value constantly dissipates.

To me, the true purpose of money is to acquire assets. That’s the key lesson in the classic board game Monopoly. If we acquire the right assets, then we will always have the financial means to take care of ourselves and our families, even if our active income were to go away.

And isn’t that really what we all want? To get rid of our active income? To not have to work so hard for money anymore?

This is why I’ve always rejected consumerism. If you come to my house, it’s like walking back in time. Everything is dated. It’s like you’re walking back into the early 1990s.

That’s because I don’t upgrade anything. And I don’t buy new stuff. Instead, I spend all my money acquiring real assets. Gold… Bitcoin… real estate… blue-chip stocks trading at incredible valuations – these are the items I spend my money on.

I see it this way… I’m working around sixty hours a week right now. If I were to spend the fruit of my labor on consumer goods, it’s like I never worked in the first place. The money is gone… and I have to get back on the hamster wheel to earn more.

But if I spend my money acquiring top-tier assets, those assets will produce even more money for me. This creates a virtuous cycle. The money I worked for now goes out and works for me. Then at some point I’ll step back and let the money do all the hard work. I won’t need to work as hard anymore.

That’s what I want. That’s my philosophy on money.

But this raises an important question. Why? What’s the point?

We’ll answer that one tomorrow.

-Joe Withrow

P.S. We just put together a new financial package we’re calling the Passive Income Bundle. It’s a new program that walks investors through three different approaches to building truly passive income.

If you’re looking for new ideas for letting your money work for you, the Passive Income Bundle won’t let you down. You can find it right here: Passive Income Bundle Page

Yesterday we took a deep dive into the world’s monetary history with a focus on the US dollar.

Today we will walk through what’s happening with the monetary system right now… and where it all leads. I’ll turn it over to my AI assistant once again to paint the picture.

Here’s Sir Arthur (just click to play):

Yesterday we talked about the weekend’s big news – the BRICS bloc may establish a gold-backed currency.

Remember, BRICS refers to the economic alliance between Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and other nations outside of the West’s power structure. Their hope is that a gold-backed currency would instill trust in the new trade network they are building. 

A major development like this is inevitable. To understand why, we must understand monetary history. 

You see, money is not the static functionary that it’s presented to us as. Instead, money is constantly in flux. In fact, we’ve used four different international monetary systems just since 1900.

So to see where we’re likely going next, we have to know where we’ve been. 

And with that introduction, I’m going to turn it over to my AI assistant to walk us through a brief monetary history. 

Here’s Sir Arthur (just click to play):

And remember, for more on how to build gold into a customized investment portfolio, just go here: Finance for Freedom

-Joe Withrow

For making the new currency as good as gold, a truly sound currency, it must be convertible into gold on demand. Using gold as money, the unit of account would be a true game changer, no doubt about it… Against this gold stock, the new bank could, say, grant financing loans to exporters, and issue the “new currency”. Or BRICS exports will be sold against the “new currency” and/or gold.

That commentary comes from an interview with Thorsten Polleit over the weekend.

Polleit is the chief economist at Degussa Goldhandel. It’s a precious metals trading company based in Germany. Polleit was commenting on big news that broke over the weekend.

Word leaked that the BRICS bloc – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – plan to introduce a new currency backed by gold. In light of this, 41 countries have applied for BRICS membership.

Now, nothing is official yet. Sources expect the official announcement to come during the BRICS summit in August. The event will take place in South Africa.

That being the case, we shouldn’t give this news too much credibility yet. Any time there’s a leak like this, we have to wonder – who wants people to believe this and why?

So there’s a chance this is just a bluff on the world’s geopolitical chess board. After all, who will put up the gold necessary to back such a currency?

To make it work, countries like China and Russia would likely have to contribute significantly more gold than the others. That’s because they have far more gold in their possession.

Would they be willing to pledge their own gold hoard for the good of the project?

Maybe. Both China and Russia are among the world’s leading export countries. That means they stand to accumulate the gold-backed currency if the BRICS bloc were to establish such a system.

Still, there are plenty of questions unanswered here. So I’ll reserve judgment.

That said, this could be the start of gold re-monetization around the world. We talked about this possibility a few weeks ago.

For the BRICS bloc, this is all about creating a credible alternative to the US dollar-based international settlement system. They are seeking to build a trade network that’s not under the thumb of the powers that be in the US and Europe.

A gold-backed currency would generate instant trust in their new system. And they need trust if they want other countries to migrate to their trade network. That’s why a move to gold makes sense.

And if the BRICS re-monetize gold, the US may have to follow suit.

One of the major benefits to having the US dollar serve as the world’s reserve currency is that it creates a constant demand for Treasury bonds. Foreign actors who receive US dollars in exchange for international trade can recycle those dollars back into Treasury bonds to earn a yield.

This is what’s allowed the US to run massive budget deficits year after year. The Treasury finances that budget deficit through new Treasury bond sales… which means it needs willing investors.

But if a chunk of world trade moves to a gold-backed settlement system, international demand for dollars will plummet. Then demand for Treasuries will fall accordingly. That will make it much harder for the US to run $1 trillion+ deficits going forward.

For the Treasury, the answer may be to partially re-monetize gold itself.

Suppose the US government agrees to settle a specific portion of Treasury bonds in gold. That could lend itself to a tiered system of sorts. The Treasury could sell bonds with various degrees of gold backing at corresponding rates.

For example, 10% gold-backed Treasury bonds would carry a lower interest rate than 5% gold-backed bonds. And both would carry a lower rate than Treasuries with no gold backing.

This could help the US Treasury maintain international demand for its bonds. In turn, that would help the US government manage its debt service costs even as rates rise.

Of course, there are tons of wild cards and unknowns in here. We can’t be sure exactly how it would all play out.

But if we do see gold re-monetized, we can be sure that the price of gold is going to explode higher…

-Joe Withrow

P.S. If you’re interested in building gold into your personal investments, our flagship Finance for Freedom program will show you how. More information right here: Finance for Freedom

There! His Majesty can now read my name without glasses. And he can double the reward on my head!

According to colonial records, this is what John Hancock said as he signed his name to America’s Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Hancock is still famous today for his big, elegant signature. We still use his name and “signature” interchangeably.

But there’s a great deal about Hancock that modern history books gloss over. Since we’re talking all things American Independence this week, let’s go over Hancock’s story today. Consider it a smuggler’s guide to the American Revolution.

In colonial New England, Hancock was well-known as a cost-competitive wholesaler. He would source hard-to-find products and offer them for sale in Boston at a reasonable price.

One of Hancock’s most popular products was tea. That made him a direct competitor to the British East India Company. And the Company did not at all like competition.

Continue reading “A Smuggler’s Guide to the American Revolution”

So you see, while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he… The fact is, it wasn’t yours to give.

We talked about the Idea of America in honor of Independence Day yesterday. The idea is simple. You can be whoever you want to be in America. It’s the land of opportunity.

That opportunity only persists if individual liberty is respected, however. And as I alluded to yesterday, a century of public education has diminished our understanding of liberty in this country. The story of Colonel David Crockett’s time as Tennessee’s representative in Congress shines light on that fact…

Col. Crockett is better known as Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier in modern books and movies. But Crockett isn’t just a fictional character. He was a real person.

Crockett lived from 1786 to 1836. He was a colonel in the Tennessee militia. And he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1827. There, Crockett learned an important lesson on the nature of liberty and the role of government. That lesson comes to us from an account compiled by 19^th-century author Edward Ellis.

The account starts when members of the House were debating a newly presented bill. It proposed to appropriate money from taxpayers for the benefit of a distinguished naval officer’s widow.

Several Congressmen had given passionate speeches in support of the bill. It seems even back then Congress fancied the idea that it could be all things to all people. The Speaker was just about to put the bill to a vote when Crockett stood up.

Mr. Speaker – I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money.

We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week’s pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.

Crickets. Not a single Congressman responded to Crockett’s call for independent charity. But most of them did vote against the bill. That almost certainly wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Crockett’s speech.

Later, a friend approached Davy and asked him why he opposed such a well-intentioned bill. Crockett responded by recounting a bill he had voted for several years earlier. It appropriated $20,000 in taxpayer money to provide relief to people impacted by a fire in Georgetown.

Crockett thought highly of the bill at the time. He figured it was the humane thing to do.

That is, until he went out campaigning for re-election in his district that next summer. As he was making his rounds, Crockett saw a man plowing his field one sunny afternoon. He timed his walk to meet the man as he neared his fence. Crockett began to introduce himself, but the man cut him off.

Yes, I know you; you are Colonel Crockett, I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.

Naturally, Davy asked the man why. What changed? How did he lose the man’s confidence?

Well, Colonel, it is hardly worth-while to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me.

Though I live here in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown. Is that true?

Crockett responded that it was. And he suggested that nobody should object to spending a small amount of money to support victims of a fire. The man responded:

It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of. It is the principle… The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man.

What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he.

If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to one, you have the right to give to all. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other.

So, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose.

So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people.

I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better. The fact is, it wasn’t yours to give.

Food for thought as we honor America this week.

-Joe Withrow

P.S. For those who find little-known historical events like this one interesting, I would highly recommend Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom. Real history is so much more insightful than what we learned in our school textbooks.

If you would like to review Liberty Classroom’s course listings, just go right here: Tom Woods Liberty Classroom Course Listing

“In the beginning, all the world was America.” -John Locke

This is an interesting quote. And it speaks to a very important fact: America is not a nation. Not in the traditional sense of the word, anyway.

Instead, America is an idea. 

John Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher. He’s considered one of the most influential of Europe’s Enlightenment thinkers. 

Locke’s Two Treatises of Government were foundational to the early American political philosophy. The ideas Locke presented directly influenced the American founders. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton each said that Locke had an outsized impact on their thinking. 

And that’s key. America was conceived from thought. From an idea. That makes it fundamentally different. 

Throughout history, nations typically consisted of singular groups of people. They were people who shared similar genetics, a common culture, and of course a common language. There are some exceptions to this. But generally nations boasted a common heritage. 

America is a land of immigrants. The earliest immigrants came from western Europe. But by the 20th century, immigrants from all over the world flocked to America’s shores. 

As such, Americans do not share similar genetics or even a common culture with one another. Bill Bonner eloquently pointed this out in his book The Idea of America. Bonner noted that there are few similarities between the mossbacked Episcopalians of the Virginia Tidewater, the holy rollers of east Texas, and the Muslims of east Harlem. 

Thus, Americans were never united by blood, culture, or religion. Instead, the only thing Americans shared was an idea. 

That idea is this: you can be whatever you want to be in America. Here you have the opportunity to write your own story – regardless of where you come from.

Every year at this time I’m reminded of the story of the Aide family. They were a Lebanese family who moved to America early in the 20th century. They came here with nothing but a few dollars and the will to create a better life for their descendants. 

The family immigrated through Ellis Island in the New York Harbor. Then they made their way down the east coast. They eventually settled in the mountains of eastern West Virginia. 

There, they opened discount stores in several of the neighboring towns. These discount stores were small Walmart’s decades before any Walmart locations opened in the region. 

It was brilliant. This family figured out how to stock hard-to-find goods cheaply. Then they offered those goods at low prices to the locals.

 Mr. Aide also had the foresight to install arcades and movie rental operations in each store. That attracted the kids… which made the parents something of a captive audience. They brought the kids to the arcade often. And then the parents had nothing to do except shop while their kids played for an hour or so.

 What’s more, the Aides leveraged the success of their discount stores perfectly. They used their revenue to buy and develop the commercial real estate around their stores. That allowed them to bring in anchor tenants – often grocery stores and drug stores.  

This drove even greater traffic to their own discount stores. And it created another revenue stream as well. The Aides family generated strong rental income from their anchor tenants. 

Naturally, the family educated their children on the workings of their family business. One of the sons went off to college and then business school with the intention of taking over upon his father’s retirement. 

When that son came back from business school, he spent some time shadowing his dad in the business. He noticed that everything was low-tech. This included how his dad manually handled the accounting.

This prompted the highly-educated son to speak up. “Dad, how do you expect the business to run like this? You have to get more sophisticated if you want to maximize your profits.” 

The father looked up from his desk and thought for just a moment.

 Son, when your mother and I came to this country we had nothing but two dollars and the shirts on our backs. This business enabled us to carve out a comfortable life for ourselves and for you kids. In fact, it put you kids through college and set you up for a lifetime of opportunity. For us, your mom drives a Cadillac every day and I take off early every Friday to go play golf.

 The way I see it, we take all these blessings and we subtract from them the two dollars and the shirts we came here with… that’s how I calculate our profit.

I love it. And I should point out that this is a true story.

 The Aide family business still runs today. Their Aide’s Discount Stores all closed down a couple decades ago. They couldn’t compete when Walmart decided to enter the region. But the Aides family still owns and manages the commercial real estate developments where their stores once stood.

That’s the idea of America. It’s all about opportunity. About making something from nothing. 

And that opportunity is only possible in a land that respects individual liberty. That’s what the American experiment was about.  

The best of the American founders understood this well. They were adamant that the sole purpose of government is to protect the life, liberty, and property of individuals. That’s it and nothing more. If we read Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, it spells this out in no uncertain terms.

Of course, those ideals are no longer held sacred today.

A century of public education has convinced many Americans that government should be all things to all people. But it can’t. Tomorrow we’ll look to Colonel David Crockett, of frontier fame, for why that is.

-Joe Withrow

P.S. For those who find little-known historical events and figures interesting, I would highly recommend Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom. 

Tom’s program provides a world-class education on both subjects. And it does so in a compelling and entertaining way. No kidding – I’ve learned far more from Liberty Classroom than I ever did in seventeen years of public education. 

If you would like to review Liberty Classroom’s course listings, just go right here: Tom Woods Liberty Classroom Course Listing