Free People, Free Markets

I love the Journal, but as I always say, they're a little loose with their open-borders advocacy.

At the Wall Street Journal, "The lessons from 125 years show how to revive American prosperity":

The first issue of The Wall Street Journal was four pages, for two cents. http://t.co/kAj8Bcl85I #WSJ125 pic.twitter.com/xJNLhas9ap

— Gerard Baker (@gerardtbaker) July 7, 2014

The answer to our current slow growth and self-doubt isn't a set of magical "new ideas" or some unknown orator from the provinces. The answer is to rediscover the eternal truths that have helped America escape malaise and turmoil in the past.

These lessons include that markets—the mind of free millions—allocate scarce resources more efficiently and fairly than do committees in Congress; that the collusion of government with either big business or big labor stifles competition and leads to political cynicism; that government will be respected more when it does a few things well rather than too many poorly; and that innovation and human progress spring not from bureaucratic elites but from the genius of individuals.

Above all, the lesson of 125 years is that whatever our periodic blunders Americans have always used the blessings of liberty to restore prosperity and national confidence. A free people have their fate in their own hands.