Responses to Obama's "You didn't build that!"

This is an addendum to my last post, "We have met the enemy and he is us." In today's Wall Street Journal  (July 23, 2012) many readers wrote to disagree with President Obama's take on success where he stated in a speech in Richmond, VA, "You didn't build that."

If you don't get the WSJ, you're missing out on the best newspaper in America, so I wanted to share the most stinging letters with you here: 

I want to thank you and your ilk, Mr. President, for my success in starting eight million-dollar businesses since 1974. And since you are responsible for my success, then you must also be responsible for my failure. While you were wasting your first two years ignoring the economy, I was unable to get financing for my last business and lost $1.5 million of which $750,000 was personally guaranteed by me, and by you, I hope.
Please give me a call, Mr. President, and I will tell you where to send the check for your fair share.
Dick Raddatz
Mequon, Wis.

The president's remarks clearly illustrate his jealousy and disdain for those who have made it on their own, and, they fall right in line with his mentality of parasitic entitlement.
Bob Franklin
New Hyde Park N.Y.

If Obama can cry, "you didn't build that," someone needs to tell the president, "then you didn't kill bin Laden."

Maura Schreier-Fleming
Dallas

If you hold an elected office, you didn't build that. Someone helped you get there. Maybe it was a teachers union whose compulsory dues paid for a negative ad for your campaign. Maybe it was a venture capitalist with an interest in a solar-energy company who bundled funds for you. Or maybe it was programmers who figured out how to use the Internet to create critical mass for raising small amounts from many donors. Or, quite possibly, you got help from employees of a private-equity firm whose success you vilify but whose dollars you gladly accept.
Mike Walsh
Chicago

President Obama's belittling the success of smart, hard-working people is so telling. It President Obama's belittling the success of smart, hard-working people is so telling. It makes one wonder about how much "help" he received in achieving his own success through affirmative action and preferences. We'll never know, however, because he refuses to release his college or graduate-school records.   

Crawford C. Campbell                                                                                             Windham, NH      

                                                         

If I didn't build my business, please find the "somebody else who made that happen" and begin taxing them.

Tom Marini

Racine, Wis.

Regarding your editorial "'You Didn't Build That'" (July 18): I would like to pose a question to President Obama. If we assume that you are right, Mr. President, and the lion's share of my success in business is due to the help I got from the government more than what is due me because of my willingness to work harder than others, take risks that others did not want to take, being more resourceful and inventive than others were, then how come not everybody took advantage of that government help and became successful entrepreneurs? 

I came to this country 30 years ago with practically nothing. I always believed that the difference between the U.S. and other countries is that everybody has better opportunities in this country than anywhere else. I am sorry to learn that you, my president, don't share that point of view.

Ruben Mirensky
Jacksonville, Fla.

That's Not Fair!!

Have you ever heard someone say, "That's not fair!" Of course you have. Maybe you've said it yourself. Today, in our government schools, alongside the values of diversity and multiculturalism, there is also the enshrined value of "fairness."

I don't know who defines what is fair or what isn't, but it's everywhere you look: In our schools, in our government, in the entertainment industry, in sports. And here is the sad state of affairs. All this effort at "fairness" is doing nothing to make us a better people or nation. It's counter-productive. 


Life isn't fair. I've known that for a long time. When I was a kid, I often wondered why I had freckles and fair skin while other kids had bronze tans. Why did I have to lather up with 60 spf sunscreen just to go to the beach for a few hours while my friends with natural coppertone tans never ever got sunburned? My friends would call my bottle of sunscreen "bar-b-q sauce" and they were right. Without it, I would become red meat.


I wasn't very good in sports but I knew other kids who were all-round athletes. Any sport they tried, they excelled at it. Where's the fairness in that? Why wasn't I born with good looks? They say that if you are good-looking, you will be given advantages, basically a place at the front of the line throughout your life. So why wasn't I born looking like Brad Pitt? Where's the fairness in that?  Why wasn't I born with a silver spoon in my mouth? Why am I 5'9" and someone else towers over me at 6'4". In our society, being tall is admired. Have you ever heard a girl say that she was in the market for a guy who was short, fair and ugly?


Don't tell me that life is fair because it isn't. But, I accept that fact. Unfortunately, there are many in our country today who want to cry "foul" over unfairness or injustice. They take it upon themselves to make life as fair as possible. While they're at it, if they could figure out a way so that I could have a killer tan and great looks, I'd give it some consideration. But I digress....

One example of this foolishness at "fairness" made the headlines last week: The story of Demias Jimerson, the 11-yr old who scored too many touchdowns for his school's undefeated team, so his principal invoked an obscure rule which limits Demias from scoring if he has already scored three touchdowns and his team is ahead by 14 points. Why do Jimerson's teammates need to be protected from this awesome display of talent? 


Once again, this is an indictment against the government "educational" system which permits the truly gifted to be held back to make the rest feel better by not being challenged. At least their self-esteem will remain intact. Under the guise of fairness, the children at Wilson Intermediate School in Marlvern, Arkansas will never have the chance to achieve greatness because the bar is being lowered every day, just to make it "fair." The principal, Terri Bryant, is doing his best to shelter his students from the real world. 


We have a President who believes we all should pay our "fair share" of taxes. But who determines what's fair? The government? Do you want Uncle Sam deciding what is fair and what isn't? It's not the government's job to determine what is fair but rather, what is just. Where is fairness mentioned in our Constitution or Bill of Rights? It's not there. But we have a government that has invoked all kinds of legislation in an attempt to promote fairness. 


Some examples that come to mind are:

• Title IX (which supposedly leveled the playing field, giving female students equal access to sports). However, 2,200 men's athletic teams have been eliminated since 1981, and thousands of male athletes have been prohibited from participating in college sports and men's scholarships and coaching positions have evaporated. This law that was originally intended to prohibit discrimination against women is now discriminating against men. What's interesting is that this gender proportionality doesn't apply to the arts or music. 
• Affirmative Action (The government's attempt at leveling the playing field for blacks. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked out all that well. It has become more of a stigma for blacks than a blessing. After all, do you want a black surgeon who was the product of affirmative action doing your heart transplant? Think about it?) The foolishness of Affirmative Action was on display recently in Atlanta when we learned that teachers and administrators in 60% of the Atlanta's public schools were fixing grades, changing grades, changing D's to B's, C's to A's if an effort to boost their standing. IMHO, Atlanta is an "affirmative action" city and that scares me, and makes me wary of the quality of anything that comes out of Atlanta, except for maybe Coke Zero.

• EEOC (The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). These guys make sure there is no discrimination, and that everyone plays fair. Again, they are the arbiters of "fairness." If you have a certain skin color and are fired because you were a lousy worker, or just plain dumb, you can go to the EEOC and file a discrimination lawsuit. If you don't get your old job back, you can at least walk away with a settlement and a pocket full of cash.
• NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) Speaking of pockets full of cash, these guys are in the pockets of the unions. The National Labor Relations Board is alleging that Boeing violated labor laws by locating its new 787 Dreamliner facility in North Charleston, S.C. For years, Boeing has operated predominantly in Washington state, where it has invested billions of dollars and created thousands of jobs. Why are the unions and the NLRB trying to shutter this plant in S.C.? Because South Carolina is a "right to work" state. You don't have to join a union. So here you have the NLRB, a government agency trying to dictate to private companies where they can do business, and all in the name of "fairness."

I could list other examples, but your eyes would glaze over...so for today, I'll leave it at that.  

In my next post (on Saturday), I will attempt to answer the question: "Is God Fair?" What's God's take on the issue of fairness? Where did Jesus stand on "fairness"? Stay tuned...and until then, be fair and play fair.