IF NO ONE HAS TOWORK,
The farmers were anxious about the government’s response. There were rumors that the harshness of Mao was abating, but the farmers still felt the need to include a provision in the contract that if any of them were executed, the remaining farmers would take care of their children. The contract was kept secret. NPR reported, “Yen Hongchang hid it inside a piece of bamboo in the roof of his house.” What they couldn’t hide was the dramatically increased harvest. Farmer Hongchang estimated that the harvest was bigger than the last five years together. A miracle occurred, albeit a miracle known at least since the time of Adam Smith: Incentives do matter. As NPR reported: “Before the contract, the farmers would drag themselves out into the field only when the village whistle blew, marking the start of the work day. After the “We all secretly competed. Everyone wanted to produce more than the next person.”
One by one, they filed furtively into the agreed-upon farmer’s home. As NPR described it, this home was “like all of the houses in the village – it had dirt floors, mud walls, and a straw roof.. no plumbing, no electricity.” Despite the danger, the farmers agreed to try privatizing the land – they formalized the agreement and wrote it down as a contract. One of them, Yen Hongchang, wrote out the agreement. In the contract, the farmers agreed to apportion the land between families. The families would not get to keep the entire harvest. There still would be taxes and a portion for the collective, but for the first time in a generation, the vast amount of the harvest would go to the family that grew the crop. The more you grew, the more you and your family would profit.
U.S. Senator Rand Paul , MD, is one of the nation’s leading advocates for liberty. Elected to the United States Senate in 2010, Dr. Paul has proven to be an SYXWTSOIRGLEQTMSRJSVGSRWXMXYXMSREPPMFIVXMIWERHǻWGEPVIWTSRWMFMPMX] &WEǻIVGIEHZSGEXIEKEMRWXKSZIVRQIRXSZIVVIEGL)V5EYPLEWJSYKLX tirelessly to return government to its limited, constitutional scope. As a hardworking and dedicated physician – not a career politician – Dr. Paul GEQIXS;EWLMRKXSRXSWLEOIXLMRKWYTERHXSQEOIEHMǺIVIRGI His latest book, The Case Against Socialism , is a must-read as we head into what will prove to be a very important election in 2020. You can get your copy right here.
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January 2020
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