Optimism and Cooperation Versus Pessimism and Distrust

Free markets are rooted in moral optimism. Buying, selling, and investing require trust--the optimistic belief that it
is in the other person's self-interest to live up to agreements and make good on one's promises.

We call the optimism of the market moral optimism because it promotes the betterment of society by fostering
cooperation, entrepreneurial creativity, and innovation--what some call "human flourishing."

In the mind-set of Big Government supporters and bureaucrats, unregulated markets are chaotic places, where law
abiding individuals are endangered by the forces of "greed" and "injustice." Thus the only "solution" must be controls
that safeguard people and minimize risk. Pessimism also colors statists' views of rich and poor, who are seen as
mutually antagonistic groups with opposing interests.

The contrast between the moral optimism of enterprise and the negative assumptions of Big Government is reflected
in the differing visions of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Both came to office in troubled times. But Reagan, a
champion of limited government and open markets, believed that the historic ingenuity of the American people would
prevail. His moral optimism led him to reduce high taxation and regulation that were constraining enterprise--producing
twenty-five years of historic growth, prosperity, and innovation.

Barack Obama takes a bleaker view, believing Big Government is necessary to rescue people from "greed"--from themselves.
His Big Government pessimism has led to punitive regulations and policies meant to control "greed" that have slowed the
economy and polarized people. Instead of bringing more hope, they have produced more despair. More than half the nation,
55 percent, believed that today's youth would not have a better life than their parents. This pessimism was even greater
than at the beginning of the recession in 2008.

Freedom Manifesto by Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames