President Obama said something recently which I believe had an excellent message:
“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
"The point is, when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires."
If you're confused about what he said about businesses, think about it this way: Did you lay the brick to build your business, or did you hire others to help you? Did you create the roads and bridges to your business, or the internet on which to sell your product, or did someone else make that happen?
What Obama is fighting against here is the extremely prevalent entitled attitude, perpetuated by the leaders and owners of the Republican party, that “I worked HARD, so I DESERVE my wealth, it's rightfully MINE, it should NOT receive a higher tax, and poor people are just lazy.” Obama is saying, you're wrong. While you did work hard, others helped you along the way, and as one of our success stories, you OWE something extra back to your country. The interactions and opportunities granted you by being a citizen of this country are what enabled your success. That is why it is okay for our nation to have a progressive income tax policy, and it's okay to increase taxes on the portion of millionaires' earnings that are over $1 million. In a unified country, the success of the most wealthy should be the fuel for the less fortunate to have opportunity.
Obama is encouraging an attitude of gratitude. A LOT of people these days discount the opportunities and advantages they have had over other people. He's explaining that, rather than begrudge the poor—who oftentimes have a below average IQ; endured childhood physical and sexual abuse; have been degraded and looked down upon their whole lives; have mental and physical illness; have no family support system; have never earned above minimum wage, etc.—we should help them through programs such as food stamps, vocational rehab, Head Start, Social Security Disability, and equal education opportunities. In contrast, many of us have no need for these types of programs to be well-adjusted, as we were raised in a loving two-parent home; have above average IQ; had attentive school teachers and class resources; received private lessons; built confidence through community or school sports; received college scholarships; have a physically and mentally able body; landed a great job with a generous employer. NO ONE does it on his own, and neither should we expect the disadvantaged to be able to.
Obama is trying to preserve the “American Dream.” In a country where government regulation fails to keep up with the magnitude of corporate corruption; where morals in business have faded to the point where “whatever is legal” must be moral; where the wealthy are esteemed and the poor despised; where politicians are bought by the most wealthy; where voters are manipulated by massive advertising campaigns to have an irrational anger toward the poor, and to vote in favor of politicians who are more concerned for the top 1% than for the good of the entire nation, oligarchy threatens equal opportunity (I prefer to call it reasonably fair opportunity, because it has NEVER been and never CAN be equal—and that's part of life: taking care of people who had less opportunity than you). As we've seen with the growing income gap, the problem will only continue to magnify unless we make certain changes that will allow us to continue to fund and improve programs that preserve reasonably fair opportunity, like implementing the Buffett rule.
