"You Didn't Build That:" Part II

I love Charles Krauthammer.  He is smart, can cut to the point of an issue in a heartbeat, he’s even sexy in a, “Grinchy” sort of way.  He is also my kind of conservative.  On July 19, Krauthammer wrote a spectacular column concerning the issue of President Obama and several other liberal Democrats insistence that the government, not the people are to be credited with individual success.  I strongly urge you to read it in the Washington Post (my newspaper of choice on the internet). 

            Krauthammer’s words speak directly to a point that needs to be made over and over when bringing up Obama’s contempt for individual initiative.  Obama’s belief that government, not the individual, is the primary mover in society should become a major decision point in this election.  There are three points here:

1. All of us are products of our family, community, dominant culture and government.  I wrote a book on education a decade ago, Beating the Bell Curve.  I dedicated the book, in part, to my mother; the woman who helped me beat the curve.  I would not be the person I am without her influence.  And here is the lesson.  None of us were raised in a vacuum.  We live in a civilization that, over time, has created many devises to enhance the length, quality and productiveness of our lives.  We have roads, sewers, schools, police and fire workers.  We have laws that protect our lives and property.  We have parents, friends and family who operate in our best interest.  God bless them all.  But there is still free will.  I graduated from North High School in Denver, Colorado.  We were a blue collar school in a blue collar part of Denver.  If the physical and governmental make-up of the community were all that influenced us, why do each of us have our own story?  What about natural talent, discipline, values?
2. The government, by definition, must fund its work through taxation of some sort.  You can call it a tax, a levy, a tariff or even a mandatory requirement, but it all boils down to a tax.  Now here is an eye-opener.  I like taxes.  I consider it a privilege to pay taxes in this country.  We should write, “thank you” in the memo of each check we write to the government.  I have only voted against one tax in my entire life--and that was 20 years ago, for a municipal tax that no one could tell me the reason for.  We need more money (tax money, folks!) spent on creating a 21^st century infrastructure.  There is nothing inherently wrong with taxes; they are the price we pay for a responsible government.  [Please note the word, “responsible.”]
3. The government does not create anything.  It facilitates individuals in creating everything.  The government is not the master, it is the servant.  Every law, every social convention, every construct and tradition of society, is designed to help the family do its job.  Each of us has free choice to make as much or as little of our opportunities as we choose.  Some of us have more native talent.  Some of us have more personal drive, or tolerance for risk, or imagination.  Some of us are less prone to vise, sloth, or any of the other deadly sins.  But these differences are the mesh through which the free market sifts out success and failure.  This is a good thing.  This is what creates inventions, jobs and progress for society.  This is what makes us great. 

Yes, we did build that, so we will keep the faith!