December is a month for rushing to conclusions. There's a rush to plan and stage memorable holidays. The rush to organize our books and inventories. The rush to finalize goals and obligations before the calendar turns again. We all have commitments to meet. For me, every December finds me in a rush to write one or two, or more, columns in which I'm expected to capsulize the ideas and insights of the past year, and to set a thoughtful tone for a new one ahead.

Considering what a year we've just lived through, it seems more fitting to ask rather than answer: What have we learned? I'm not certain that I've learned anything new in 2009, but I've gained a new conviction about some things I ought to have taken more seriously.

1. Business and government are separate things, and they ought to remain that way. Business (manufacturing, retail, services) is the way that a free society encourages individuals to apply their abilities in order to improve their circumstances. Government — including executives, legislatures, courts, law enforcement and regulatory agencies, and schools — are in place to maintain civility and protect the rights and property of individuals.

   Both businesses and government represent individuals, but in different ways, and neither one can replace an individual. They may have some authority over individuals and our actions, but it's limited authority.

   Neither a business nor a government agent should be allowed to coerce or compromise an individual in order to enhance its own authority. The past year has witnessed a lot of such efforts, and we have to recognize them as the power grabs that they are.

2. Nothing is too big to fail. (Nothing in this life, that is.) The notion that some business or institution is so important that a government agency must rescue it from default seems so much more obviously ludicrous now that we've watched it happen, again and again. It's clear now that the recipients of bailout cash are not worthy of rescuing because they're big, but rather because they're well connected. They have access to the right powerful people, which is a further reminder that business and government are (or ought to be) separate.

   I suspect that in 2010 we won't hear “too big to fail” as much as we have in 2009. The right label will be simply “too big”; failure will be assumed.

3. Spending cannot increase revenue. Of course, spending can create opportunities for revenues to increase, and spending can be done prudently to address specific needs. But, the simple act of spending creates only debt for the spender, which most of us understood long ago.

   Expenditures are choices we make as individuals or as businesses, and if we make them prudently we may prosper. If not, we may be overdrawn or overextended, but in any case we're responsible for our spending.

   This is another reminder that the government has a different role to play. It cannot spend its own money; it doesn't have any of its own. All the money government spends is spent in behalf of the individuals it represents, and the debts it creates are their responsibility.

4. Economic growth cannot be coerced. Growth and prosperity can be stimulated with incentives, but forcing individuals or businesses to pay for things (via excessive taxes) or to conform in other ways (via excessive regulation) limits their choices (aka, their freedom.) Worse, it encourages them not to participate in growth, which leads generally to decline. It also leads eventually to civil unrest, which discredits the government and undermines security and prosperity.

   Have we learned anything new in 2009? Perhaps it's too soon to know, but after the past 11 months I understand better that there's no need to rush to new conclusions. There are fundamental principles that we'd do well to reaffirm. All of us — individuals, government, and businesses — need to assume our proper roles and responsibilities, including respecting each other's roles and responsibilities. These things need to be clarified or we face more of the confusion and decline that have characterized 2009, and threaten the freedom and prosperity we seek.