Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

There's No Such Thing as Building a Business (Compares BHO to Margaret Thatcher! Really!)
The Atlantic ^ | July 22, 2012 | Clive Crook, Senior Editor

Posted on 07/22/2012 4:19:17 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

The ridiculous outcry over "You didn't build that" seems very familiar to me. It calls to mind the hysteria that greeted Margaret Thatcher's comment, "There is no such thing as society". The parallel is almost exact. Obama said the words, but plainly didn't mean what his critics say he meant. Thatcher said the words too, but obviously wasn't saying what her critics said she was. Both speakers were careless, allowing their opponents to draw an unflattering caricature. In each case, though, there was a particle of justice in this willful misrepresentation--because a caricature doesn't work unless you recognize its subject.

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business--you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the internet so that all the companies could make money off the internet.

Reading this--and especially watching the video--I think it's pretty clear that when Obama said "You didn't build that" he had in mind either the "roads and bridges" of the previous sentence, or else "this unbelievable American system" in the sentence before. Even if you don't find this as obvious as I do, it's absurd to attribute to him the view that the people who build a business deserve no more credit for it than society at large--the simple-minded reading of "you didn't build that". You don't need to listen to the adjoining sentences or the rest of the speech. Just ask yourself whether Obama is even sane, and that interpretation is impossible. It's not what he meant...

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: economy; obama; thatcher; youdidntbuildthat
What won't they stoop to to help their boy?
1 posted on 07/22/2012 4:19:29 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

With a name like Crook, what more do you want?


2 posted on 07/22/2012 4:27:02 PM PDT by Hardraade (http://junipersec.wordpress.com (Obama Kills))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Epic fail. Obastard said what he said, and the meaning couldn’t have been clearer - or more repugnant.

FOAD, Crook...


3 posted on 07/22/2012 4:35:20 PM PDT by piytar (The predator-class is furious that their prey are shooting back.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

I listened to it in context. He said what he meant and meant what he said. What is more, he has been living his belief with his destructive and deviant policies.

I hope they keep complaining about our criticism because there is no rational denial for what he said.


4 posted on 07/22/2012 4:36:56 PM PDT by RatRipper (Obama, YOU LIE!!! . . .again and again and again and again, ad infinitum. . . .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

First he was Lincoln, then FDR, then Reagan... now Thatcher.

Its really true, he’s just a screen that people can project onto.

They’d better be careful comparing him to Thatcher, she was much more of a man than President Bigger Government.


5 posted on 07/22/2012 4:53:13 PM PDT by sgtyork (The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage. Thucydides)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

There IS no such thing as society.


6 posted on 07/22/2012 5:09:05 PM PDT by kenavi (Obama doesn't hate private equity. He wants to be it with our money.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

“if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.”

There’s the context.


7 posted on 07/22/2012 5:34:07 PM PDT by gusopol3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gusopol3

Trash talking taunt.


8 posted on 07/22/2012 5:39:10 PM PDT by gusopol3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Okay Clive, I give up. What DID nobama mean when he uttered those words that insulted every human that’s lived since the dawn of time?

Please put this in context for me.


9 posted on 07/22/2012 5:57:11 PM PDT by upchuck ("Definition of 'racist:' someone that is winning an argument with a liberal." ~ Peter Brimelow)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Here is the complete Margaret Thatcher quote, in Women’s Own Magazine:

“I think we’ve been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it’s the government’s job to cope with it. ‘I have a problem, I’ll get a grant.’ ‘I’m homeless, the government must house me.’ They’re casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There’s no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation.”

This statement is not just accurate, but correct.

Compare this to Obama’s full, two paragraph statement:

“There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”

What Obama was doing was repeating the socialist mantra that “equality” in all things is what matters. Everything that is below average or above average is bad and should be criticized and “corrected” until it is mediocre.

It rejects the idea that people can have talent, creativity, initiative, and the focus to bring about their dreams and profit by them. Everything must be done by the team, the group, the village, or it is unequal, and bad.

The wealthy, as Al Gore put it, are just “winners of life’s lottery”. They did not earn their wealth, and they do not deserve it. And they certainly should not be able to give it to their children as an inheritance.

The trouble with this bizarre and unwholesome philosophy of equality, dictated and forced by government, is that it invariably pushes society down to its lowest common denominator. But socialists are very happy with this.

“It is better that everyone starves equally than that some eat much and some eat little.”

They imagine humans as ovine, sheep-like creatures, that should all look the same, act the same, and function only as a group, not individuals. This is their idea of perfection. Each and every person should be exactly the same, with everything rationed to them by government to insure they retain this sameness.

This is why socialists are opposed to abundance in anything, because abundance becomes a de facto currency, and allows people to make individual choices.

Say there is an abundance of radishes. One person likes radishes, another does not. So the one who does not gives his radishes to the radish liker, in exchange for something else. Inequality results, and it is not controlled by government.

It is truly unicorn and rainbow theory that fails utterly in the real world, yet causes untold suffering in the process. But, in a sociopathic manner, the socialist accepts the suffering of others as necessary to achieve the agenda of equality.


10 posted on 07/22/2012 5:58:42 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

So Obama said “if you have a business....you didn’t build that.” Now what conclusions am I supposed to draw from a statement like that? What Obama really wanted to say was “if you are a dirty, stinking, greedy, awful businessman, we’re going to tax and gouge you like there’s no tomorrow. Now hand over all your profits.” That’s what The Great Redistributor meant to say.


11 posted on 07/22/2012 6:09:48 PM PDT by driftless2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: sgtyork

At the Conservative Party Conference of 1966 she criticised the high-tax policies of the Labour Government as being steps “not only towards Socialism, but towards Communism”.[33] She argued that lower taxes served as an incentive to hard work.[33] Thatcher was one of the few Conservative MPs to support Leo Abse’s Bill to decriminalise male homosexuality[34], though introduced Section 28, banning education about homosexuality. She voted in favour of David Steel’s bill to legalise abortion,[1][35] as well as a ban on hare coursing.[36][37] She supported the retention of capital punishment[38] and voted against the relaxation of divorce laws.[39][40]


13 posted on 07/22/2012 6:18:33 PM PDT by Lumper20
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

Agree. Al Gore is still a fool whose family polluted the Caney Fork River in exchange for young AL receiving about 20K a year for life from Armand Hammer. Gore’s wife is finally dumping her obese, fool of fools.


14 posted on 07/22/2012 6:23:36 PM PDT by Lumper20
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: driftless2

What does Obama know about building anything? What has he ever created? He has leached off of others his entire life. He didn’t even write his own fake biographies.


15 posted on 07/22/2012 6:36:08 PM PDT by fireman15 (Check your facts before making ignorant statements.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Bambi could not hold Lady Thatcher’s pencil.


16 posted on 07/22/2012 6:37:48 PM PDT by alarm rider (I took the pledge, I will never vote for another RINO, not now, not ever.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
That’s the problem, Clive. I do ask whether Barry is sane, and I don’t like the answer.
17 posted on 07/22/2012 6:58:09 PM PDT by RichInOC (Palin 2012: The Perfect Storm.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson