Posted on 02/01/2014 9:07:42 AM PST by Olog-hai
At the House Republican retreat in Cambridge, Md., Thursday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called on GOP lawmakers to take a new approach to the nation’s economic anxieties. […]
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Cantor’s presentation was that it included a recognition that in the past Republicans have focused more on the nation’s employers than employees, have talked about small business owners and entrepreneurs to the exclusion of the far greater number of Americans who don’t own their own businesses. […]
What was extraordinary about that portion of Cantor’s presentation was not that it was out of place—it was entirely on-target for a political party hoping to win elections in 2014—but that it came six years into the economic downturn, and decades into a protracted decline in middle-class standards of living. Could it actually have taken Republicans that long to realize they should address such problems, especially when Democrats have made huge gains appealing directly to middle-class voters?
Apparently, yes. And even now, not all House Republicans are entirely on board. …
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Actually most Americans are entrepreneurs but have been beaten into submission by a crushing load or regulation and taxation. This is compounded by the fact that we face unfair competition from corporate cronies who are often propped up by our tax dollars.
You would think that, in an era of collapsing employment rates, someone could make the case for employers.
I wonder if, in the long view, this won’t be to modern politics what the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 was in that era. A divisive issue, where the new upstarts (the Republican party then, and the Tea Party now) - oppose the entrenched powers but because they are on the right side of the issue, prevail in the end. If the parallel holds, perhaps this division will serve to drive the discussion in the 2014 and 2016 elections, just as the Lincoln-Douglas debates over slavery vs. choice resulted in the election of Lincoln in 1860.
Cantor is full of it. The GOP sold out a long time ago to corporate America.
“What was wildly wonderful for Corporate America was hell on Middle America. But the Republican Party had made its choice. It had sold its soul to the multinationals. And as it went along with NAFTA, GATT, fast track and mass immigration, to appease Corporate America, it lost Middle America.” [Pat Buchanan]
Just like the Democrats. How funny.
I think of my great great grandfather who made furniture for himself and to sell during the long cold winter nights.
He owned the land, he cut the trees, he sawed the lumber, made wooden furniture, and sold the product all without any interference from government.
Imagine the imposed costs of trying to do the same today.
That might send power back to the people. The Uniparty can’t have that, you know.
A kid can’t even sell cupcakes without a local “Department of Health” shutting her down. That’s the big Declaration of Dependence that big government is trumpeting . . .
I’d say you are exactly right. In fact there must have been a time when ALL were entrepeneurs! Of course it depends on definition but to me it means taking the initiative to find a way to support yourself without needing someone else to agree to employ you so if you lived alone in the world you would either take that initiative or die. By that definition any squirrel who goes out and finds himself a nut tree is an entrepeneur. Every cave dwelling family that ever hunted and gathered were entrepeneurs. Which came first the entrepeneur or the employee? It had to be the entrepeneur, no question about it. It seems to my simple mind that entrepeneurship is the NATURAL state of man and we have been duped into believing otherwise.
the left is in the process (and has been for quite a while now) of abandoning the union members and lower class whites.
There is an opportunity here for the Republican party to grab those voters.
They’re not going to do it by doubling down on liberalism. Principles do count.
Why does there need to be a distinction between employers and employees? Smaller government results in a larger and growing economic pie. Lower taxes and fewer regulations help everyone. Both Republicans and Democrats seem to want to pick winners and losers. That is NOT the American ideal. The American ideal is a government that is essentially blind to whether one is rich or poor, black or white, famous or unknown. What laws exist are applied equally to all without respect to one’s status. The rich man can no more use government to oppress the poor than the poor can use government to rob the rich. We can’t achieve the ideal of course, but we should strive to reach it.
It’s a sickness in American culture. As a people, we’re irrationally, over concerned about safety and security. There are regulations for everything, because there’s always some risk, no matter how small, that must be mitigated.
“There oughta be a law!” is a common refrain in America. The problem is every law has (or had) some rational basis, no matter how small, at some point.
Let’s consider your example. How do we know the furniture your grandfather made was properly tested not to collapse when someone sat on it? Someone, somewhere has probably been injured or killed by a collapsing chair. If testing can save even one life, then a law mandating testing is justified. If you’re against that law, then you’ll be accused of not caring if someone is injured or killed.
That is why there is a law, rule or regulation for nearly everything in America today. The sad part? People seem to assume problems are solved simply by virtue of laws being passed. Gun control laws, in particular, are passed for that reason. It’s completely irrational, but some people honestly believe they’ll be safer if law-abiding people register or turn in guns.
I can't tell how many times I have contemplated to strike out on my own to use my skills and abilities to start my own business...to get the hell out of the corp culture..
The thought of going broke and starving to death trying to do so is not appealing exactly for the reason you stated...
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