By Rick Manning — The Internet is abuzz with the declaration by the president of the United States that “If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.”
Obama continued to explain that, “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
This stark statement was in the context of the belief that we all benefit from the collective value of public education, police and fire services, the building of roads and other government initiatives. Obama summarizes this idea saying, “The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.”
Reflexively the apologist media attempted to airbrush the comments by pointing to the qualifiers of the role government plays in an increasingly interconnected society.
But the fact remains, if you’ve got a business, somebody had to build it, and it sure as heck wasn’t the government.
No one at the government stayed until 2 am doing payroll and inventory once a week at the corner grocery store, that was the small business owner.
No one at the government worked double shifts because an employee was out on maternity leave, that was the small business owner struggling to meet the needs of the clients while the company is down an employee.
No one at the government cared when Little League games and dance recitals were missed, because the small business owner needed to prepare a proposal to a potential new client without whom the business would have to layoff two employees.
And the underlying premise behind Obama’s point of interdependency is that the small business owner who sacrificed his/her life so that their family might have a greater opportunity or lifestyle owes a debt to the people who were the beneficiaries of that sweat equity.
The revelation of Obama’s psyche in this one small speech is clear. Marconi didn’t invent the radio alone, because someone before him dug the copper out of the ground. And Henry Ford did not devise a better way to mass produce automobiles, because someone before him invented the automobile itself.
This glimpse into his core values shows Obama to be someone who believes that it is moral to steal the labor of the doctor and force him/her to treat patients for less than he could otherwise charge, because at some point that doctor benefitted from being a part of society.
In Obama’s warped world, it is the government which should determine the allocation of resources and that is why they have changed the verbiage when referring to a federal tax cut, as needing to be “paid for,” as if the government is entitled to every dollar that is made by the American worker, and each of us should just be thankful that Obama and pals allow us to keep a portion of it as recompense for our hard work.
Ultimately, this point of view represents the irreconcilable difference between Obama and the Tea Party Republicans who view the uniqueness of America that each of us has the opportunity to succeed or fail based upon our abilities.
Obama’s view is that each of us ultimately owes our livelihood to a government that hands us what it thinks we should keep, just as a parent doles out an allowance to a child.
At least in 2012, Americans know who Obama is, and what he stands for. And at its most fundamental level, the election will be decided based upon the question, whose money is it? Is it the government’s or is it yours?
The answer will set the course for America as we determine if our nation will matter by the middle of the 21st century, or will we be tossed on the scrap heap of history.
Rick Manning is the Communications Director of Americans for Limited Government. Follow Rick on Twitter at @RManning957.
