July 17, 2012 - 7:16 am
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Inspired by President Barack Hussein Obama’s address on July 13, 2012:
Make your own posters here and email them to the editors here at PJM, pj-editors — at — pjmedia dot com.
Update: John S sends in our first submission–
Update: Janeen M goes retro–
Update: Miles T. zings the felonious crank.
More on the next page.
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I agree with the President. We got to this place because of work that came before. But I disagree with him on who the ungrateful ones are.
No one of the current generations from Harvard or some other Ivy created America, reinvented America, is better than America. It existed long before they came on the scene and will be here–hopefully–long after they are gone. Ordinary Americans–and to be blunt, white Americans, and to be even blunter, WASPs–built the world the Ivy grads live in, the world that made them, the world of opportunity that avoided all the other possibilities inherent in the human condition, a world that never foreclosed the avenue towards greater and greater liberty and prosperity whilst worlds in other lands did, a world built by Americans that they spit on, a world built by ordinary people who they no longer think capable of running the thing without their Ivy-inspired guidance, a world that has enabled more human happiness than any in world history that they think is not up to their standards, a world they think they uniquely need to recreate in their own image whilst actually never having done anything themselves that even remotely compares with the original creation.
Barack Obama and his ilk think they are greater than what has come before, that which has actually proven to be good and do good, while having nothing to actually prove their brilliance. Fools. And that is why I do not, shall not, will not vote Democrat, ever.
Uh, no. By your Obama logic we all owe everything to Adam and Eve. I studied harder, worked harder and stuck my neck out on my own. Nobody did that for me.
It is obviously true that we as living humans have a heritage and an inheritance based on many thousands of years of human achievement (and failure or outright destruction).
The troubling thing about the Warren idea here adopted by the President is that it makes an authoritarian claim, of those living persons hoping for central government in the US, to essentially all assets of the society, based on the actions of persons coming before. It is meant to undermine societal acceptance of private property rights. It is predatory rhetoric dressed up as gentle give-something-back talk; it tells us we should consider ourselves lucky they let us keep what we keep. It says we are serfs of the manor. If believed, we might expect to see our society move closer to the other troubled flailing societies on the planet which have collectivized property for deployment by central planners.
Advancement occurs at the margins usually by talented or simply hard-working individuals or smaller groups cooperating whose ideas are then adopted by others. Central planners apparently believe that their commands brought about human advancement, but after all the core debate is whether societies spontaneously build order through voluntary action or whether individuals are work and tax mules for authoritarians.
Is it to the society or the federal government of the United States and the persons in it and its current political supporters to which we should be grateful for our heritage and inheritance? There is a difference.
I think the argument needs to be looked at “in reverse”. If you DIDN’t build a business, who’s fault is that?
Oh, could it be you were afraid of regulations? Too many rules, indecipherable tax code?
Don’t see a potential for growth because of the Un-affordable health care taxes, that will force yet more regulations, penalties, indecipherable regulations and penalties on you and your employees?
Worried that if you indeed “make it” and become “rich” you will be vilified and knocked to your knees with yet more taxes and regulations because a certain someone views the “wealthy” (over 250,000) as the “enemy that must be brought down”?
Gee, who could be responsible for all those worries??
And I bet you didn’t eat that apple.
I’d remain anonymous too!
Where we start is often subject to the activities of those who came before or are around us. Where one take himself is largely the result of what each individual chooses to go in America.
‘In this country, our freedom is the freedom to work and be successful, or not work and live an economically challenged life, but that is our choice’ – loosly quoting Penn of Penn and Teller
Good points. And does that mean Obama is rejecting the atheist’s view of post-modernism? To add to your comments, might I also mention, ALL of the Ivy league colleges and universities were founded by religious men who wanted them to be used to educate people in the Truth of God and man. It’s no wonder we are on the brink of destruction as we see where they and we, America, have gone.
For decades now, those in the iv league towers have been telling those who disagree with them that ahey are “wrong thinking”. I think they’ve elievingtheir own bull….
To Anonymous: I don’t call myself Irish American or Irish Catholic American, because I’m happy and proud just be be an American. My forbears have fought in every war beginning with the Civil War, when, incidentally, more Medals of Honor were awarded to those of Irish heritage, than all other ethnic groups combined
My forbears built their own schools and colleges, with their own money, no government handouts. We built our own churches and cathedrals that dwarfed most Protestant churches. We established our own hospitals and charities. And we flourished in farming, fishing, mining, and every avenue of American life.
We weren’t concerned that until World War II we weren’t welcome in the executive suites of major companies in banking and insurance, for example. Ivy League colleges starting recruiting us for our athletic abilities [that great equalizer].
But we never wanted to be more than patriotic Americans. Once the outward hostility toward us waned, we were happy to be regular un-hyphenated Americans. Our Catholic schools never taught past discrimination to stoke discontent. We were taught to be proud of this great land, loyal and patriotic.
And that’s why it rankles me to be thought of as outside the mainstream that built this country. Tell that to Jeremiah O’Brien, the true father of the American Navy. Tell that to the Carrols of Carrolton, Maryland, the Catholic colony that offered religious freedom to all. Tell that to the heavy percentages of Catholics who serve in our combat forces, especially the Marine Corps.
So, Anonymous, if being a WASP is important to you, God bless you. Me, I know my family history, and I’m just happy to be an American.
It’s the criminal pedophile church that the Catholic Irish BLINDLY support that people have a problem with. Your confusing being catholic with being Irish, no one has been prejudged against the Irish. they have been against the RCC, and with good reason http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases
On the nose about how the European immigrants made the US what it is today. True that the currents immigrants are taking and destroying. As for the white man being responsible, S.Africa and Haiti are prime examples of what happens when something “white run” gets turned over to blacks. Destruction, corruption, violence….need I go on?
It has happened before.
Strong men put up a city and got
a nation together,
And paid singers to sing and women
to warble: We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation,
nothing like us ever was.
And while the singers sang
and the strong men listened
and paid the singers well
and felt good about it all,
there were rats and lizards who listened
… and the only listeners left now
… are … the rats … and the lizards.
—Carl Sandburg
Yeah, that pretty well describes the lizards these days…
You got that right!!! LOL…
Much the same thing has happened to Digg – and for many of the same reasons.
As a complement to the success poster “Somebody else made that happen.” I would add Failure: You did that all by yourself.
People are ignoring who takes on the actual risk. A person that puts up collateral, takes out the loans, hires people and works their butts off take a significant risk. Restaurants go bust, people go bankrupt seeking their dream. Nobody before them are part of that risk pool.
“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded- here and there, now and then- are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as “bad luck.”
— Robert A. Heinlein
Bravo, excellent post. I never read that before. And if I might expound…it seems Obama and the modern liberal Dems. are masters at manipulating people and their sin of envy. I feel for the first time in my life I don’t believe the generation we are leaving posterity to is better than the ones which came before.
Take Care and Pray for America
Summing up Obama’s philosophy: “Individual effort and innovation don’t matter because the individual doesn’t matter. We are all part of the same ant hill. Well, all of us are except for some of us, like me.”
It’s not exactly classic wisdom for the ages.
As in Animal Farm: “All pigs are created equal, but some are more equal than others.”
“Somebody invested in roads and bridges. “
If you build it they will come…. this time, for sure, I promise.
Memo to Obama: the money for roads and bridges is from the tax revenue exacted from the business. So, you have backwards, you stupid twit.
Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan.
It takes very little effort to understand that the Left in general, and this President in particular, work tirelessly towards creating a Majority Dependent United States, one that requires a monstrosity bureaucracy to administer and maintain, millions of (union) government jobs who by, their own self-intrest, will vote to perpetuate “The System”, This system is the Cloward – Piven Strategy in full bloom.
Anything the reeks of self-sufficentcy of independence from Big Government is to be demonized as heresy. Ayn Rand, Friedrich von Hayek, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley et, el did their best to warn us. The temptation to ride the wagon, rather than pull, will always be too tempting for some.
Barry Soetoro will for me always stand of the dangers of how drug use can pollute a healthy mind.
“Barry Soetoro will for me always stand of the dangers of how drug use can pollute a healthy mind.”
CF, what on earth makes you think he had a healthy mind before the drugs?
You have a good point there…
Barack Obama … squeegee-man-in-chief.
“I did something for you, so you OWE me … doesn’t matter whether or not you asked to have it done, or that it was done with your money in the first place”.
Instead of “Do Over,” the caption should be “Mulligan?”
It is government that owes the debt. There can be no funding for our government without private enterprise and taxation on that enterprise. In his world – the government – is a collective brought together on the backs of the efforts of others. It makes no products, sells no services, provides nothing but a hindrance on profit.
Virtually everything the President says is a reverse of reality (a delusion or a lie) or a projection of his own personal condition. I am reminded of Austen’s definition of a villain: A person who gets everything he wants at no cost to himself but at great cost to others.
Mr. Case was my basketball coach and my history teacher. He didn’t like me. A people pleaser when I met him, I’d never encountered someone so immune to my efforts. A straight “A” student, I worked harder, tried harder to get one kind word out of a teacher who had nothing but disdain for me. I’m grateful to Mr. Case. He taught me a hard lesson, but I don’t owe him anything. I became stronger and smarter for his insults and unfairness, an outcome he would despise. (I later discovered than my grandfather, a sheriff, had arrested his father, resulting in years without a parent, Mr. Case took his bitterness out on me an eleven year old kid.) There are debts, and then there are debts. If Obama wants to know what business owners owe the government for their successes, he needs to look at government obstacles business owners must overcome as well. Once they get over the crap his agencies throw at him, they are stronger indeed, but we wouldn’t exactly call that helpful, nor worthy of gratitude.
It is government that owes the debt. There can be no funding for our government without private enterprise and taxation on that enterprise..
Thank you. That’s it in a nutshell — A presidential debate talking point for Romney.
Interesting story, Carmelita. Have you read the Harry Potter series? It will probably speak to you quite personally…
Obamas’ lack of business acumen is shocking…he must think we all are stupid…well I’m not…and I’m ashamed he speaks for my country!
NSA Mimics Google, Pisses Off Senate By Cade Metz July 17, 2012
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/07/nsa-accumulo-google-bigtable/
That government you got their, you didn’t build it, that money that gets wasted on endless layers of bureaucracy, that comes from the private sector, from hard working individuals and the businesses that create goods and services, from both the pockets of the employers AND the hard working employees. If not for the private sector, where would the government get the money that it wastes? Actually, I think most businesses make it in spite of, not because of government intervention.
Also payed for by property tax paying homeowners (and renters, they just don’t see it), who often are less well off than the public employees who take their money. For example, a blue collar worker, a truck driver, a factory worker, who scrimps and saves to get by, lives a frugal and modest existence; he may never even get the chance to retire while his taxes pay for the sweetheart cadillac pension and benefits for the teacher across town who retired in their 50s.
*there
One death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic.
I’m a Good Ole’ American (Anti-Obama song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRtlUi3OJ_c&feature=player_embedded
Well, its good to know all these 12+ hour days I’m putting in to build my business aren’t really being done by me. How come I’m getting stuck with all those sleepless nights? I guess all our live savings we are pouring into the business are really not ours… Oops, that’s right, its really Obama’s. Silly me!
Your problem is you are not taking proper advantage of the “help” that is being provided to you.
2016 Obama’s America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfLsSg9wZlE&feature=player_embedded
Some people go around praising and thanking God for everything and saying they could not even have begun to have got it or done it without Him. His Royal Majesty, King Insane Hussein Obama, feels that he should have no less position and worship for himself and from everybody. This is Obama’s pathology. The man is nuts.
To Insane Hussein everything comes from the state, which is now him, and without it, and him, individuals would be nothing and have nothing, when in fact the state gets everything it has from individuals and would be nothing, and have nothing, without them. He is insane. He should be locked up.
You have to give Obama credit for one thing. He did nail the POSITIVE things government provides: Roads and Bridges.
Note that he did not say, for example; “Somebody had to create a 30 month permit approval process”.
From a historical perspective, creating infrastructure and security is what government ought to do. Then, get out of the way and let us use it.
No, I won’t give Obama credit even for that.
Remember all of those “shovel-ready projects”? Turned out those were nothing but transfer payments from the federal grabbermint to the public employee unions.
Meanwhile, our infrastructure continues to crumble. We’d be better off privatizing as much of that as we can.
The roads and bridges are supposed to be paid for with the gas tax. That money should not be going to fund subways, buses, and trains and other pet projects like bike trails. The people paying the tax drive autos, so it should only be used for automobile infrastructure. The people who ride subways, buses, and trains should have to pay the full cost rather than being subsidized by auto drivers. In rural areas, cars are a necessity as much as buses and subways are in a city. It is a regressive tax for the rural poor. If poor people who drive cars are expected to pay for their own transportation and pay a gas tax (rightfully so, everyone who uses the roads should have to pay for that use), then city residents should also be expected to pay for their own transportation and infrastructure. Federal taxes should only be used for infrastructure that has a purpose for the general welfare of the entire nation, such as moving goods around. However, this infrastructure does not only benefit the businesses but also the consumers who have access to goods that they need. So what is Obama’s problem? Businesses pay taxes and the hardworking people pay taxes, so build the infrastructure. Most reasonable people agree on the need for government in these cases. Every American has access to and benefits from our infrastructure, whether an entrepeneur or a janitor. Having a limited government that supports the general welfare of the people, does not diminish the exceptionalism of an endeavor that takes great risk and toil.
But why should roads and bridges be the responsibility of the Federal government? Shouldn’t local money be used for local roads, and State money for state roads?
One thing to keep in mind is that workers themselves are entrpeneurs on the most basic level, they sell a days work for a days pay. Obama’s words are demeaning to every person who has ever worked a day in their life (by work I mean toil).
Only a person who has never experienced a day of toil would not understand why people wish to keep the fruits of their own labor. Only someone completely out of touch with the real world would not understand that building a business involves toil and personal sacrifice.
I spent a lot of time and took a pretty serious look at the Warren-Obama position on “nobody succeeds on their own” idea. There are at least four basic flaws in this thinking. Here’s a link.
http://www.cspringsteaparty.org/?p=570
Well said. I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around Obama’s logic. Your piece helped me do that.
Thanks for the kind words! Charles Krauthammer also pointed out how Obama mocked successful people in the speech; you think you’re smart, there are lots of smart people; you think you work hard, lots of people work hard. Not only mocking, but illogical. Other people are smart, other people work hard, other people benefit from infrastructure – so why did this particular person succeed?
Think of the unsinkable Titanic
As it sank in the North Atlantic,
Of the human debris
In the iceburgy sea–
Was it Obama who ran it?–the Book of Obamaricks
Geez- how come no one is taking attribution for those who are UNSUCCESSFUL? Who made that happen? The roads are built and you see someone standing on that road with a sign that says homeless and hungry? All this success hanging like ripe fruit, just ready to be plucked because all the work has been done by others. So how does that explain Detroit?
If you’re a success you owe it to others. If you fail to achieve anything with the same help then, I believe you owe the rest of us some money back, Bud.
That one with the girl building with blocks is hilarious.
I would like to see this expanded to athletes (the Olympics are coming up–the medals belong to the government), and professional sports players. They didn’t make that basket, throw a touchdown, hit a home run. Their glory and money belongs to the government. Oh, yes, and movie and TV stars, and journalists, and college professors.
I was gonna take my 3-year-old granddaughter to see a “Bob The Builder Show” until I realized what a fraud he is. Bob, you didn’t build anything!
Thanks, Barack! In gratitude I’m sending you money in lieu of my granddaughter’s birthday present.
Great post. Great posters. Great comments.
Capitalism, “Obama lets his innermost Commie side be exposed.” Priceless.
I owe no one for my success except my parents and close family. I paid cash for everything I have at the agreed upon price. No one got stiffed. I paid cash for everyone’s time at the agreed upon price. Those I did not pay cash to have an IOU that I always pay on time. The fact that I assembled my world from the parts and pieces I bought from others is due to no one but me. I do not owe the porch monkeys in Pelosiville anything, and I mean anything, for laying around collecting welfare checks. Barack is so full of it because he has never worked for anything and does not understand work for pay. Time to send this minor leaguer back to the showers.
I meant to say they are “lying” around in Pelosiville. They may be “laying” too for that matter.
If President Obama wanted to destroy this country what would he do differently?
hi bryan;
3 for your consideration:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_c0aRl-deLY/UATg8YT6_8I/AAAAAAAATVI/bhouCChlN-8/s400/ARE+YOU+NOW+OR+HAVE+YOU+EVER+BEEN+A+CAPITALIST+ASKS+OBAMA.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nn17rJpPSBY/UAOULqjQFrI/AAAAAAAATR0/hjW2OOMyqK0/s400/OBAMA+VERSUS+ROMNEY+ARE+YOU+NOW+OR+HAVE+YOU+EVER+BEEN+A+CAPITALIST.jpg
http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2012/07/romney-and-obama-have-their-first.html
“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.”
I’m thinking Obama may have been speaking of his OWN life experiences.
Did he get into prestigious schools on his own merits, or via affirmative action?
Well, if he we proud of his academic credentials, he would, as most people would do, release the records
Did he get elected on his own?
Two words – Axlerod & Emanuel
Did he accumulate wealth on his own?
Ayres and Rezko
Did he contribute substantially toward his “landmark” legislation, PPACA?
Pelosi and Reid did the work, using a template provided for them by the Center for American Progress (or some such other Leftist organization)
Has he done ANYthing on his own?
Nope!
(Unless you count his fluid definitions of himself – and even that was heavily influenced by Frank Marshall Davis)
Obama seems to have told us HIS recipe for success
Great post, great comment(s).
One thing everybody here seems to have forgotten is that had the choom-smoker been speaking only of and for himself, he could have been telling the truth.
Namely, HE didn’t even get created without US Government (read: taxpayer) help. Or, am I wrong in recalling that the USG gave foreign aid to Kenya, which permitted the Kenyan government to support his father’s coming to the US on a scholarhip, where he met his mother?
Doesn’t something similar hold true for Ms. Fauxahontas who, without Federal AfA laws and her alleged Cherokee heritage, might well have been passed by for tenure?
And, as we all know — it’s been downhill ever since!
All that’s left is to point out the extreme arrogance of these obvious government products in denouncing the very people who paid to create them.
Time to shut down Harvard, if these are the best examples of their “best and brightest”. Who needs THEM? — Anyway, some 40+ years ago the mayor of Cambridge, Mass. proposed to turn Harvard Yard into a parking lot over some cockamamie dispute with the Corporation. Maybe he was on to something?
There are many who can have righteous indignation at Obama’s comments (and attitude), but maybe I’m not one of them. I didn’t really apply myself, let alone bust my a** to get my Engineering degree. My parents were very upset because I partied too hard, and found many other things to spend time on besides studying like my future depended on it.
Never the less I did graduate and have a pretty comfortable life today. My mother still always reminds me “The Lord blessed you with intelligence and that has made your path through life much easier, you should thank him every night”. In my case, maybe Obama is right. Somebody else did do that, but it sure as hell wasn’t the government.