I had the privilege to hear Rabbi Daniel Lapin speak last night at a Republican dinner:

There is no other country on earth like this. You know there are alot of things I'm ignorant about, I don't mind admitting that. But I do know something about Jewish History and I'll tell you that there is no country in the history of the last 2000 years, anywhere at all, in which Jews have lived with such tranquility and such security and such prosperity as we have in the United States of America.

And I have to tell you, as an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, that is not in spite of America being a Christian nation. It is because of it. believe me when I tell you that Judaism's safety belt is America's Bible belt. That's the reality.

The most important point he made, in my opinion, is the current vilification of business and how counterintuitive that is to the freedom and prosperity we share in this nation. He explained that it is business that provides jobs and that create wealth. (He also gave a wonderful proof which explains exactly how commerce creates wealth.) The government does not create wealth; it merely consumes a portion of it and redistributes the rest.

If something is given a bad rap, it does enormous harm. Does anybody doubt that today the bad rap in in American culture is given to business? Think about it. After a period of perhaps the most aggressive prosecutorial period in history; after a period of the most aggressive investigations and prosecutions, how many bad apples have we found in American business? Tens, hundreds or thousands?

Not thousands, not hundreds, just tens. So out of millions and millions of American business professionals who conduct their business with dignity and honor, supplying the goods and the services that we need and want, we are able to find a small handful of abusers of the system. A far greater proportion of teachers are no longer teaching because of sexual abuse of children. A far greater proportion of doctors have lost their medical licenses for operating under the influences of drugs and alcohol.

But nobody says "Oh the institution of teaching needs greater government regulation because of all the bad that is going on there." Nobody says that. Medicine? None. No problem. Business? It's evil. It's awful.

I too am tired of the relentless assault on the companies. Two of the favorite targets in this era are Oil Companies & Haliburton. Nevermind how dependent we are on oil for every facet of our economy and daily lives. Fuel for our cars (and SUVs) help us get to work each day (unless you telecommute). Without it you would have no money for clothing or food...not that it would matter. Without fuel for the trucking industry, the stores would have no food or clothing to sell you. All the Haliburton bashing seems akin to biting the hand that feeds you.

Another big target is the evil pharmaceutical companies. They spend billions on research and testing to make drugs to treat and cure our diseases (and comply with ever increasing FDA regulations). They also have the audacity to make a profit. It is a well known fact that we would all be much better off if they all went out of business. That way we would all be permanently free from high drug prices at the local pharmacy. Of course, we would also be free from any medical treatments as well.

It is time to be done bashing Wal-Mart, Shell and Smith-Kline. We all participate and are enriched by commerce. It is time to stop complaining about it.