Obama: "You Didn't Build That"
As you know, the latest straw conservatives are grasping at is here, starting around 1:40.
The worst blog in Virginia is on this, too...
Here's what Obama said:
"Somebody helped build this incredible American system that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business...you didn't build that."
What is Obama saying that current business-owners didn't build? That is, what's "that" here? It's very clear: "The incredible American system that allowed you to thrive," and: the roads and bridges.
What are conservatives saying that Obama is saying?
That current business-owners did not build their businesses.
Conservatives are lying again because...well...that's all they've got this time around. If they tell the truth, they lose. So here, as elsewhere, they're going with laughably dishonest attempt to pretend that Obama said something that he obviously didn't say--something that no one would say.
Obama's point is that individual initiative alone is not sufficient for success. Success is a function of two things: individual attributes and background conditions. Without both, you're not going to succeed. It doesn't matter how smart you are, you're not going to have much success if you live alone on a desert island, or in a country with bad roads, a corrupt government, no public education, etc. Good background conditions + little intelligence and/or initiative --> low probability of success. Similarly: lots of intelligence and/or initiative + crappy background conditions --> low probability of success.
The real difference between liberals and conservatives here is that very few liberals deny that individual intelligence and initiative is important for success. I've known a few lefties--folks way left of liberal--who thought that. But they're a different story entirely. But liberals acknowledge that background conditions are vitally important. Contemporary conservatives, however, either believe or are pretending to believe that individual initiative is sufficient for success, and that background conditions are irrelevant. I mean, hey, Microsoft could just as easily have happened in Ghana, right? Or Mongolia. Heck, what's really a mystery is why some really smart cave man didn't do it... I mean, it's all about individual initiative, right?
One of the really loathsome things about all this is that conservatives are not merely denigrating the government here, they're denigrating the legacy bequeathed to us by past generations. Roads and bridges, houses and schools and public buildings, the legal system, patent law, secure borders, a system of public education...all the things that past generations worked to build to provide us with the opportunity to--so long as we're reasonably smart and industrious--succeed. Conservatives are, basically, saying that everything that our parents and grandparents and other fellow Americans did for us in the past is irrelevant.
What a crock of shit.
So the conservatives lose 3-0 on this one. They're:
A. Wrong about what Obama said
B. Wrong about the role of government in providing background conditions that enable success
C. Intellectually dishonest.
Wow. Total shut-out...
The worst blog in Virginia is on this, too...
Here's what Obama said:
"Somebody helped build this incredible American system that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business...you didn't build that."
What is Obama saying that current business-owners didn't build? That is, what's "that" here? It's very clear: "The incredible American system that allowed you to thrive," and: the roads and bridges.
What are conservatives saying that Obama is saying?
That current business-owners did not build their businesses.
Conservatives are lying again because...well...that's all they've got this time around. If they tell the truth, they lose. So here, as elsewhere, they're going with laughably dishonest attempt to pretend that Obama said something that he obviously didn't say--something that no one would say.
Obama's point is that individual initiative alone is not sufficient for success. Success is a function of two things: individual attributes and background conditions. Without both, you're not going to succeed. It doesn't matter how smart you are, you're not going to have much success if you live alone on a desert island, or in a country with bad roads, a corrupt government, no public education, etc. Good background conditions + little intelligence and/or initiative --> low probability of success. Similarly: lots of intelligence and/or initiative + crappy background conditions --> low probability of success.
The real difference between liberals and conservatives here is that very few liberals deny that individual intelligence and initiative is important for success. I've known a few lefties--folks way left of liberal--who thought that. But they're a different story entirely. But liberals acknowledge that background conditions are vitally important. Contemporary conservatives, however, either believe or are pretending to believe that individual initiative is sufficient for success, and that background conditions are irrelevant. I mean, hey, Microsoft could just as easily have happened in Ghana, right? Or Mongolia. Heck, what's really a mystery is why some really smart cave man didn't do it... I mean, it's all about individual initiative, right?
One of the really loathsome things about all this is that conservatives are not merely denigrating the government here, they're denigrating the legacy bequeathed to us by past generations. Roads and bridges, houses and schools and public buildings, the legal system, patent law, secure borders, a system of public education...all the things that past generations worked to build to provide us with the opportunity to--so long as we're reasonably smart and industrious--succeed. Conservatives are, basically, saying that everything that our parents and grandparents and other fellow Americans did for us in the past is irrelevant.
What a crock of shit.
So the conservatives lose 3-0 on this one. They're:
A. Wrong about what Obama said
B. Wrong about the role of government in providing background conditions that enable success
C. Intellectually dishonest.
Wow. Total shut-out...
posted by Winston Smith at
7:38 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Winston,
From the 'Impossible to parody" Department, the businessman featured in Romney's "You didn't build that" ad recieved millions in SBA loans:
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/07/23/570621/romneys-you-didnt-build-that-attack-ad-stars-businessman-who-received-millions-in-government-money/
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