Watched "The Daily Show" last night and was amused how folks like John Stewart don't understand why "We built It" is an American message. Consider how the Huffington Post reports it:"Tuesday night's speeches at the Republican National Convention in Tampa were centered on a new catchphrase: We Built It. The slogan is the latest reaction to President Obama's remarks about small business from earlier in the Summer, and as far as Jon Stewart can tell, there's only one problem: the GOP is taking the quote totally out of context."Whether the Obama quote is out of context or not, it is absolutely clear that the president believes that the government, and not tax payers, is responsible for the things that make business successful. Somehow he thinks that the government can take credit for for the things accomplished by American's tax dollars. In truth, the government builds a bridge only because Americans pay their taxes. So, in a very real sense, Americans have built every part of America - not the government.
Yet I wonder how many really understand this very simple American message?
We as America built it. As a country with a representative gov't (how well it represents us is another question), we are the gov't. Without the gov't the taxpayers couldn't build it. Without the taxpayers the gov't couldn't build it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Scott! In my thinking people built it not institutions. Without the federal govt Americans built many things - roads and bridges were built and communities educated their children long before the govt got so large. Some of the great universities were built long before the feds got hold of our money via income taxes in the early 20th century. In my thinking, free enterprise, not government, is what built our nation. By saying that the government did it we insinuate that things would not be done if it were not for govt. I simply don't see that as an absolute.
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