Protesters at "Occupy Oakland" protest police action against the movement.

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement spreading around the United States has been lauded by President Obama and other liberals as a positive rallying cry against the greed of the richest 1% of Americans. However, it is becoming strikingly obvious that the movement is more a protest of capitalism than of big bonuses for CEOs. In its attempt to get even with the wealthy, “Occupy Wall Street” has ignored the positive impacts of free enterprise throughout the history of the modern world.

Free-market capitalism first emerged in Europe during the Enlightenment, a time of major philosophical and political development that emerged during the 16th and 17th centuries. Unlike other economic philosophies such as mercantilism, which placed monarchs and governments at the helm of the economy, capitalism allowed private parties to pursue their own economic interests in search of wealth and prosperity. And just as this system emerged, early constitutional governments came about in Europe. These governments supported the rights of the individual as much as possible by enforcing contractual agreements, settling disputes, and allowing people to possess their own property.

The combination of constitutional government and free-market capitalism changed the face of world history forever. An extraordinary economic boom during the Enlightenment era led to dramatic social and economic changes throughout western Europe. The material standards of rural life improved significantly, as peasants gained access to better food, clothing, and household furnishings. Many low-income families began to earn disposable incomes, and women and young adults began to enter the job market and make their own livelihoods.

Thomas Jefferson was a proponent of democratic government and economic freedom.

Besides affecting economic prosperity, capitalism also had a major influence upon political development, most notably that of the United States. Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers were intimately familiar with Enlightenment ideas, drawing from those ideas to create the foundations for American government. In fact, the Declaration of Independence alludes very strongly to free enterprise economics in its preamble: “[All men] are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Both the Declaration and free-market capitalism assert the right for every person to pursue their own interests and their personal happiness. In fact, early capitalism helped to bring about political freedom, as one of the most important aspects of free enterprise is economic freedom. In a capitalist society, a person can make his/her own decisions about how to make a living.

Free-market capitalism fosters innovation and invention, which in turn dramatically changes the technological and industrial world. During the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, the creation of the steam engine led to the establishment of factories throughout western Europe and America and allowed essential goods to be produced inexpensively and sold at a low price, giving many low-income consumers the ability to purchase goods that previously had been out of their reach. In the early 20th century, entrepreneur Henry Ford began to manufacture the Model T, the affordability of which radically changed the transportation industry. The achievements of Steve Jobs, the late entrepreneur who founded Apple, are directly attributable to both his intense dedication and the capitalist environment of the United States.

The social changes that have accompanied modern capitalism have been astonishing. World life expectancy has risen from 31 years old in 1900 to 67 years old today. The price of food commodities has decreased drastically since 1950, as greater agricultural productivity has made essential staples available at a lower price. World literacy, measured from age 15 and up, currently averages at 83.7%, with developed countries like the United States consistently scoring above 95%. America’s poor reap many benefits from capitalism, as those below the federal poverty line consistently have enough food to eat and typically own televisions and personal computers along with essentials such as refrigerators and air conditioning, according to government statistics.

The “Occupy Wall Street” website claims that capitalism allows the richest 1% to “enrich themselves by impoverishing humanity”, and they are actually half-right. The Model T made Henry Ford a billionaire, and the success of the iPhone has turned Apple into the most valuable company in the world.  However, the assertion that the richest 1% succeed by depriving the wealth of others is proven completely false in the context of world history and the development of modern capitalism.