"There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me, because they want to give something back. ... Look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something: There are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.
"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 that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet."
These remarks come from a speech delivered by President Barrack Obama on July 16 at Roanoke, Va. When I first heard reports of this speech, I was shocked.
I was shocked further when I found the entirety of the speech at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/13/remarks-president-campaign-event-roanoke-virginia.
The president is obviously correct when he says roads, bridges, the internet and the American system facilitate American business. But that is like saying no farmer is successful without farmland. You obviously can't farm without farmland, but without the efforts of the farmer you get only weeds, brush and trees. Nor can you raise corn without seed. But if the farmer owns land, and buys seed and leaves the seed in the barn, he isn't going to have a corn crop -- unless somebody else does the work for him.
The same is true of having a good teacher and a road. Imagine a man and his wife opening a Yoga studio in downtown Moline. They won't have a successful business because they had wonderful teachers, ample nearby parking, and a road in front of their business.
The proof is simple. The guy who runs the business next door may be located along the same road, have the same access to parking, and may have had the very same teachers during his school years. But why does the Yoga business thrive after six years, while the business next door goes out of business? The reason is clear. The owners of the Yoga studio worked hard to be successful, and made good business decisions. The owners of the defunct business either didn't work hard enough or made improvident business decisions.
Why has Apple Computer succeeded? Did it build a better computer? A better iPod? A better iPad? A better iPhone? Did they have better ideas? Better execution of their ideas? Or did it have better roads to service its business?
There is no question but that it can be a great help for a business to have the government bury it with subsidies, e.g. Solyndra. But if good teachers, roads, and government subsidies translate to success, Solyndra shouldn't be in bankruptcy.
When the Pilgrims came to America in 1620, there were no roads, schools and government subsidies. They set up their community under the model of the early Christians, as told in the Acts of the Apostles. They worked community farms, and all shared equally in the produce of the land. And they nearly starved to death. It was only after the Pilgrims were allowed to farm individual plots and to keep the produce of those plots, that the community prospered. And of course, some barely got by, while others grew prosperous.
For 70 years the U.S.S.R. was a communist society. The worker derived no benefit if he worked harder than his neighbor. The only people who prospered were top government officials. The citizenry lived in a dull, gray, functional government apartment buildings. After 70 years, the Soviet people had had enough.
And now, President Obama holds them up as a model for us. Not satisfied with equal opportunity (liberty) for all Americans, the president opts to emulate Marxist, communist, and socialist models, and incessantly calls for income redistribution and equality of outcome.
If good teachers are the key to success, why does one student prosper while the next goes to prison? Doesn't individual effort have something to do with success? Why does one student learn to read and play the violin, while the next remains illiterate and does drugs?
Why does one student become a doctor, while the guy at the next desk earns minimum wage all his life? Better roads? Bridges?
Perhaps President Obama thinks the way he does because of his own experience. Politicians only become president because others (media-moguls, money-men and voters) opt to push him to the top of the "greasy pole." But most successful business men do it on their own.
Posted Online: July 31, 2012, 1:50 pm - Quad-Cities Online
by John Donald O'SheaCopyright 2012
John Donald O'Shea
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