"You Didn't Build It" but They Came

President Obama recently made a bold statement to those who have businesses, "You didn't build it.  Somebody else made that happen."

He didn't state that a lot of people working for you made actual products, nor that a product you designed had exceeding demand and consumers bought so much that your business thrived.  These would seem to be the logical arguments attempting to support the bold statement.

Instead, he argued that the government built roads and bridges that made it possible for the business to be built.  One problem with that logic is that taxpayer dollars paid for those projects so using the same logic we find that the government DID NOT build the roads and bridges; someone else made that happen, i.e. the taxpayers, corporate and individual.

Many businesses fail, though I do not have the statistics they can be searched on the internet and found in multiple places I'm sure.  Many are based on a product that has no demand. Many misuse income and cannot sustain the business.  There are several other reasons that businesses fail.  But they should all succeed under the President's logic that the government made them happen with roads and bridges.

So Mr. President, roads and bridges do not make business happen and neither does the government.  Besides that, taxpayers made the roads and bridges happen.  Furthermore the government stands in the way of business with regulations.  Many huge corporations existing today could not be started with today's regulations in place.

New Members of Congress (either house)

In 2010 a small number of congressmen and senators were "Freshmen" in that it was their first term serving in their respective houses of congress.


Mostly, these were elected on the basis of fiscal responsibility (conservatism) whichever party they belonged to.


It has been argued they have too much influence, as well as that they cannot get much done because they are a small minority.  Mind you it has been argued in extremest of these by the same people.


The numbers game in congress needs to stop.  The numbers that matter are the constituents who voted members in office, who are supposed to be represented.


It is long past time to get rid of the career politicians in Washington (DC) who make millions on side deals, stock tips whether "insider trading" or not, and flat out unchecked corruption. These fight for their personal power, what spotlight they can bring to themselves and to their state if it helps for to that end.


Those who say that the Freshmen numbers are too small and their ideals are too rigid need to be swept out so that those with moral fiber and honor can work together to get done what is easily agreed upon and negotiate the rest.  What we have now is all-or-nothing thinking where many (mostly Democrat party senators at the moment) are content to let nothing be done, have they passed the required budget since Obama was elected?  Any budget?  That is part of the LEGAL definition of their job description after all.  The Senate majority leader will not even put things up for a vote to show that the party has any standing on anything.


Perhaps it is best that the turnover is not too abrupt so that there is time to regroup around the representation the founders intended.  But not so slowly that the incoming Freshmen are doomed to concede the old ways and continue in them.


So here's hoping for a LOT more Freshmen in congress come November's election, and more retirements and more honor to actually represent the constituency.


The republic has gone awry.  It is time to correct course.

We Are All One

We don't realize it and try to ignore it but anything you do to someone else, you're doing to everyone including yourself.

We see news stories and have a detached sympathy. Some people have a dissociative, emotionless apathy to it. We get desensitized to all the bad that's OUT THERE that it doesn't affect us.

We tune it out like it's just a TV show or movie.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. who is a Harvard professor was arrested for "breaking in" to his own home.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/harvard.html

I thought it was bad. I don't know the whole circumstance. Maybe he should have called police before trying to get in his own home like people get help when locked out of their cars.

I imagine he didn't think it was a police issue, and that officers were better serving the public elsewhere.

I saw an interview on CBS Early Show with Elizabeth Gates, his daughter. When I realized that I knew her from when I lived in California and we took an acting class together (5 nights a week for 4 weeks), I got chills.

It was so much more personal when I actually knew the daughter of the arrested professor.

It should not have to be someone we know directly affected by things before we really care.

We should be able to put ourselves in other people's "shoes" without having to pretend it is a friend or relative in pain.

We are all connected and simply treating others as we would want to be treated, how far away is that to be in majority?

Channing H.