Cronyism is defined as the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.

It's the opposite of the meritocracy created by free market capitalism.

Cronyism is what dissuades so many from entering into politics. Politics has become so corrupt. Political favoritism is widespread in the lines of legislation that restricts true capitalism.

It's not just putting friends in positions of power. It's doing so in order to further an individual agenda, often the result of back door dealings.

These are not typically agendas that solve a big problem in the world or to help further society through innovation. That's what happens in the private sector, through free market capitalism.

In crony capitalism, politicians manipulate the free market, giving specific interest groups an unfair advantage over their competition.

Cronyism gets mislabeled as capitalism, and people who would otherwise feel empowered go on the offense against the system that would benefit them the most.

In a recent episode of Freedom Fast Lane TV, Ryan Moran shared a story about an interaction with one such individual:

...my generation seems to have this view of the evils of capitalism, that there’s the evil 1 percent that get rich and successful on the backs of everyone else. And that they need to be either paying their fair share, or they need to be giving back.

It's fair to say that some government regulation is enacted with good intentions, but the unintended consequences can be harmful to the economy and society as a whole. And more regulation typically means more enforcement, and more enforcement means more spending. More spending means a need for more taxes, or the creation of more debt. It's inefficient, and not the way to solve problems.

Ryan Moran offered a simple point in advance of the 2016 election about the losing position we all put ourselves in when we hand over our individual responsibility to government:

The minute that we rely on a politician to solve our problems, the minute that we expect a government program to magically appear and solve something that we all might agree is a good thing to solve, the minute we expect a program, a politician, or a government to do something about it, we have lost. Because we have waited for an ineffective strategy to solve a problem that we want to solve.

When government gets out of the way, opportunities become plentiful. There are fewer restrictions on innovation and outside-the-box thinking.

When we have true free market capitalism, individuals are able to experience freedom, create success, and build personal achievement that we are all hard wired for in life.

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