This kind of thing has me heart sick for our country. Not because Obama said it; I expect this kind of idiocy to come from Obama and his operatives. What deeply saddens me is that he can say it and not be booed off the stage...that so many average Americans seem to be buying into this collectivist, anti-American drivel. Not so long ago we were not afraid to condemn this kind of socialist rhetoric as dangerous to our very way of life...to our liberty. Now, it resides in the White House.
Obama says, "If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system we have that allowed you to thrive." While this is all true, Obama wants us to draw the conclusion that since, as John Donne famously penned, "No man is an island, entire of itself," we should not have a problem giving more of our money, time, and freedom to the collectivist, central government. In the mind of Obama and that of his ilk, the government is the font of all opportunity, all provision, all wealth, and all power...but only when they are in charge of it.
Success, regardless of what Obama thinks or says, does not happen because of the goodness of government. Taxes, fees, regulations, and bureaucratic red tape place ever-larger road blocks in the path of small business. This makes the already difficult task of business success almost impossible. No, success happens in spite of government, not because of it.
Successful entrepreneurs are not necessarily the smartest, or hardest working in our society. But they are the ones who have used the intelligence they have, worked very, very hard, taken the risks, overcome the failures, and continued to strive toward their goals. They must have the right product or service, in the right location at the right time. They risk their own money, sweat, and family lives to get the business started, and then more than 50% go out of business in the first five years. Many successful entrepreneurs have failed multiple times in the process of learning how to succeed. These are costs that the average American is not willing to pay.
Obama does not have a clue as to what it truly takes to succeed in business, and he continues to show his ignorance through his policies that have given us an economy that continues to falter with dismal unemployment numbers. How dare he lecture us on what it takes to succeed! It is not the teacher who gives the business owner money and stands by them through the long nights of paper work and planning. It is not the road worker or the fireman who share their anguish about how they will make the next payroll. It is not the government bureaucrat or politician who gives them the motivation and drive to keep going, even when it seems impossible to win. No, these business people are out there to fail or succeed all on their own.
And what about this "unbelievable American system we have" that allows them to thrive? How can they get their supplies or ship their goods without the roads provided by the government? What about electricity, communications, water, sewage infrastructure? The small businessman didn't build those, but he uses them all for his success. This is true...SO WHAT?! All of those things are the natural outcome of people interacting together in a society. Everyone is doing what they can to make a living by providing products or services to his fellow man. The carpenter frames the storefront. The electrical worker brings power to the building. The construction worker builds the roads to bring customers to the store. All of these people ply their trades for their own self-interest. The store owner owes them nothing. They have been paid in full. This has nothing to do with government. We do not need government's permission to do it and we do not need their interference to make it happen. See my earlier post, Why Feed The Pig, for more on the subject of government's involvement in infrastructure.
Without people interacting in this way there is no wealth creation, and, therefore, no money for government. Business came first...people came first. Government is a creature of the people. Nothing -- NOTHING --of value originates with government. In this country, The People institute government to serve them, not to rule them. That is the principle of republicanism.
It has not been very long ago when the majority of people in this country celebrated success. How then, can so many people now buy into its denigration, as if it is only a matter of luck and the largess of a benevolent government? This attitude has not come about overnight. It is the result of years and years of continuous programming. Over the last decades we have been fed on a diet of class warfare that has told us that the rich have only succeeded on the backs of the poor. We have been lead to believe that the economy is a zero-sum game where the more the rich make, the less there is for me and you. We have had the self esteem movement inflicted on us, which tells us that everyone is special, whether you are a doctor or a welfare bum. Multiculturalism has also told us that all cultures are equal, whether they have brought us wealth, art, and science, or they stone their women for talking to a man, or kill each other in clashes between warlords...one's as good as the other. All lies!
All of these things have been designed to convince us that no one is special. We all "deserve" a trophy. It's "only fair" that those who have more should "share" it with those who have less...after all, they were just lucky and were helped along by all the rest of us. It is all a scheme to bring down the very idea of American exceptionalism. If Americans believe that their system of liberty, capitalism, and "small r" republicanism is nothing special, no better than any other country's system, then "fundamentally changing America" will be much easier. And now, after more than a hundred years of Progressive (socialism in sheep's clothing) teachings and propaganda, the average American has just accepted much of socialism as facts of life. They have been dumbed-down as citizens in that they don't know or care about how their country operates...or is supposed to operate. They just believe that government involvement is necessary for any real success. They can't imagine how roads or infrastructure could possibly be built without an all powerful central government.
After Obama has made moves to take control of banks, auto companies and the healthcare industry, we hear that businesses are just a product of the collective. Why then shouldn't they be controlled by the central nexus in Washington D.C.? It only makes sense, right? This is the central message of socialism. Too many are either too busy worrying about the next winner of America's Got Talent, or have just become so jaded by the whole process that they have chosen to ignore it and Hope for some good Change.
If there's any hope to save liberty in this country, we must rouse ourselves from this stupor. We must pay attention. We must understand the foundations of our freedom and how it is being threatened. And then, we must act to correct the damage. In 1790, John Curran rightly said that, "It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.” Are we lazy? Are we common? Or are we Americans? Then, let's stand, as Americans, vigilant against threats to our liberty.
