American Free Enterprise Day

The United States of America is an exceptional nation. Founded under the providential hand of God, she has flourished because of the enduring grace of God and because of the pillars upon which she was built: religious 自由, traditional Judeo-Christian morality, 宪政, 法治, personal and political accountability, 自由企业.

Palm Beach Atlantic University affirms all of these American pillars, 而是全身心投入, particularly to spreading a thorough understanding of the free enterprise system.

As the Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, 自由, and the pursuit of happiness.”

These words are the foundation upon which the American free enterprise system was built. It begins with the belief that all people are equal—not by accident nor by decree, but by God’s own purposeful design. Our system is therefore open to all. Simply put, God created each and every one of us. He loves us and wants us to prosper. He has given us the will to pursue the betterment of our lives and the lives of those around us. History has shown that free enterprise provides the economic freedom that best maximizes human flourishing.

The free enterprise system allows human beings freedom. It is the role of the government to guarantee that freedom. Property rights are assured. Contracts are safeguarded by 法治. All people are treated equally. Free enterprise is a system in which people are free to exchange their labor and their private property with others to create win-win improvements to their lives and for the population as a whole.

This system often raises a question among people of faith: Can businesspeople both flourish and be good Christians? 绝对! God has given special talents and abilities to each of us. We are called to use these special talents and abilities to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves. 创造更好的产品, 提供更好的服务, sell them for a lower price, or employ your neighbor and you have shown love to both God and your neighbor.

我们的信仰, 根, 与理性课程, which is required of all students at Palm Beach Atlantic University, allows students to enroll in one of two courses: Freedom in American Society or American Free Enterprise. The former examines the meaning and significance of freedom in the American experience. Students explore such topics as the historical roots of American 自由, with special emphasis on the close link between 自由 and Christianity, and the nature of freedom as understood by the chief architects of the American political order. It also examines the interdependence between political and economic freedom.

The American Free Enterprise course explores the nature and development of free enterprise within the Western and Judeo-Christian traditions, contrasts free enterprise and collectivism, examines the role of rational decision-making in the economy, and evaluates arguments relating to the efficiency and fairness of the free enterprise system. When governments clearly define and enforce property rights and equally apply 法治 to everyone, 个人, by pursuing their own enlightened self-interest, will naturally work for the good of society. 正如亚当·斯密所说:

“Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, 但是和平, 简单的税收, and a tolerable administration of justice; all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.”

It is imperative that we pass down to the next generation an understanding of why the American free enterprise system exists, that it has brought human flourishing to past American generations, and that if we do not deviate from it, free enterprise will offer similar flourishing to future generations of Americans.