“…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.” (President Obama)
“The essence of the Obama campaign. Pretend something is true and hope you can fool enough people into believing it.” (NY Post)
CHICAGO, July 19, 2012 – This week President Obama finally went too far by killing the concept of American Exceptionalism. There is not even a hint of the media mumbo jumbo of context and nuance for them to spin this in his favor.
It is President Obama’s best version of the truth from his own lips.
President Obama was right about one thing. Someone did create this unbelievable American system that allows people to thrive. They were the Founding Fathers and the men who shed blood during the Revolutionary War, the war for independence.
Those founders, known and unknown, are spinning in their graves. Dirt is flying.
This country was founded upon the principles of self-initiative, self-determination, self-confidence, self-discipline, self- sacrifice, self-sufficiency, self-interest, personal drive and responsibility, and rugged individualism.
Those concepts are what make America independent, free, an exceptional country and Americans an exceptional people. Those principles were founded on the belief that people should be independent from, not dependent on government.
Individuals with strong wills, grit, and persistence in the face of adversity, created their businesses. They nurtured and grew them. The fortunate ones grew empires or became magnates. CEOs spent their careers reaching for more and more responsibility. High incomes and wealth were the by-products of being responsible for large entities.
That is the right way to achieve and accomplish. It is only way to succeed. It is the American way.
Success, achievement, accomplishment, and hopefully resultant wealth are not gifts from government. People earn them. They have to earn them every day.
President Obama showed the nation he knows nothing about economics, capitalism, business, how people earn money, or what being American means. American people, especially the achievers, are not exceptional in his eyes.
This president believes American entrepreneurs, business people, and individuals did not earn their incomes or create wealth on their own. So they owe. They must pay back.
Who do they owe? The government, of course.
The hard cold reality is successful people earned their success in spite of government.
People, who started businesses, large and small, from the inception of this nation through today, owe no one except themselves and the people they chose to partner and work with for their success. They also take full responsibility for their success and failures. Unlike this president, who blames Bush for everything and Bo for eating his policy.
It will be interesting to see if President Obama blames Barack Obama for the mess he inherits when reelected.
Those roads, schools, libraries, dams, and other infrastructure projects the president is so fond of were not designed, engineered, or built by government.
They were designed engineered, and built by private contractors- small and large businesses. Government merely dispersed money (taxes, i.e., OUR money) to pay for them.
That’s right. Private businesses, entrepreneurs, and private workforces build and maintain infrastructure, not government employees. We paid for it through taxation. The government merely acted as a pass through agent to disperse money to private enterprise.
“There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me because they want to give something back.” (Barack Obama)
There are a lot of wealthy successful American hypocrites including this president. If it is really true they want to give back they can. All deductions, exemptions, tax credits, shelters, and other loopholes to avoid taxes are purely voluntary.
Those oh so altruistic people can pay taxes on their total gross income or their businesses’ total gross revenues, instead of adjusted gross income or net profit.
They can also donate as much money as they want to reduce the federal debt.
This president and his imaginary friends are dishonest. They believe that is just silly and insane to believe that an individual is responsible for his-her own success.
President Obama spent his life in academic faculty lounges, non-profit organizations, and Chicago Machine politics. Barack Obama never created anything except his-story, agitprop, and propaganda.
Oh, and those two biographical works of fiction.
President Obama spent his life signing the back of paychecks. Entrepreneurs and business people sign the fronts of checks and are responsible to see they clear.
The business of America is business. Government is not the business of America. It was never meant to be. Government exists to create a structure and create an environment to protect the rights of businesses and individuals to thrive, profit, earn income, and create wealth.
Private businesses also pay for entitlement programs. Who does President Obama think pays Unemployment and Workman’s Compensation insurance? Businesses are forced to pay this by government fiat. They do nothing to benefit the business footing the bill. These are taxes that eat into profits and making business difficult, not easier.
But businesses do pay their share of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act that are supposed to pay for Social Security and Medicare.
If someone did not create, expand, profit, and work for those businesses there would be no money for the safety nets. Government would be bankrupt. Citizens would be impoverished.
A former Columbia classmate of President Obama, and businessman, Wayne Allyn Root responded to the president’s remarks:
Government isn’t a savior or saint. Government is the Mafia. They are organized crime with the weight of the law behind them. And under Obama, they are hell bent on turning public sentiment against all of us who own businesses, destroying America’s belief in capitalism, and redistributing our incomes until our businesses are crippled, or out of business. Then government is our only place to turn. That much is now clear after a 48-hour rampage by our president. (Fox News)
If anyone owes anyone anything, it is President Obama. He owes this nation an apology.
Alejandro Valverde of Movistar applauds his stage victory today at the 2012 Tour de France. Photo: Bettiniphoto.
Peter V. Bella is a retired Chicago Police Officer, freelance journalist and photojournalist, cook, and raconteur. He likes to be the irreverent sharp stick that pokes, prods, and annoys. His opinions are his and his alone. Mr. Bella is a member of the National Press Photographers Association and the Society for Professional Journalists.
This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.
