As Glenn says:
The key policy implication is that if he can convince enough people that you didn’t earn your success, he’ll face less opposition when he tries to take the fruits of your success for himself. And that’s what this whole “you didn’t build it” thing is about. I’m not taking your property away — it was really mine all along!
Yup.
Exactly. Yet, even if success were just luck. How do they go from there to “it’s really mine?” The government didn’t pay the taxes that built the infrastructure.
If it’s because they decided where to spend the money then… What they’re saying is business people are not smart, but we in the government are (you peasants.)
Since that spending is mainly for political advantage: What they’re are really, really saying is, “You dumb-asses voted us in, so bend over.”
There is something related to this that is truly scary. This comment of Obama’s has a lot of currency out here on the left coast. I have a friend who paid several hundred dollars to attend a series of classes that had several people in it, where they taught exactly this. This class taught that all this talk about America being the land of opportunity was a lie and that the oligarchs had all this falderal put into the textbooks so that the rubes would support the rich. I kid you not.
We met this friend after the class in downtown San Francisco next to where a group of black people dressed up supposedly as black Jews screamed at people about how they were oppressed.
That quote played very well to Obama’s base, don’t think that there are not people who bought that line, hook, line, and sinker.
…and it’s not just a recent thing. I heard the same argument from people in NY about 30 yrs ago (back then it was whispered, now it’s out in the open.)
I think he, Obama, is simply stating his reality. For him, a life time of entitlements, preferences and opportunities based on associations rather than intellect and effort have solidified this basis in his mind. If the success “gained” was the result of opportunities and resources given you, not those you earned, wouldn’t you have the same attitude? His reality is based on perception and his perception is clouded by those entitlements, perferences and connections. I once thought he was more insideous and clever. Now, I realize he isn’t brilliant, perhaps not even bright, and his work ethic is non-existent. He is a product of the system and a grand media creation. Oh, and America fell for it…what does that say about the country as a whole?