Thomas Peterffy and the Freedom to Succeed

Re-posted from Erick Erickson of RedState.com:

Thomas Peterffy is the founder of Interactive Brokers, an online brokerage firm. But he wasn’t always.

In 1956, Thomas Peterffy, unable to speak English, fled Hungary as the Iron Curtain was lowering on Eastern Europe. By the time Peterffy left Hungary, the communists were in charge. Around 350,000 people, many intellectuals and politicians, were purged by the communists. In 1956, Hungary went through a revolution that pushed out the Soviets until November of that year when the Soviets sent in 150,000 troops killing 20,000 people with a quarter million more fleeing for their lives.

Thomas Peterffy was one of those refugees. He went on to be an American success story. Now, this registered independent voter, has felt compelled to tell the world about the horrors of socialism and how it destroys success and erodes a nation’s work ethic. He has, out of his own pocket, produced an ad of him talking. He is, again with just his own money, running the ad on national news networks and in Ohio.

It is one of the most powerful ads you will see this campaign cycle. A refugee from a communist state has put his money where his mouth is and wants the world to know what happens when a nation punishes success.