It's not an easy time to be a free enterprise advocate in America. 

For years, we thought we had won. After all, almost no self-respecting public figures call themselves socialists anymore. With the advent of the New Democrats, even America's progressive party was on board with free markets and somewhat limited government. The Reagan era had ended the debate about whether the free market was a force for good in the world. 

So how did we end up where we are today: a federal debt higher than our GDP, bailing out bankers and passing trillion-dollar stimulus packages, and government consuming more than a third of what America makes? In other words, after two decades of what should have been the best days of free enterprise, how have we slouched towards the brink of full-scale European social welfare statism? 

It's tempting to say that we didn't make the case for free enterprise with enough good studies, or the right data, or through the right ads or messages. But that's not the problem.