Individuals matter, Mr. President.
Jul. 19th, 2012 05:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crazychicknlady"- 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."
- Barack Obama
Many times, in the past few days, I've run across an outcry by Obama supporters that the line "If you've got a business, you didn't build that." was taken out of context, so above is the context. The thing is, as far as I'm concerned, it's even worse in it's entirety. The link to the whole speech is here.
The President is undermining the individual with his statements. He chooses to discount, deride, dismiss, and undervalue individual drive, work, ideas, spark. There is something in an entrepreneur that I quite willingly and cheerfully admit that I do not have. I am smart, work hard, and have access to all the infrastructure and assistance I want. So what. Individuals matter, Mr. President. Or we'd all own successful businesses.
These three folks have a much more articulate take on our esteemed President's worldview than I do.
Sharp as a Marble.
John Kass (I was going to link directly to the Chicago Tribune where the article was published, but when I checked the link, I kept getting a popup asking me to register, so I found a blog that copied the entire text.)
Rocketsong
Enjoy - or be annoyed, if individual achievement offends you.
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."
- Barack Obama
Many times, in the past few days, I've run across an outcry by Obama supporters that the line "If you've got a business, you didn't build that." was taken out of context, so above is the context. The thing is, as far as I'm concerned, it's even worse in it's entirety. The link to the whole speech is here.
The President is undermining the individual with his statements. He chooses to discount, deride, dismiss, and undervalue individual drive, work, ideas, spark. There is something in an entrepreneur that I quite willingly and cheerfully admit that I do not have. I am smart, work hard, and have access to all the infrastructure and assistance I want. So what. Individuals matter, Mr. President. Or we'd all own successful businesses.
These three folks have a much more articulate take on our esteemed President's worldview than I do.
Sharp as a Marble.
John Kass (I was going to link directly to the Chicago Tribune where the article was published, but when I checked the link, I kept getting a popup asking me to register, so I found a blog that copied the entire text.)
Rocketsong
Enjoy - or be annoyed, if individual achievement offends you.
