To President Obama and his fellow liberals, successful people don’t deserve their success, and unsuccessful people don’t deserve their lack of success. He and his fellow liberals would answer a question posed by Governor Romney at a speech last month in Irwin, Pennsylvania by saying that America is great because of government, not because Americans are allowed to pursue their dreams and build their futures. To President Obama and his fellow liberals, it’s government, not individual initiative, that makes success possible, and government, not the individual, deserves whatever money is earned from business endeavors.
President Obama and his fellow liberals use this view of success to claim that redistributing income through the tax laws is “fair.” Not only is their view of success contrary to reality, but it fails to give the successful credit for the great amount of taxes that they pay to build roads and provide education and public protection. Also ignored is the great contributions that the successful make to our nation. We make individuals successful because their product or service improves our lives. Just think how much those individuals getting rich by selling computers and computer software have improved our standard of living.
Liberals have had great success over the years in controlling the political language. They’ve succeeded in convincing too many people that you’re a good person if you’re liberal and a bad person not worth listening to if you’re a conservative. Instead of trying to distinguish themselves from other conservatives (as President George W. Bush did by labeling his conservatism as “compassionate”), conservatives need to reclaim not only the word “fair,” but also other words used in political discourse.
David Gibberman, a lawyer, writes about legal and financial matters for professionals, college students, and the general public.
