Future Business Leaders of America annually celebrates American Enterprise Day on November 15. Chapters all across the country (Middle-Level, FBLA, PBL, and Professional Division) celebrate through activities, projects, parties, games, and competitions. With the range of festivities that occur during this FBLA “holiday,” members tend to forget the true meaning of American Enterprise Day.
American Enterprise Day was originally set aside by FBLA-PBL to salute and publicize the American free enterprise system and to teach other members and non-members about it. The importance of the American free enterprise system is greater than most citizens think. As a matter of fact, it governs our daily financial choices! In order to educate your local chapter members about American Enterprise Day, and to help them truly appreciate the American free enterprise system, you need to first understand what American free enterprise is yourself!
President Jimmy Carter first proclaimed Free Enterprise Day in 1980 to honor the system that comprises the backbone of the United States economy. It is a day that symbolizes the freedoms granted to American citizens under the free enterprise system. The free enterprise system is the driving force behind capitalism and it gives individual Americans the right to make their own economic choices. For example, instead of the government controlling individual business and corporations, American citizens get to control their own businesses. Another characteristic of the free enterprise system is supply and demand, which dictates the price of commodities. The basic economic principle: when supply is low, the demand is high (and vice-versa) is one of the unique features of the American free enterprise system.
The American free enterprise system also gives American citizens the right to entrepreneurship. This means that all legal American citizens have the right to take a risk and start their own business, the right to create partnerships and agreements with other businesses, and the right to make a living through the occupation of their own choosing. In general, the free enterprise system allows Americans to conduct their business with minimal government interference. Aside from taxes and minor safety regulations, the American entrepreneurs are allowed to conduct their business as they wish.
Although the American free enterprise system is complicated, its value and purpose is quite simple. Without the free enterprise system, we would not have a variety of brands to choose from for a single product. Without the free enterprise system, we would have monopolies in certain industries that give an unfair advantage to one individual or group. Without the free enterprise system, we would not be able to attend the college of our choice or to start our own businesses. Quite simply, the American free enterprise system gives you the right to choose your own future and to follow your own dreams.
ATTENTION MEMBERS: By completing a project on the American free enterprise system or planning a celebration for American Enterprise Day, you can complete School/Community Service activity #2 in the MAP Entrepreneur Level, Service activity #3 in the BAA Future Level, Service activities #4 and #7 in the BAA Business Level, and Service activities #3 and #16 in the BAA America Level! By doing so, you can also help your chapter accumulate points in the Chapter of the Year competition!
