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The following excerpt is from a speech by Obama in Virginia:
There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t — 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.
Let’s first consider the past tense of this statement since he did not say: if you are successful, you didn’t get there on your own. Since Americans have lost 40% of their wealth since the Democrats took control of Congress in 2007 through 2010, I would assert that it is the agenda of the leadership of the Democrat Party to ensure less success in America. This includes weakening or subverting the successful members of our society in order to edify the Federal government.
I wonder if the president believes the converse to be true? If you are not successful, you got there on your on own. That premise would require a belief in holding a person accountable for their actions. Based on the president’s agenda to redistribute and destroy America’s wealth, he does not believe in personal responsibility. If the president is as intelligent as Hollywood and the media believe him to be, I doubt he believes this statement since it is contrary to the American Dream. But if he does believe it, this statement is not contrary to a Communist’s Dream and his own record of “success” will be measured in the destruction of the United States with the aid of the vain and aspiring men and women holding our highest offices in all three branches of the federal government.
What is the president really saying? Let’s rewrite it this way:
There are a lot of wealthy, successful countries around the world that agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t — 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 nations who think, well, it must be because we were just so smart. There are a lot of smart countries out there. It must be because we worked harder than every other country. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking countries out there.
If we were successful, somebody along the line gave us some help. There was a great nation somewhere in your past. Some other nations helped to create this unbelievable American system that has allowed us to thrive. Some other countries invested in our roads and bridges. If we’ve got a country — we didn’t build that. Some other country made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Worldwide research created the Internet so that all the nations could make money off the Internet.
This reminds me of a conversation that I had with an occupier during the now defunct Occupy Raleigh movement. He was explaining to me that corporations do not pay their “fair share” of taxes. They also are successful because they exploit their workers by not paying them fairly (wages and benefits). When I asked him if these companies should pay more in taxes to support the needs of the people they have “exploited”, he quickly answered yes. I then asked if this meant that these US companies should pay more US federal taxes to offset the profits made by “exploiting” workers in foreign countries. The consequences of an educational system dominated by labor unions became quickly apparent: he was completely dumbfounded.
As is our failed commander in chief.
David DeGerolamo
