Mr. President I Agree With You, Well Almost

Posted on 27/08/2012 by Grumpa Joe
Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin (Photo credit: Dunechaser)

A few weeks ago, Obama uttered a phrase that has resonated with the entrepreneurial world, “You didn’t build that.” I take issue with his comment and I defend the people of the world who work day and night to make their business successful.

Obama did say something sensible in the same speech, “Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.” [Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/15/obama-dashes-american-dream-suggests-nobody-achieves-success-alone/#ixzz24lTWtdvE“]

I agree with his statement 100 percent, there are millions of hard-working people out there, but the fact remains that a majority of them do not provide jobs to other people. Does that mean to imply those who own businesses work harder than others? No it does not. “Well, what do you mean Grumpa Joe?”

Let me tell you a personal story. All my working life I wanted to be my own boss. I wanted to be in business for myself. The lure of independence and rich rewards appealed to me. I had many ideas for businesses and products that would make me rich. The ideas were endless, and many of them became successful by others. Those success stories told me that my instincts were correct, and my ideas were sound, but I lacked one key element of the success story; balls. To put it more politely, I lacked courage.

The risks of losing everything I worked for frightened the heck out of me. All of my ideas required investment of time, energy, and money. I had the energy, but since I had a job and needed to work I lacked the time and the money. Yes, I could have borrowed money to get started, but that would have meant putting my house up as collateral. I would not jeopardize losing my family home. My family is too important to me. I would not make my wife go to work to put food on the table so I could spend everything we owned on my dream.

In retrospect, I did the right thing. My tolerance for risk could not handle starting a business. Yet, there are thousands of people who can handle the risk and think only about a positive outcome. Then there are those who think like me, and see the glass half empty.

Yes Mr. President, “there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there,” and I am one of them, so were my parents. Does that give me a right to take from those who do take the risks? Does my hard work entitle me to a fair share of  the entrepreneur’s estate? My fair share is the salary I get for the work I produce for the entrepreneur. He hired me because I had the training, experience, and talent he needed to support his business. Did the government give him that?  My boss had the wisdom to see in me a person of value, and he took a risk by hiring me. I chose to become an engineer. Payment for my schooling came from my savings, my parents, and a scholarship. I went to private elementary school, high school , and a private college before I finished in a public university. My story is typical of my generation, and it didn’t involve help from the government. Yes, I traveled the roads and the sidewalks of the towns I lived in, but they were provided because people need them in general. The tax payer forces government to make improvements by referendum.

I love to talk about my employer because he is a man who did have the courage to invest it all. As a young engineer he saw the need for a product that could help electricians route wires in a more productive way. He designed the product, and enlisted a friend who knew how to extrude plastic to make it for him. He and his wife worked evenings in the basement of their home to make accessories for the product. He enlisted agents to sell for him. Today, the company employs thousands of people worldwide to produce a huge catalog of products for the electrical industry. Did the US government help him build his business? Not a chance. Did the government provide infra-structure which the company uses? Yes, but only after the need for same justified an expenditure. Did  the government provide him with teachers? Not really, the law demands that all children go to school until they are sixteen. Did that make them so educated that they were useful workers? Not really. We found ourselves teaching entry-level workers how to read and do arithmetic before they could work in the factory without endangering themselves. Is that what you mean, that you provided an inferior education requiring private sector remediation Mr. President?

Yes Mr. President, there are a bunch of hard-working people out there and many of them are exceptional. They stand above the others in the way they take risks, and the way they move forward. Then, there are guys like me, who work very hard , but lack the courage to make it on their own. We need the exceptional ones. Thank God for them because they provide the rest of us with a living.

The problem I see with philosophy of equal outcomes for everyone is that it deliberately kills the idea of exceptionalism. It believes the only exceptional people are those employed by big government.

Joseph Stalin, Kim Il Sung, Mao Tse-tung, Ho Chi Minh and Pol Pot forced equal outcomes on their people and in the process killed up to sixty-million non-compliant citizens. Adolph Hitler’s brand of socialism eliminated six million people who did not fit the Socialist profile of the master race.

It took the blood of exceptional nations to slow the Communist movement. With Obama’s leadership America is allowing itself to be overtaken by the same stupid ideology from within.

The next time you hear President Obama shout that the Republicans are selling tired old ideas that don’t work (Capitalism), think about the sixty million people who refused to listen to the vibrant new ideas of Lenin, Marx, Stalin, Kim Il Sung, Mao Tse-tung, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot and other lesser  known implementors of the Hope and Change ideas of the Socialist movement.

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