Labor Day should be recognized as the holiday that celebrates not only labor, but also the ideas, job creators, and institutions central to the flourishing of the United States and its people.
This from thefederalist.com.
For starters, consider the tools brought by the colonists who arrived in the New World along the eastern seaboard that would become the United States.
These were the same rudimentary tools—such as shovels, axes, hoes, and ploughs—that had been used for prior centuries. But something happened in America that sped up economic development and transformed labor output beyond what had ever happened previously in human history.
[They] were a self-selecting people willing to leave the familiarity of their European homes and cross a dangerous ocean.
And they not only prospered, but within a generation or two, many of their descendants achieved surprising wealth that in many cases was created from nothing. In addition, in contrast to today, what stands out about towns and cities in colonial America was the relative absence of poverty.
It was Alexis de Tocqueville, whose ever-relevant classic, “Democracy in America,” pointed out that in contrast to Europeans, Americans’ regard work as “positively honorable.”
In part, that was undoubtedly attributable to Christian influence in America. The Bible, which guided the colonists, makes more than 450 references to the value and importance of work—specifically referring to work as a virtue more times than it refers to other virtues, such as prayer, faith, hope, joy, forgiveness, mercy, grace, or peace.
Thus, it was and still should be widely recognized that work is good for the soul and necessary to a fulfilling life with dignity and meaning.
Labor Union Roots
The idea of a “labor day holiday” was conceived in America in the 1880s by union labor leaders who sought recognition for the accomplishments of American workers. Finally, in 1894, Congress voted to establish Labor Day as a national holiday to celebrate workers’ contributions to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of the country.
But as U.S. laborers’ standard of living rose above those in the rest of the world, the tie between Labor Day and labor unions diminished.
Labor Union membership peaked as a percentage of the entire American labor force at 26 percent in 1953. Today, the share of workers belonging to unions has dropped to a new low of 10.3 percent.
What is striking now is how union membership among government workers—at about 34 percent—is more than five times higher than among private-sector workers—at about 6.1 percent.
A New Narrative About Labor Day
While commemorating all who labor, it makes sense to remember the asinine slur of candidate for re-election Barack Hussein Obama who said on July 13, 2012, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”
It [also] makes sense to celebrate the entrepreneurs and the intermediaries who create jobs and new labor opportunities that come out of launching new business ventures.
Like the early colonial settlers, these prophets and dreamers are often the ones most willing to take risks in developing new products, services, and market opportunities.
What’s important to understand about Labor Day past and present is that these visionaries were the primary drivers of wealth creation that took the country from colonial poverty to world economic superpower in a little more than 200 years.
There is a Biblical reference of being “the light of the world, a city set on a hill” which pertains not only to Christians’ positive spiritual influence on society,
[But we may] also find it applicable to America’s vibrant political and economic success being a constructive example for other nations.
In addition to 1776 being the year our “Founding Fathers” gave birth to America with the Declaration of Independence, 1776 was also the year that the Scottish enlightenment philosopher, Adam Smith, became known as the “Father of Capitalism,” when he published The Wealth of Nations.
Now a classic, it was at the time the first major work providing a comprehensive understanding of how the essential elements of the free market system—labor, private property, and capital—provide the foundation for entrepreneurs, scientists, inventors, financiers, laborers, and consumers to freely interact for the economic benefit of society, producing results more proficiently than any other system, notably the socialist system.
Equality in Liberty
The central struggle throughout the ages has been between freedom and tyranny. And this, most definitely, is where we are in 2022.
Even before Karl Marx wrote “The Communist Manifesto” and “Das Kapital,” Tocqueville asserted:
Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.
He added:
You can’t have it both ways. Socialism (communism by another name) is a new form of slavery.
Anyone can see across nations and cultures that socialism has been associated with diminished prosperity and abuse of power by those in control, who waste and steal, while free enterprise has been associated with flourishing and opportunity to pursue happiness.
Socialism fails not only because it misallocates resources and thwarts creativity, but also because it discourages and destroys the human spirit.
Agree or disagree with the concept of ‘American Exceptionalism,’ none of us can deny certain facts about the ways in which America is unique among nations of the world:
1) The United States represents only 4 percent of the world’s population but it has produced 96 percent of the world’s creativity and 25 percent of the world’s wealth.
2) The United States has provided more upward mobility than any other nation in history.
3) The United States is the number one destination for immigration, which is the most reliable substantiation of the idea of America as an exceptional nation.
4) Also exceptional is the fact that the United States has had one constitution for 234 years, while the average length of other nations’ constitutions in the world has been less than 20 years.
What accounts for our nation’s longevity, making America truly unique and exceptional, is found in [Our] Declaration of Independence, which established that citizens have unalienable God-given rights that cannot be taken away by the state.
The founding of the United States was an exceptional moment in human history, and because those ideas cannot be canceled or rescinded, our country remains exceptional.
Labor Day celebrates American exceptionalism through the work and the accomplishments of its diverse people.
May God help us to safeguard our Constitution.
And God speed to Conservatism.
Now, get some rest, Def-Con News readers. There are still four more workdays ’til Saturday.
