Last weekend, an impromptu essay contest was announced to Economics and Management Students. They were asked to spend a part of the snowstorm weekend writing a response to one of five quotes from professor Walter E. Williams – 2018 Lindau Resident in Conservative Thought. And now we know the names of the winners:
Ashley Allen ’21 and Jack Morrie ’19
Ashley an Jack will receive a check for $50 each and they will be forever celebrated by their peers for a productive use of time during the 2018 April Snowstorm. Interestingly, they both chose to respond to the same quote:
“Prior to capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and enslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man.” Walter E. Williams Capitalism and the Common Man
Here are the winning essays:
Ashley Allen ’21
Professor Walter Williams’ quote on capitalism summarizes my academic journey in discovering my field of study. “Prior to capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and enslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man.” In high school, I was convinced that I wanted to go into the realm of international relations and political science because I had a deep-rooted passion for helping others to create sustainable solutions. I was a leader of MUN and worked with Congressmen Keith Ellison and Erik Paulsen. Yet, as I slowly fell out of love with the bureaucracy and inefficient means for change brought by this forum, one teaching remained the most important committee in the House is the budget committee.
Coming to Gustavus, I threw myself into the world of business. I knew that only through business, could I achieve real-world change. Only through effective managing and budgeting, I could create sustainable change that didn’t force others to rely on aid. My business would be in helping others help others, a system that would be self-sustaining and would accumulate the resources to allow the movement to spread to others in need.
Jack Morrie ’19
I agree with this quote from Walter Williams as capitalism has transformed the way we live in more ways than we will ever realize. Capitalism has brought people out of poverty and made life easier for everyone. Just think for a minute how long ago the only way to become rich was to exploit the resources of others, but capitalism allows people to create and invent new products to make life easier for everyone. Now opponents of capitalism would probably argue that the inventor exploited people by making so much money from them and that he should be forced to give back. But as Williams argues, he already gave back to the people by making a product that people like to buy because it helps make their lives easier and better. Of course, then the inventor is going to be rewarded for his work as that is how business works you exchange resources for other resources. For example, this product could be the vacuum cleaner which has saved people time and money with having their carpets cleaned and with capitalism it allows other people to enter the market as well with their own vacuum cleaners.