By John Anthony<\/p>\n
In spite of President Obama\u2019s slick\u00a0candor and a sympathetic media, the devices he uses to create his centrally \u201cgoverned\u201d society are vulnerable.<\/p>\n
Like an underdeveloped nation\u00a0torn\u00a0between wealthy\u00a0landowners\u00a0and the struggling poor,\u00a0President Obama is careening America toward third-worldism.\u00a0 Washington DC is now the land of the elite, while middle-class wealth withers and the ranks of dependents swell.\u00a0 This gap between the connected rich and the dependent poor is the lifeblood of totalitarians.<\/p>\n
Rulers rely on compassionate sounding schemes like affordable housing, social justice and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance\u00a0Programs to create legions of dependents.<\/p>\n
But, when the dependency decreases, so too does the political stranglehold.\u00a0 To change the direction of Obama\u2019s transformation, America’s\u00a0poor and middle-class must become less dependent. \u00a0In other words, they need real wealth building opportunities.<\/p>\n
American exceptionalism did not just happen. Americans built their success on the entrepreneurship of millions of small businesses, not on the conniving of global\u00a0enterprises and public-private partnerships.<\/p>\n
By developing a system in which anyone can share in the capital of the\u00a0business they help build, wealth is no longer the exclusive domain of the rulers\u00a0and the priviledged.<\/p>\n
By creating opportunities to earn personal wealth rather than \u201cspreading around\u201d that of others\u2019, you limit the government\u2019s access to its single greatest weapon…A public increasingly susceptible to bribery through transfers of unearned money.<\/p>\n
Capital sharing creates other advantages. Wealth is property and therefore,\u00a0the foundation of freedom.\u00a0The new\u00a0capitalists are less likely to vote for central control over free markets; for regionalism over local choices; or for dependency over opportunity.<\/p>\n
The challenge is, \u201chow do you create more capitalists, while helping business owners and satisfying an insatiable government?\u201d\u00a0 There is an answer.<\/p>\n
By chance I came across an old friend, Veny Musum.\u00a0 In the 1980\u2019s we worked together and helped transform a small hair care start-up into the internationally recognized health and beauty giant, Paul Mitchell. Veny understands business.\u00a0 He is also about as conservative as it gets.<\/p>\n
Together, with his liberal associate Upendra Chivukula, they co-authored a book called \u201cThe 3rd<\/sup> Way<\/a>.\u201d Upendra is the former Democratic Deputy Speaker of the NJ General Assembly and is currently the non-partisan Commissioner of the Bureau of Public Utilities. Politically, Veny and Upendra are opposites.<\/p>\n Their meeting point is a genuine desire to help people get ahead. The 3rd<\/sup> Way<\/a> does that.\u00a0 It also shatters America’s\u00a0progressive transformation because it operationalizes a workable way to lessen the number of dependents and create more capitalists.<\/p>\n The two authors build on the Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) model that was popular in the 1970\u2019s.\u00a0 Today, you probably don\u2019t know it, but there are more people enrolled in ESOPs and sharing part of their company\u2019s capital than there are members enrolled in private sector unions.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because it builds productivity for the companies and wealth for the people who work there.<\/p>\n Veny and Upendra have recast the ESOP in line with today\u2019s political realities. The 3rd<\/sup> Way<\/a> argues that socialism sounds good but fails, while capitalism works, but lacks enough capitalists.\u00a0 Their answer is a 3rd<\/sup> way that makes more money for business owners, long-term wealth for employees and, even adds to government revenues.\u00a0\u00a0 (But, the government only wins by loosening the strings that are killing the economy. If it does not let go, the people they clearly hurt, are the very same dependents they rely on for votes.)<\/p>\n The authors have already contacted GOP presidential candidates to make the 3rd way,\u00a0part of their 2016 platform.<\/p>\n