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.
-Excerpt from President Obama's speech on July 13, 2012
Many people on the right have already jumped all over this. But I thought I would put my two-sense in. Many conservatives are trying to paint this as an assault on business owners; an attack on the private sector. While without hearing the tone of the speech, or perhaps only reading a smaller chunk of this speech (many conservative outlets have used solely "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen."), it may sound anti-business, but I believe it's more of an excuse for more government with pro-government sentiment. Other than that particular part of the speech being poorly worded, I believe Obama's overall message of the speech was that everyone uses the help of government at some point--whether it be through welfare, student loans, or merely using the roads paved by public employees, and that, in doing so, you did not build your business on your own. He uses this because of the brewing kettle of anti-government sentiment that is about to spill over out of the pot that is the Republican party.
But who will pave the roads?
Anybody who has libertarian-leanings or has read the work of Murray Rothbard can surely appreciate the irony of the above question. This post is not about making a case for the privatization of our roads or highways, although that has been done many times, but the point really is--we don't need the benevolence of government to get things done. Contrary to what many of Obama's zombies may believe, the United States would not be some third-world country crawling with pollution and poverty, and no new innovation, even things as simple as roadways, without the help of government. I'm not in favor of total anarchy, I do believe law enforcement, fire departments, and things of that nature are best suited for the public sector. However, Obama is using rhetoric to help the members of his party believe that because the successful people could not get where they are today without government, more government is necessary. Two aspirin may help my headache, so therefore 25 aspirin will help my headache even more!
The second part of this excerpt that really bothers me is what is said in the first paragraph. While I agree with him that there are a lot of hard working people out there--individuals who try to start a business (business owners often put in 65+ hours per week during start-up) and fail, single mothers with only a high school diploma who work three jobs to support their children, who don't succeed, to discredit the intelligence and drive of others who do is just wrong. It's almost as if, by his logic, if there is a group of 100 hard-working people, only a dozen or so will be successful, and that is because the success-fairy blessed them with successful dust and that's what creates success. As if it is total luck that smart or hard-working people become successful and it is government's job to bring down those who got lucky in order to help those who didn't. While "luck" is such a dangerous word to use, let me make it clear that I believe that to a certain extent, people create their own luck. They do so by surrounding themselves with the right people, making informed and well-timed decisions, and putting themselves in the right place. Yes, I agree with him that hard-work and intelligence does not guarantee success, but by making the right moves or doing the right things, or taking risks, success can be achieved. Yes, we've all had great teachers, great inspiration, and great role models to help us along the way. But is it fair that John Lennon give 10% of his profit to Dr. Hofmann for synthesizing LSD?
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