Volume 6, Issue 42
Sears Holdings Corp. entered into federal bankruptcy yesterday, economically a mere shadow of its former self. Analysts will dissect and opine ad nauseam about what went wrong. What’s more important is to remember what the company did right. It is also exigent in reflection to properly place the company’s achievements in American history.
Sears, Roebuck and Company developed the first true middle-class system and network of consumerism in world history. An isolated town in western Oklahoma had access to literally every product made in the world at a reasonable price. The Sears catalog was an American household staple until the end of the 20th century. Confidence in the mail-order industry propelled the American economy as driven by consumerism. The concept that a company would stand behind its products with a money-back guarantee was unheard of on a national basis. This belief by the consumer in quality of product and performance by a company did not exist anywhere else in the world.
Europe and other developed parts of the world remained towns and villages that consumed mainly what they produced locally. Provincial tradesmen still operated within the king’s realm of service to the crown rather than service to their countrymen.
At its zenith, Sears operated 4,000 stores and expanded into consumer services such as credit, financial services, and insurance. Its decline began with the introduction of cheap products delivered efficiently through just-in-time manufacturing and the elimination of middleman suppliers. Wal-Mart surpassed Sears as the country’s largest retailer in 1989.
As Sears struggles to reorganize, many people over the age of 40 are nostalgic about what they feel emotionally was a Golden Era of small-town America. Many of us believe that our childhood represents a time past of innocence and simplicity, a time when we were happier.
Nostalgia should always be measured in the context as to the past times' contribution to the ideals of the national sovereign character. It is appropriate to reminisce about good times, but never to the point of becoming melancholy. There is no reason to seek the personal circumstances of a past scenario unless it was part and parcel to the living out of the constructs of national eternal principles. In other words, what’s important is that the course of history progresses towards the ultimate goal of righteousness.
The United States of America was as great as it will ever be, and is as great today as it ever was, by the definition of its founding purpose, in its Declaration of Independence and later in the ratification of the Constitution. The commitment to the ideals that birth is not destiny, liberty is paramount over government, and all rights are granted by God as unalienable is what makes America great now and forever.
Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck expanded and acted on the axioms of free enterprise and free will. No government gave them permission or license to develop the Sears marketing network. Why? Because it wasn’t necessary or legally required. In most nations of the world at the time, permits would have been mandatory and thus restrictive.
By expanding product sales of great diversity to small towns and territories throughout the United States, Sears proved the economic concept that people naturally seek to provide the goods and services that each wants so that everyone can buy what they need. Under communism, people are forced to make, without free will, what the government thinks they need without consideration for what they want.
In 6,000 years of recorded history, communism and socialism economically have always failed. Since 1776, the capitalistic and free enterprise model of the United States has soared economically, not to the greatest height of the community of nations today, but to the greatest achievement of nations of all time.
We should be nostalgic for the example of Sears, Roebuck and Company as it is applied to the doctrine of original intent of 1776: freedom to think outside the box, freedom to take risk with one’s own capital without government permission, and freedom to operate inside of the great matrix of a free society orchestrated by a free people.
Amazon may be the next chapter in the retail saga.
The mid-term elections of 2018 are twenty-one days away. Again, it is imperative that we participate without excuse. In choosing candidates and causes, reflect upon your own definition of eternal ideals and principles. Do not seek temporal expectations only in the moment of this time and space. Commit to support the eternal values for which our national character is identified.
In his 1910 book What’s Wrong With the World, G.K. Chesterton stated, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” A critical tenet of Christianity is the doctrine of free will, choosing one’s own course for right and wrong without God’s interference. Christians believe that, by example of circumstances, God provides ample direction for the decision of the right choice. The choice is up to the individual.
In economic systems, socialism and communism have been tried and found wanting. Free enterprise has been found to be difficult, yet, when tried, always successful. Any successful time in American history is connected to we as a people being left unrestrained to pursue the vocations of our destinies. The choice is up to us as individuals.
The creed of America is to advance the dignity, self-worth, and general purpose of mankind. Ponder this question. Since 1776, has there been a time or a place in history, except for the privileged wealthy, that one would ever desire to be living to pursue one’s dreams or raise one’s family, other than the United States of America?
America has always been great. America’s cause is exceptional. Yes, it has been a journey. Civil rights, women’s suffrage, Native American rights, and due process have been efforts for commitment of democratic equality and progress. Yet the underlying principles and beliefs of 1776 are the structural bedrock supporting appropriate nostalgia.
On November 6th, don’t vote for the cause of the moment; vote for the transcendent principles that unify us. Don’t vote for temporal treasures. Vote for the hope maintained for the generations.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?