Give Us Your Tired, Poor and Ambitious
Everywhere you look, you can see how efficient free markets are in providing a better product, at a better price. Go into your local grocery store and look at almost anything on the shelves—corn for instance—and you'll see how the different companies compete for your business. Go to a different store and you'll see even more competition for your dollar. This isn't Darwinian, survival of the fittest kind of competition, but, major corporate entities working feverishly to entice you into their store by using their purchasing power to drive down costs—and drive up quality. This is far too often taken for granted by Americans, especially by those of us born here.
I used to do a lot of business with Romanians expats who'd escaped their country under the threat of death, only to arrive in the U.S. and, not only excel, but eventually become wealthy. How did they do it? By sharing knowledge with other expatriate Romanians who had found success and were willing to help others who arrived under similar circumstances.
They found strength and support in numbers, as well as a sense of community in their churches and in their neighborhoods. Many started at the very bottom of the social ladder, moving into blighted urban neighborhoods, sending their children to poor urban schools, simply because they had no alternative. Eventually, by saving their hard earned money and pooling their families resources, they purchased dilapidated buildings, renovated and cleaned them up—and, after a few years, when they had earned some equity, they would sell them at a profit and then start again.
These were not slumlords, but were good, honest landlords that treated their tenants with respect. Virtually every one of them went on to become millionaires, although most still lived frugally, relatively speaking, that is. Under genuine socialism, they lived diminished lives. Under capitalism they thrived. They asked for no special treatment, they simply worked hard and shared what they knew with one another.
The son of one of my former clients lived and went to school in the inner-city of Detroit as a boy. He told me “Everyday I got on the bus for school, and everyday I was picked on and beat up” He looked at me and said “ I still don't know why they did that?” Instead of being angry, he had empathy for his tormenters. In spite of this, he never disrespected his tenants, who tended be the same race as his attackers. I don't mean to suggest that he was, somehow, fundamentally different, only that having lived under a communist dictatorship he knew what real hardship was.
Like all the Romanian that I met, freedom was to be celebrated. And opportunity exploited for the good. Past difficulties were used as life-lessons, instead of as a cause for living under their shadow. It was what you did with what you had learned. That was what mattered.
Another of my clients was a farmer who had been so poor in Romania he could barely afford shoes, even in the brutal winters. He eventually escaped, traveling through treacherous mountains, knowing full and well, that if he was caught he would be executed. Finally, he arrived in New York, where he became a taxi driver. After paying down his taxi medallion, which cost about a million dollars, he mortgaged it to buy an old apartment building, sold that, moved to FT. Lauderdale and bought another apt. building, and, in time he sold it for well over a million dollars. The farmer who once could barely afford shoes, was know a rich man.
Romanians living under the rule of a tyrannical Soviet system experienced mass murder and a state so corrupt it managed every moment of it's citizen's lives. But, they still managed to thrive once they were free. Freedom, then, is the natural state of man, as our Founders knew so well. Not living as wards of an all-powerful state. Our freedoms, after all, are God given, not man given. That is the reality. Everyday men and woman arrive in this country and thrive in spite of their past. And their success is always a testament to their hard work and the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights . Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Mark Magula
I used to do a lot of business with Romanians expats who'd escaped their country under the threat of death, only to arrive in the U.S. and, not only excel, but eventually become wealthy. How did they do it? By sharing knowledge with other expatriate Romanians who had found success and were willing to help others who arrived under similar circumstances.
They found strength and support in numbers, as well as a sense of community in their churches and in their neighborhoods. Many started at the very bottom of the social ladder, moving into blighted urban neighborhoods, sending their children to poor urban schools, simply because they had no alternative. Eventually, by saving their hard earned money and pooling their families resources, they purchased dilapidated buildings, renovated and cleaned them up—and, after a few years, when they had earned some equity, they would sell them at a profit and then start again.
These were not slumlords, but were good, honest landlords that treated their tenants with respect. Virtually every one of them went on to become millionaires, although most still lived frugally, relatively speaking, that is. Under genuine socialism, they lived diminished lives. Under capitalism they thrived. They asked for no special treatment, they simply worked hard and shared what they knew with one another.
The son of one of my former clients lived and went to school in the inner-city of Detroit as a boy. He told me “Everyday I got on the bus for school, and everyday I was picked on and beat up” He looked at me and said “ I still don't know why they did that?” Instead of being angry, he had empathy for his tormenters. In spite of this, he never disrespected his tenants, who tended be the same race as his attackers. I don't mean to suggest that he was, somehow, fundamentally different, only that having lived under a communist dictatorship he knew what real hardship was.
Like all the Romanian that I met, freedom was to be celebrated. And opportunity exploited for the good. Past difficulties were used as life-lessons, instead of as a cause for living under their shadow. It was what you did with what you had learned. That was what mattered.
Another of my clients was a farmer who had been so poor in Romania he could barely afford shoes, even in the brutal winters. He eventually escaped, traveling through treacherous mountains, knowing full and well, that if he was caught he would be executed. Finally, he arrived in New York, where he became a taxi driver. After paying down his taxi medallion, which cost about a million dollars, he mortgaged it to buy an old apartment building, sold that, moved to FT. Lauderdale and bought another apt. building, and, in time he sold it for well over a million dollars. The farmer who once could barely afford shoes, was know a rich man.
Romanians living under the rule of a tyrannical Soviet system experienced mass murder and a state so corrupt it managed every moment of it's citizen's lives. But, they still managed to thrive once they were free. Freedom, then, is the natural state of man, as our Founders knew so well. Not living as wards of an all-powerful state. Our freedoms, after all, are God given, not man given. That is the reality. Everyday men and woman arrive in this country and thrive in spite of their past. And their success is always a testament to their hard work and the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights . Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Mark Magula