Evil Politicians! Film at 11!

[jm]

An assortment of observations took place:

>>The
>>"rugged individualism" preached by either side of this Ideal has always been
>>associated with business enterprise. That is what this country was founded
>>upon.
>
>Hardly!  First, the country was by no means founded upon business 
>enterprise as we normally understand the term.  It was founded on small 
>farming.  The vast majority of the people were small farmers and the 
>overwhelming bulk of the economy was farming.  The small farmer and his 
>family were the original model of individualism.  Then there was the 
>woodsman, who explored the country, bartered with the Indians, trapped, 
>etc.  The mythologization of these people and their activities into a 
>Rugged Individual icon which was then applied to corporate entrepreneurs 
>is the hijacking I referred to.
>

The colony at Jamestown VA, circa 1609, was a for-profit project of the
Virginia Company, an investment-capitalist concern, out to make a buck (or a
pound, rather) for its shareholders.  Maybe not all of the colonies were
established strictly for profit, and maybe the motives for founding the
colonies were not the same as the motives for founding the country, but
clearly the aroma of "business enterprise" was present here from the very
beginning.   
                                                -j minnich