When "On Your Own" Meant Freedom and Liberty

I've been stewing over this Obama speech since last Friday.  Did you see (or hear) this?



In a speech in Vermont, The Great Uniter takes a sharply partisan turn toward Republicans.  He sounds defensive, doesn't he?  Is he worried about something?

This is the part that just slays me:

"You know, if you're out of work, can't find a job, tough luck; you're on your own. If you don't have healthcare, that's your problem; you're on your own. If you're born into poverty, lift yourself up out of your own -- with your own bootstraps, even if you don't have boots; you're on your own," Obama said in remarks before a cheering crowd in Burlington, Vt. "Hey, they believe that's how America has advanced. That's the cramped, narrow conception they have of liberty."

Wow.  Just wow.  Clearly the man has no concept of economics or of what made America great.  We did not become the greatest country in the world by cradle to grave handouts or by massive expansion of the welfare state.  Obamacare alone created yet another massive entitlement system on top of the expansion of food stamps and extensions of unemployment benefits Obama has enacted.

Republicans do not believe "you're on your own."   I'd like to see his research on conservative charitable giving.  Healthcare?  Charity hospitals and clinics abound throughout the United States.

This is the part that got me: the insinuation that if you're born into poverty the only way you can get out is by some government handout.  Think of all the people born into poverty through the decades, since the beginning of America even, who had nothing yet worked hard, studied hard, and found a way to succeed.  THAT'S what makes America great is that the opportunity is there; the grit and determination of the individual to make something of himself makes the difference.

What pride is there in doing nothing but taking government handouts?

Obama mocks the way that America has advanced?  He says we have a "narrow conception...of liberty"?

Liberty is when the government leaves us alone; when it does the job the founders enumerated and no more.

Later in the day Obama said in another speech:

"I hear politicians talking about values in an election year," he said. "Let me tell you about values. Hard work, personal responsibility -- those are values. But looking out for one another, that's a value. The idea we're all in this together, I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper, that's a value."

He is confusing the idea of "looking out for one another" with unconstitutional mandates and government handouts. He's confusing it with cradle to grave handouts and entitlements.  He's confusing it with creating a society dependent on the federal government for its every need and whim while wrecking innovation and small business.   Let churches, neighbors, and families look out for one another.    


If Obama is truly his "brother's keeper," somebody ought to give him the number to his brother's hut in Kenya and maybe he'll leave me alone and let me worry about my own brother.


I agree with him on one thing.  Of the upcoming election, Obama said:

"I think it's going to be a clarifying election about who we are and what we stand for."

He's got that right.