This is the essay for lessons 66-70 in the Autobiographies course from the Ronpaul curriculum. In this blog post, I will be covering the question of: Was Washington’s view of the future also my view of the future?

Booker T. Washington was a very influential black man, who was born at the end of the civil war, who helped progress the black people in a way that most people didn’t. Instead of begging for a change in regulations or harboring resentment against whites, he believed that hard work led to success. What Washington believed, was that black people’s social standing could be improved by working hard. This has been proven by the free market. In Washington’s case, this was shown to be true as well. He was respected by most people. People from all races, sexes and countries, respected him. This was because he worked hard providing his service, the Tuskegee School.

Washington also believed that people who would hate and discriminate against other people would start to hate and discriminate against more and more people. He believed that these were the people at the bottom in terms of social standing.

Washington’s view of the future was that in about half a century, discrimination against blacks would stop. This would happen on a systematic scale, of course there are going to be a few racist people out there. It would stop, not due to political change but due to economic change. Blacks would be providing plenty of products that people would want to buy, and they would gain people’s respect. This eventually leads them to the decision that they should stop discriminating against blacks on a systematic scale.

I agree with Washington’s beliefs, but his view of the future is not shared by many other people nowadays. Most people nowadays think that more power and control for the government is the solution to all problems and when something goes wrong, it’s the fault of the free-market. When Washington was alive, the government mostly let the free market do its thing and increase the wealth in the world. Basically the only thing the government did back then was the thing they were supposed to do, defend the country. I think that the advancement of blacks after the end of slavery is mostly to the free-market. In a free market, people cooperate freely on the basis of mutual consent, people can act in their own self-interest and choose the profession they want. It is freedom that allows people to create prosperity for themselves.