Free enterprise gives people the freedom to flourish
In his Oct. 7 letter to the editor, Franklin political activist Dan Kowal cautioned readers not to “buy the corporate charm offensive” coming out of Western Carolina University’s Free Enterprise Speaker Series. As WCU’s BB&T Distinguished Professor of Capitalism, I oversee the Speaker Series and would like to correct the inaccuracies in Mr. Kowal’s account.
First, Mr. Kowal would have readers believe that BB&T Bank is a corrupt behemoth that rigs the political process to take money and jobs from working families. His smoking gun is Wikipedia’s statement that BB&T accepted $3.1 billion in TARP bailout money.
The truth is that the federal government forced that money on BB&T, as it did upon other healthy banks. The reason? Because the Fed and Treasury didn’t want to stigmatize the insolvent banks who really did need the money. That’s why BB&T’s Chairman, John Allison, wrote an open letter to Congress protesting all bank bailouts. And that’s why Mr. Allison also blasted TARP as a “huge rip-off” when BB&T paid the money back in June 2009. It takes but a light scratch beneath the Wikipedia surface to confirm these facts.
Second, Mr. Kowal claims that outside money is hard at work funding corporate propaganda at WCU. The truth is, WCU offers a wide range of intellectual opportunities on a daily basis to our students. Through the Center for Service learning, students engage in social activism, community building, and organizing for social change. Just last week an impressive schedule of events celebrated GLBTQ awareness. And each year countless events mark Constitution Day, Earth Day and more. Overall there are 150-plus recognized student organizations on campus, each with a faculty advisor, and each with a calendar that brims with activity.
Our students are even exposed to the principles of free enterprise capitalism. Three times per semester students can attend the Free Enterprise Speaker Series, where they can broaden their education, think critically about important issues of the day, and get up-close exposure to prominent experts and public figures in the world.
None of this is by accident, of course. WCU’s mission statement requires that my colleagues and I provide opportunities for our students to consider all points of view. We happily pursue these lofty intellectual goals, and we proudly celebrate when we achieve them. It is wrong to belittle these efforts, reducing them to propaganda, just for a little leg up in the political game.
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Finally, Mr. Kowal would have readers believe that capitalism (a term coined by Karl Marx himself) impoverishes working families while corporate fat cats rake in the dough. This might be the case in the mythical capitalism peddled by Mr. Kowal, and it certainly tends to happen in the crony capitalism favored by most of our national politicians. But in the naturally occurring system of free enterprise capitalism, all people are free to flourish.
And they do. Free enterprise capitalism means limited government, light regulation, sound money, and the free flow of goods, capital and labor. Mountains of evidence attest that living conditions, life expectancy, civil rights, unemployment, corruption, child labor, infant mortality, and yes incomes, are all improved when a people’s social systems come closer to free enterprise capitalism. It is the only system that allows peaceful, prosperous and just interaction of free people.
Uninformed grumbling might play well in the political arena. It can also be a satisfying way to blow off steam. But at Western Carolina University, we teach that it shouldn’t be confused with reasoned, fact-based discourse. That is the standard to which we hold our students. Personally, I think that is the standard The Smoky Mountain News should hold its editorial contributors to as well.
(Edward J. Lopez is WCU’s BB&T Distinguished Professor of Capitalism. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
