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Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a

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moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And

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today, what is principle 15 of the 28 principles of the Constitution? Principle 15. If you have

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been following along with us over the last few months, you know that we are now halfway through

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our study of those 28 principles, and we will push on today beyond the halfway point with principle 15.

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But before I do, what I'd like to do is introduce you to our midweek Bible study for the year,

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for the academic year 23-24. I'm very excited about this one. We will have a Bible study on Thursday

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evenings, beginning at 7 p.m. at Leo's Place, and it's going to be on eschatology. Yes, on eschatology.

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Did you know that there's more than one way to view the end times, and end times prophecy in particular,

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than the one that's probably popular in your church? Well, the one that I will be teaching

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in our upcoming midweek Bible study is one with a long history in church doctrine. Yeah, many of us

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don't know that. It is an ancient, biblical, and true one. And our midweek Bible study this year will

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be on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. at Leo's Place in Idaho Falls, and our first meeting will be on October 26,

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and every Thursday subsequent to that one. You can find us at Leo's Place at 7 p.m. with our midweek

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Bible study on eschatology with a particular focus on post-millennialism. If you've ever been curious

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about exactly what post-millennialism is, well, you can find out with us on our midweek Bible study

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upcoming. Well, we're now on principle 15 of the 28 principles of the Constitution as found in the

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5,000-year leap. Our founding fathers had a deep and complex worldview, but underlying it were some

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very consistent principles that held it all together. The authors of the book, The 5,000-Year

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Leap, have done us an invaluable service in distilling that worldview into 28 discrete

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principles that are very accessible and understandable for the average man on the street in America.

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So, I urge you to pour over that book. Let's take a small step towards awakening America's

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constitutional heritage by articulating principle number 15, and that is the highest level of prosperity

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occurs when there is a free market economy and a minimum of government regulations. Yes,

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the highest level of prosperity in any culture occurs when there is a free market economy and a minimum

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of government regulations. So, how appropriate is this one in today's world, where we're swiftly sinking

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to our lowest level of prosperity in a dictated market economy with a maximum of government regulation?

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Isn't that true? Well, our founding fathers were free market men. They were not socialist.

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Most people are not even aware that the Constitution has specific provisions that reflect that

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principle. But items like the Interstate Commerce Clause, which says the Congress shall have the power

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to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and that Interstate Commerce

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Clause is found in Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution, and as well, the Coinage Clause of

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the Constitution, which says Congress shall have power to coin money and regulate the value thereof. And

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that's found in Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 5. These were all designed to create a constitutional

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climate for a free market economy. So, don't let anyone tell you that the Constitution is indifferent to

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economics, or that it doesn't matter whether we follow Adam Smith or Karl Marx, or whether the

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stockholders or the federal government own General Motors. It does matter. Our Founding Fathers were

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thoroughly immersed in not only philosophy and politics, but also economics. In fact, the profit

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of free market economics was a favorite of our Founding Fathers. Who was it? Was it Barack Obama?

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Donald Trump? Maybe Bill Clinton? No. It was the contemporary philosopher and economist Adam Smith,

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and he published his magnum opus, The Wealth of Nations, in five volumes in 1776 in England. Ding,

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ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Does that year sound familiar? Of course, it was the very year of our

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own Declaration of Independence. In the years between that date and the writing of the Constitution, that

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was in 1787, our Founding Fathers imported that book. They read it, and they integrated its concepts

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into the framework of our Constitution. In fact, so taken with the philosophy of Adam Smith, right,

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and the Wealth of Nations, that Thomas Jefferson would say of it, in political economy, I think

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Smith's Wealth of Nations is the best book extant. Unquote. Adam Smith is the father of free market

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capitalism. What is less well known is that he is also a Christian and a student of philosophy to such

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an extent that he considered himself more of a philosopher than an economist in the modern

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sense. It was right and good to pursue profit and gain. It was biblical to have limitless liberty to

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exercise one's God-given gifts to create wealth. It was a Christian spiritual principle for a man to be

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able to sell his labor on the open market for as much as he could get for it from an employer.

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All of these things and more were anchored in Christian philosophy and biblical principles.

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Therefore, our Founding Fathers did not consider economics to be some neutral field of human

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endeavor outside of the realm of Christian morals and spiritual guidance. No, no, no, no. And among

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these guiding principles of economics, we find Smith articulating, number one, specialized production

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was the most efficient means of using men's labor. Specialized production was the most efficient means

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of using men's labor. Men are equipped with particular gifts and talents that differ from one

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another. By using these gifts freely without government interference, he can maximize his good. A weaver

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prospers most when he weaves, not when he plants. A merchant prospers when he trades, not when he stands in

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a production line. A banker prospers, excuse me, when he manages depositor's money, not when he tends sheep.

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On and on we could go. The notion of specialization was invaluable to the growth of the industrial

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revolution a century later. And then number two, Adams also says, number two, the exchange of goods

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takes place in a free market environment without governmental interference in production prices or wages.

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The exchange of goods takes place in a free market environment without governmental interference

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in production prices or wages. The value of a thing depends upon one irreducible factor, and that is

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scarcity, not government interference. Yes, in the rainy season of India, it may require 100 gallons of

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fresh water to buy a loaf of bread. In the dry season, when there is no rain and no deep cistern,

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it may require only a cup of water for that same loaf of bread. Well, scarcity determines price.

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No government mandate can change this law of nature. Men will find a way for a fair exchange of goods,

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whether in a free market or a black market. Number three, Smith also says, the free market provides the

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needs of the people on the basis of supply and demand with no government imposed monopolies.

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Yes. Number three, the free market provides the needs of the people on the basis of supply and demand

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with no government imposed monopolies. If people do not want or need buggy whips anymore, they will not

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buy them no matter what governments say about the beauty or usefulness of them. Likewise, if people do not

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want or need a hybrid, right? An electric car, fuel efficient spam cans for cars, right? Like the

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Honda Prius. Well, if people don't want them, they won't buy them no matter how much Al Gore or Joe Biden

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harangues Congress to pass laws to make us drive them. Oh, number four, Smith also says prices,

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prices, excuse me. Prices are regulated by competition on the basis of supply and demand. Yes, you can't

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force prices. Prices are regulated by competition and the basis of supply and demand. During the recent

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spate of high fuel prices we've been experiencing, people blamed Joe Biden for it. And of course, he holds

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some responsibility. What most people fail to realize is that when demand exceeds supply, the natural

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consequence is an increase in price. And that's what Joe Biden did. He shrunk the supply. So prices go up.

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That's what happens with gas prices in America. What Congress should do instead of laying incredible

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burdens on private industry to restrict oil production and gasoline refining, what they need to do is lift

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restrictions on locales like Anwar and limit restrictions on building gasoline refineries.

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Oh, number five, what Smith also says, number five, profit is that which makes the production of goods and

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services worthwhile. Profit is good, dear listener. Profit is what makes the production of goods and services

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worthwhile. It seems like such a simple, basic truism, doesn't it? If you work, you expect something in

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return, but it's been lost in our idealistic socialist age. We're wired by God to add our labor to creation

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and to improve creation, thus making it better for the glory of God and our own selves. This improvement

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on nature is nothing less than profit, and it is well-deserved by the man who does it. Socialism sneers at

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such things. Seeking rather to take away such a man's labor and give it to somebody else who has done

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nothing to improve creation. Number six, Smith also says competition improves quality, quantity, and price

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reduction. Competition improves quality, quantity, and price reduction. By competing with one another, car

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makers make those kinds of improvements. That was demonstrated in the 70s when Japanese automobiles

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began competing with American cars. Toyota and Nissan created cheaper, better built, and more gas

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efficient cars than General Motors, Ford, or Chrysler. Only when those American companies began to make

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competitive cars did the big three recover. Well, Adam Smith had a profound insight into not only economic

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forces, but human nature as well. This is the great advantage of a Christian philosophical approach to

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economics over against a so-called purely economic model. Man never interacts in his economic behavior

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in a vacuum apart from his other faculties. Man is a moral creature as well as an economic creature.

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He is a social creature as well as an economic creature. He is a political creature as well as an

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economic creature. And above all else, he is a spiritual creature as well as an economic creature.

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Man is not purely economic. That's the terrible deadening effect of modern economic theory, excuse me,

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articulated by men like Marx or John Maynard Keynes. To these men, man was purely an economic creature,

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and his other aspects were only a product of his economic behavior. Thus, we find the great

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advantage of the capitalist view of man over against the socialist view of man. It is always more fully

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orbed and comprehensive, the capitalist view. It is one reason why socialism ends in poverty and tyranny,

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while capitalism always ends in prosperity and freedom for the greater part of the people.

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Now, if what I've said is true, then certain other laws of human behavior obtain as well. In fact,

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Adam Smith delineated four necessary laws of economic freedom. Four necessary laws of economic

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freedom. Number one, the freedom to try. The freedom to try. In this small phrase, we have the American

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dream summarized, don't we? The freedom to try impelled men like Henry Ford to conceive and apply

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the idea of the assembly line to produce automobiles. The freedom to try inspired men like Andrew

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Carnegie to standardize railroad lines and coaches and engines to build an empire. The freedom to try

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inspires every American with a great idea, from Steve Jobs with Macintosh to Bill Gates at Microsoft to the

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local dry cleaner and newspaper delivery boy who decides to add another route to his system.

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Oh, I remember very vividly, for example, a congregant and friend of mine in the Chicago area when I

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served a church there. He was living the American dream in developing an idea of his. My friend Sal

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had an epiphany one day while doing his laundry and thought that he could sell pizza to those waiting

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for their laundry to get done. My friend Sal had the freedom to try his idea and opened his

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combination laundromat and pizza parlor, and he succeeded. How uniquely American. Do you know

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how rare this is in the world? In so many other countries of the world, it's not ideas and energy

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and savvy that determine whether you have the freedom to try, but things like a person's class,

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like it was in England, or his tribe, like it is in Africa, or a man's religion, like it is in India.

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Oh, if you're not a Hindu, forget about getting a bank loan or a property deed, those kinds of things.

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Well, the freedom to try is uniquely American, and it is the core idea that draws the inspired,

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the hardworking, the inventive soul to these shores from all over the world. Don't let our

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present government rob us of this God-given right as they attempt to regulate us, as they attempt to

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regulate who has access to loans and permits and real estate. Oh, these are all things that the

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Biden administration is trying to restrict to their own favorite candidates. Well, number two,

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Smith would also say the freedom to buy, the freedom to buy. I served a church in a Chicago

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suburb that helped rescue a doctor from Romania, along with his family. Romania at that time, that was in

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the mid-80s, was under the boot heel of the Soviet Union, where oppression and deprivation ruled the

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people. No one had anything because of socialism. And I remember the good doctor washing his dishes

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and saying, in Romania, we had one lousy yellow detergent, when you could find it. In America,

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he looked down the dish detergent aisle, and he saw endless rows of green and gold and blue and red

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detergents with endless variations in names. In addition, some with lemon or lime or even skin

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softening hand lotion. Americans had the freedom to buy from a vast selection within every category of

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product. And when his wife finally arrived in America with her children, she took her first trip

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to an American supermarket in the Chicago area. She stepped inside, looked at the vast array of goods

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before her that literally went on and on for acre after acre, and the aisle after aisle of food and

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goods, and she fell to her knees, crying. Am I allowed to buy these things, she said? She had come

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from a socialist country where she literally had several bunches of rotting celery to choose from,

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not dozens and dozens of bags of fresh celery with three or four kinds of celery to choose from.

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Besides, oh, because of our free market capitalist economy in America, we have the freedom to buy.

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As we move more and more to a socialist economy, however, don't let anyone take away your freedom

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to buy, even as they're trying to do, right? In restricting what kinds of cars you can buy,

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or even meat now, right? Part of government strategy in taking over the auto companies is to mandate green

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cars, cars that are small and eco-friendly by being electric or hybrid. If it were up to our

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government, it would not be the market that determines whether you can choose between a large

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gas-guzzling SUV or a cramped cheese box Yugo, but it would be the federal government who decides.

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If it were up to them, is there any doubt in anyone's mind that they would demand that you

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not only drive a little small cheese box, but out of your cars altogether? They want to push us out of

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our cars into public transportation. So make no mistake about this, dear listener, your freedom to

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buy is being taken away from you, whether it's cars or meat or gas stoves or fatty foods or tobacco

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products or even coal to fire your electrical plants. Oh, number three, Adam Smith also insisted the

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freedom to sell the freedom to sell. This is a basic right anchored in our constitution. I'm sure that

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you all remember the dreaded Townsend Acts of 1765 in our nation's colonial history, where King George

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III demanded that almost every transaction made in the American colonies was subject to a tax,

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including products like glass or lead or tea or paper, legal documents. That was all part of the

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Stamp Act. Anytime you tax something being sold, you restrict its availability to the consumer

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and his ability to sell it and the merchant's ability to sell it. In other words, there was

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practically no product or service whatsoever sold in America at that time that was not subject to a

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restrictive tax, including the popular beverage tea. In fact, the tax upon tea was one of the primary

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motivators for the American Revolution. The recent tea parties held all across our country this past

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April 15th were intended to recall this rebellion against the restriction of our freedom to sell.

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The freedom to sell is one of the reasons for our American Revolution and should be remembered by

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every American. The freedom to sell in America was compromised then and it's compromised now. Perhaps the

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most egregious example of our restricted freedom to sell is the so-called cap-and-trade program being

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rushed into place by the present administration or the restriction on whether you can even manufacture

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gasoline cars after night after 2030 or gas stoves or coal-fired or wood-fired stoves, right?

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Cap-and-trade, restricting what we can sell. Once again, who do you think assigns a value,

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to these products and issues permits to trade them, huh? Oh, it is the federal government,

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of course. What this means for you and me is increased government control over every drop of

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gasoline, every wad of energy, every pound of coal, every gallon of propane being sold in America.

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Oh, number four, the fourth principle that is ensconced in capitalism, as Smith understands it,

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is the freedom to fail. The freedom to fail. Oh, yes. Dear listener, there is an irreducible law of

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prosperity that cannot be changed. The heights of your potential to succeed are only as great as the

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depths of your potential to fail. Your potential to earn is only as great as your potential to crash and

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burn. If the government artificially tinkers with the rules of the game to ensure that you can't fail,

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then by definition the government artificially tinkers with the rules of the game to ensure that you

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cannot succeed either. This is the deadening dilemma of United States socialism. When the government

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steps in to bail out a man who took out a mortgage way beyond his means to finance, it artificially

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tinkers with the rules of the game and stimulates further irresponsible behavior on the part of others

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and creates further massive government debt. Oh, by relieving a mortgager of his risk to fail,

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you rob him of his incentive to succeed. The entire housing market shrinks and stunts limiting quality

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by housing, in-housing, by destroying the market. Yes. Adam Smith, along with our founding fathers,

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saw a role for government. Government had four responsibilities. Number one,

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the government must police illegal force in the marketplace. Ah, force that compels purchase or

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sale of products, maybe? If company X wants citizen Y's property in order to build plant Z,

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it is government's role to protect the property of citizen Y, not enable the big corporation. The right

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to property is sacred. And once that goes, no liberty is secure. Government's proper role is that of

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referee or policeman protecting private property. Number two, the government must police fraud.

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Fraud, that is, that which misrepresents the quality, location, or ownership of the item being sold or

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bought. Government must police fraud. The flood of pirated products coming to us from China, for example,

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government should be policing that. Whether it is poisoned baby's milk or pirated CDs,

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the government and its agencies need to protect us from consumer fraud. Then, number three,

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the government must police monopoly. Monopoly eliminates competition and it restricts trade.

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If bundled Microsoft software is the only brand that can be sold with PCs, then a monopoly is being imposed. In

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the past, railroads had a monopoly. Big steel had a monopoly. Big oil had a monopoly. In all of these cases,

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the government had a legitimate policing role in breaking them up. Number four, the fourth role of

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government. The government must police debauchery of the cultural standards and moral fiber of society.

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For example, when business exploits vice in pornography or obscenity or drugs or booze or

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prostitution and gambling, the vice squad in every police department is a legitimate, excuse me,

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branch of law enforcement. Therefore, we see in a prosperous capitalist economy, the proper role of

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government is that of referee or policeman, not a participant. That's what I mean when I say the role

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of government is strictly negative. It punishes wrongdoing and reinforces good behavior, even as a

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good official does in the NFL. It's like my favorite beer commercial where the official overhears the

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defensive captain promised beer for the other guy who makes the next tackle. Who makes the next tackle?

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It's the official. So he can get a beer. That's corruption. Our founding fathers read Adam Smith

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and predicated our constitution on a free market capitalist economy. They saw government intrusion

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into the economies of England and France, and they rejected it. Whenever government becomes a player in

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the economy, tyranny and poverty inevitably result. Whenever government conscientiously polices a free

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market, the people prosper in liberty. Ah, Washington puts it this way. George Washington says,

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let vigorous measures be adopted, not to limit the prices of articles, for this is inconsistent with the

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nature of the nature of things and impractical, but let vigorous measures be adopted to punish

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speculators, forestallers, and extortioners, and above all, punish those who would sink the money by heavy

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taxes, and let vigorous measures be adopted to promote public and private economy and manufacturing."

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Unquote. That was George Washington. Oh, he saw clearly that as

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as railroad that, oh, I'm sorry, Washington saw as clearly as Ronald Reagan that government could

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create a climate for wealth as the individual was unleashed with his private gifts and talents to go

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out and make things happen. Oh, what is required in America is principle number 15 of the constitution

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articulated in the 5,000 year leap. The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free market

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economy and a minimum of government regulations. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva

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Orthodox Presbyterian Church. New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th

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Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. You can call us for more information at area code 208-523-0196

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And come and join us at our midweek Bible study beginning October 26 at 7 p.m. at

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Leo's Place. And join us for our study of Biblical Eschatology, New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church,

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208-523-0196

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1-884-1196

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2-885-1196

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313-0196

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3-885-3196

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3-885-1196

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4-885-3196

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5-885-3-0196

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6-885-3196

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5-885-2196

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4-886-2196

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4-885-2196

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5-885-1196