Friday, July 27, 2012

Has the Federal Government Hurt Your Business?

After reading Chip Wood's article here...

http://personalliberty.com/2012/07/27/the-lie-that-should-sink-obama/

I'd like to read more comments relevant to what Chip Wood actually had to say. (The comments below the article mostly seem to relate to an inflammatory comment that, perhaps inadvertently, hijacked the page.)

The lie that should sink Obama was his now infamous remark, "If you have a business...you didn't build that." I'm not buying the excuse that the line may have been punctuated by some sort of nonverbal gesture by which the President might have tried to make this "that" refer to some bridge or railroad or other piece of local infrastructure. The President of the United States is supposed to pay speechwriters to make sure that the actual verbal content of a speech makes sense, without relying on gestures or inside jokes. Of course he's human. Of course he can mis-speak, or even be sabotaged. Whole books of the dysphasic mistakes uttered by other Presidents have been collected, and at least one skid-talking President has even won a second term anyway. But the President's job is to take responsibility for his actual words.

The verbal content of this speech is that, if we have businesses, we did not build our businesses. In many cases that's a lie. In the peculiar case of the legal and political career of Barack Obama, a bright young slacker (or even stoner) who was rescued by adults who have successfully exploited his abundant talent ever since, it's true. But I'd guess that most self-employed people who are currently in their forties and fifties, whether they're described as "business owners" or "professionals" or farmers or writers or artists or whatever else, have experienced government as more of a hindrance than a help to their businesses.

Barack Obama never kept a store. Well, so what--that's not his talent. After certification as a lawyer, he actually succeeded as a writer and a politician. Those are legitimate "businesses," if not the kind that come to mind when we think of someone "having a business." They are among the few businesses government really can help a young man or woman launch. Right. Government has helped other people succeed as writers, speakers, entertainers. Government has been a gold mine for Rush Limbaugh. Government has been very nice to George Stephanopoulos, to Ann Coulter, to the late William F. Buckley, and in that sense we might even say that government has been slightly helpful to this web site--the computer shows that reports on legislation have attracted hundreds of readers.

But...anybody else? If your job involves doing anything for the public but reporting on the activities of government, if you supply any other kind of goods or services, has government helped you more than it's hurt you? I couldn't say that. I don't think very many people could.

Readers are welcome to comment. Foreign readers, too, but please make it clear whether you're talking about U.S. or foreign government.

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