Four American Values That Built a Nation | This Week's Economy Ep. 170
Examining 250 years of liberty and what we must strive to preserve.
Hello Friends!
America is gearing up to celebrate a historic milestone: the nation’s 250th birthday. This anniversary marks the signing of the Declaration of Independence, when the thirteen colonies boldly declared their separation from British rule and their commitment to the ideals of liberty and self-government.
Our Founding Fathers took an extraordinary risk in proclaiming those principles. Their belief in freedom, limited government, and individual responsibility became woven into the fabric of the American experiment and continues to shape our nation today.
But how well are we living up to those founding ideals? In this episode of This Week’s Economy, we’ll explore some of the principles that guided America’s founding and history for 250 years and examine the policy debates that are testing those principles in the modern era.
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1. Strong Property Rights
The Principles:
Property is one of the foundations of liberty. America’s Founders understood that a free society depends on people being able to own, use, and exchange property without undue interference from government. Property represents the fruits of work, saving, investment, and voluntary exchange — not a privilege granted by the state.
Protecting property rights was considered a core responsibility of government. The purpose of government was not to control property, but to preserve liberty, protect property rights, enforce contracts, and provide a limited set of public services.
Why it Matters:
Why Strong Property Rights Matter:
Property rights create the stability and certainty necessary for economic growth and prosperity. When people know they can keep what they earn and own what they build, they are more willing to invest, innovate, improve their communities, and take risks that benefit others.
Strong property rights encourage long-term thinking and responsible stewardship. They give families, entrepreneurs, and investors confidence that the rewards of their efforts will not be arbitrarily taken away.
Challenge of Property Taxes and Ownership:
Property taxes raise an important question about the meaning of ownership. If a home has already been purchased with after-tax income, should the government continue charging an annual tax simply for the right to keep it? Property taxes make ownership conditional. Missing payments can ultimately result in the loss of property. This undermines the principle that citizens should be able to fully own the homes and land they have purchased.
How Government Can Protect Property Rights:
Eliminating property taxes requires governments to have sustainable budgeting. That means limiting spending growth to a rate below the sum of population growth and inflation, while allowing economic growth. When governments exercise fiscal restraint, budget surpluses emerge naturally as economic activity expands. Over time, this creates a pathway to reducing and ultimately eliminating property taxes, allowing Americans to more fully enjoy the benefits of true ownership.
Related Viewing: Watch my explainer on eliminating property taxes.
2. Mobility as the American Dream
The Principle:
For generations, America has been known as the land of opportunity. The promise was never that everyone would achieve the same outcome, but that everyone would have the freedom to pursue a better one.
Millions of people have left their homes, families, and countries behind for the chance to build a better life in the United States. They came seeking opportunity, believing that hard work, personal responsibility, and perseverance could create a brighter future for themselves and their children. This belief in upward mobility became known as the American Dream.
Why it Matters:
Why Upward Mobility Matters:
More than a cultural ideal, the American Dream is a reflection of a society where people can improve their circumstances through effort and opportunity. Economic mobility gives people hope that their future is not determined by where they start in life. Research shows that states with greater economic freedom tend to have higher levels of upward mobility. People are more likely to climb the economic ladder when they are free.
Why Some Doubt the American Dream
Many Americans today doubt whether the American Dream is still within reach. Homeownership has become increasingly difficult for younger generations. Higher education costs continue to rise while confidence in the value of degrees has declined. Inflation has reduced purchasing power, making it harder for families to get ahead even when their incomes rise.
Often government policies are at the root of rising the cost of living, limited housing supply, less work and investment, or new barriers that make upward mobility more difficult.
Restoring Opportunity for the Next Generation:
If we want to strengthen the American Dream, we should focus on expanding opportunity rather than bureaucracy. That means removing unnecessary barriers to work, entrepreneurship, housing, and innovation while maintaining sound fiscal and monetary policies that protect families from inflation. The goal should not be equal outcomes, but a society where every person has the opportunity to improve their circumstances and pursue their version of success. That vision has attracted people to America for nearly 250 years and is worth preserving.
Related Viewing: Dr. Justin Callais and I discuss his report, Social Mobility in the 50 States, and what states can do to expand opportunity and upward mobility.
3. Opportunity to Experiment and Innovate
The Principle:
“…since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” - George Washington, First Inaugural Address 1789
America itself was founded as an experiment in self-government. The Founders understood that free people are best positioned to discover solutions, create opportunities, and improve society. The freedom to experiment, innovate, take risks, and build businesses has been a defining feature of American culture for nearly 250 years.
From the cotton gin to the automobile, from the personal computer to artificial intelligence, America’s greatest advances have emerged because individuals were free to pursue new ideas and challenge the status quo.
Why it Matters:
Innovation Creates Prosperity:
Innovation is one of the most powerful drivers of human progress. When entrepreneurs are free to create and compete, they solve real-world problems, increase productivity, and improve living standards. New technologies do not simply replace old jobs — they create entirely new industries, occupations, and opportunities. The result is a more dynamic economy that benefits workers, consumers, and communities alike.
What Threatens American Innovation:
Too often, policymakers respond to new ideas with fear. The precautionary principle assumes innovation should be restricted until every possible risk has been eliminated. But progress has always involved uncertainty. This approach has slowed many advances in sectors such as energy, transportation, and healthcare. Similar pressures are being applied to AI.
Antitrust policy presents a similar challenge. Historically, antitrust law focused on protecting consumers from demonstrable harm. Increasingly, however, it is being used to pursue broader political objectives that create uncertainty for businesses and discourage investment.
Keep American Innovation Alive:
America’s economic success was not built by the government choosing winners and losers. It was built by people willing to take risks, challenge conventional wisdom, and create value for others. From Henry Ford to Jeff Bezos, progress has depended on the freedom to experiment. If America is to remain a leader in the next century, policymakers should remove unnecessary barriers to innovation, reduce regulatory burdens, and allow entrepreneurs to keep building the future.
Related Viewing: Watch my recent episode on innovation and entrepreneurship.
4. Freedom of Speech
The Principle:
The Founders understood that a free society depends on the free exchange of ideas. That is why freedom of speech was enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Americans have long viewed free expression not as a privilege granted by government, but as a fundamental right that government is bound to protect. The freedom to speak, write, debate, question authority, and express differing opinions has been one of the defining characteristics of the American experiment for nearly 250 years.
Why it Matters:
Why Free Speech Matters:
Free speech is essential because no individual, expert, or government possesses all the knowledge necessary to direct society. Progress depends on the ability to challenge assumptions, test ideas, and learn from one another. In many ways, free speech functions like a marketplace of ideas. Through open discussion and debate, good ideas can emerge, bad ideas can be challenged, and knowledge can spread.
People flourish best when they are free, responsible, and protected by equal justice under the law. A government committed to liberty protects citizens' right to speak and to disagree.
A Modern Threat to Speech:
The threats to free speech today are often more subtle than outright censorship. Increasingly, policymakers seek to regulate digital spaces in ways that can burden lawful speech and create new barriers to participation. One example is age-verification mandates for app stores, social media platforms, and other digital services used by both adults and children. While protecting children is an important goal, requiring users to submit sensitive personal information before accessing lawful content raises serious concerns about privacy, free expression, and the practical implementation of such policies.
Protecting Free Speech for the Next Generation:
Strong families, communities, and institutions all play an important role in teaching responsibility and guiding young people. Parents should be empowered to make decisions for their children rather than having those decisions increasingly transferred to the government. Freedom always carries responsibility, but the answer to difficult challenges is not to erode fundamental rights. If America is to remain a beacon of liberty, we must continue to defend free speech, open debate, and the principle that free people should decide what ideas are worth hearing.
Related Viewing: I discuss the free speech implications of social media regulations and age-verification mandates here.
Final Thoughts
As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, it is worth remembering that our nation’s success was never guaranteed. The American experiment has endured because generations of citizens have chosen to uphold the principles that made liberty and prosperity possible. Strong property rights, the opportunity to pursue the American Dream, the freedom to innovate, and the freedom to speak openly are not relics of the past. They remain essential to a thriving society and a flourishing economy.
The greatest tribute we can pay to the Founders is not simply to celebrate their achievements, but to preserve and strengthen the principles they entrusted to us. The next 250 years of American prosperity will depend on whether we continue to trust free people more than centralized power, opportunity more than control, and liberty more than coercion. If we do, the United States will continue to serve as a beacon of hope and opportunity for generations to come.
Thanks for joining me in this episode of "This Week's Economy." For more insights, visit vanceginn.com and get even greater value with a paid subscription to my Substack newsletter at vanceginn.substack.com.
God bless you, and let people prosper!
Bonus section for what’s usually for paid subscribers:
Don’t miss these short videos from the entire episode above.
The Founders Knew Free Speech Matters
Making America’s Next 250 Years Prosperous
What Makes America Great?
More from Me:
Letter to the Editor: Parents should control apps, letter in Dallas Morning News.
Stop Regulating Yesterday’s Media Market, commentary on Substack.
Missouri Can Eliminate Its Income Tax, commentary on Substack.
Fathers Help Families Prosper, commentary on Substack.
Blessings Come With a Calling, commentary on Substack.
Latest Commentary at Dallas Morning News below…
Parents Should Control Apps
Re: “Congress can learn from Texas’ app law,” by David Dunmoyer of Texas Public Policy Foundation, June 18 Opinion.
Dunmoyer argues that Senate Bill 2420 empowers parents; instead, it expands government by creating a state-mandated age-verification system that requires collecting personal information and linking minors to parental accounts.
Parents should decide what their children access online. That responsibility belongs to families, not government bureaucracies.
Supporters of SB 2420 assume social media and apps are harming children. Much of the evidence shows correlation, not causation.
Policymakers should be cautious about restricting liberty based on conjecture rather than clear proof. Parents already have tools to monitor devices, restrict downloads, use parental controls and decide whether their children have smartphones at all.
The difference between markets and government matters. Families can delete apps, switch platforms and stop using services they dislike. Businesses that fail consumers can lose customers and disappear. Government mandates are far harder to escape.
If we want stronger families, we should encourage parental responsibility, protect privacy and resist another attempt to let government run more of our lives.