Congratulations to Kent Lindbergh of Wheaton College, the third place winner in our Purpose & Prosperity blog contest!
By Kent Lindbergh
The Purpose & Prosperity conference has made me fired up to take action on my campus this year, and in the years to come. This past year, as a freshman, I lost sight of the fact of how important it is to adress and discuss issues that are not only problems in the present, but will also become much worse in the future if the people of this nation do not take action.
The time to create action and raise awareness is now, and as Arthur Brooks pointed out in his talk on “How to win the fight for free enterprise,” the difficult decision does not so much lie soley in the election of our next president, but rather for the American people to create and earn their success, rather than sitting back and waiting for the government to give it to them.
What I took from this conference was that the problem, as well as the solution, does not stem from the mishaps and decisons made by the government, but they are more so derived from an attitude and expectation of Americans in which they do not realize their full potential, and also what it will take to reach that potential. Human beings are the anwer to the problem, which was evident when Nick Schulz remarked in his talk that current physical capital in the United States is tallied at $45 trillion, while human capital is estimated at $738 trillion!
The amount of influence and power that the American people can have compared to any policy created or change in markets is exponentially greater, and that is why it is key for the investment and resources of this nation be put into the growth and education of its people. Tim King put it beatuifully when he claimed that “the economy exists for human flourishing … and growth is only as good as who it helps flourish.”
The free-market economy is indeed the best way to allow people to flourish, and it is important that the power of our nation be decentralized from the government and given more to the people, so it can allow them to be grow, earn success and create the best versions of themselves.