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Well done Cecile. Lets try a different analogy.
A one time on the east side of the country there were no people. Then somebody builds a house out there, puts in his own well with a pump run by his own wind charger and battery backed up generator. Also necessary is a wood stove, propane tank, and septic system, all put in by private contractors. He has a rough road graded from the distant highway.
Gradually as more and more people move into the area, they are able to pool resources to have electricity and telephone service brought to their community, provided by private co-ops serving distant communities. With so many folks now in the area they agree that rather than risk contamination from so many septic systems, a shared sewer system should go in, and then a shared water system. Eventually there is enough tax base to pay for paved roads to replace the rough graded ones.
Then somebody takes the risk to put in a small grocery store so folks wont have to drive 20 miles to the city for a loaf of bread or bottle of milk. Then somebody puts in a gas station, somebody else an auto repair shop, somebody else a dental office until there is a thriving business community. The growing tax base funds even more and better infrastructure to meet the needs of the growing community.
THAT is how government happens and how infrastructure is accomplished. It is people and commerce and industry preceding infrastructure, not the other way around.
there are a few very rich, very powerful people who plan on sinking it
Yes, like Gates and Jobs by offering us products at a price and quality that we prefer more than any others in the world to raise our standard of living. A liberal simply lacks the IQ to understand capitalism.
We should punish Gates and Jobs and reward those who make little or no contribution to our ever rising standard of living. Its the liberal way.
You DO realize that those products are manufactured in China, right?
The only jobs that the iPhone or any of the other related products generated here in the US is sales jobs only, which is only a small percentage of the people employed overseas.
It is people and commerce and industry preceding infrastructure, not the other way around.
Read the thread, dimwit. We've been refuting it for approximately 240 pages. It's YOU who cannot refute what we've said. All you can do is parrot, "We're right, you're wrong, you just don't like Obama."
It is people and commerce and industry preceding infrastructure, not the other way around.
yes, when the first two farmers finally decided to build a road between their farms so they could trade their crops they didn't elect a road president to tell them the road was suddenly the most important variable in their survival. The road was merely a very simple adjunct to their very complicated businesses. The road president could be replaced 1000 times over at the drop of a hat while the surviving business owner is a 1 in a 1000 irreplaceable genius.
It is people and commerce and industry preceding infrastructure, not the other way around.
yes, when the first two farmers finally decided to build a road between their farms so they could trade their crops they didn't elect a road president to tell them the road was suddenly the most important variable in their survival. The road was merely a very simple adjunct to their very complicated businesses. The road president could be replaced 1000 times over at the drop of a hat while the surviving business owner is a 1 in a 1000 irreplaceable genius.
Yeah, let's compare a dirt track to freeways, the state highway system etc etc etc. What do you do for an encore, wax lyrical how donkey shit was the pre cursor to the fertiliser industry?
Yeah, let's compare a dirt track to freeways, the state highway system etc etc etc.
Roads and bridges cannot be credited or blamed for a business' success or failure... They exist and their existence does not guarantee you will be successful in your business...
Well done Cecile. Let’s try a different analogy.
A one time on the east side of the country there were no people. Then somebody builds a house out there, puts in his own well with a pump run by his own wind charger and battery backed up generator. Also necessary is a wood stove, propane tank, and septic system, all put in by private contractors. He has a rough road graded from the distant highway.
Gradually as more and more people move into the area, they are able to pool resources to have electricity and telephone service brought to their community, provided by private co-ops serving distant communities. With so many folks now in the area they agree that rather than risk contamination from so many septic systems, a shared sewer system should go in, and then a shared water system. Eventually there is enough tax base to pay for paved roads to replace the rough graded ones.
Then somebody takes the risk to put in a small grocery store so folks won’t have to drive 20 miles to the city for a loaf of bread or bottle of milk. Then somebody puts in a gas station, somebody else an auto repair shop, somebody else a dental office until there is a thriving business community. The growing tax base funds even more and better infrastructure to meet the needs of the growing community.
THAT is how government happens and how infrastructure is accomplished. It is people and commerce and industry preceding infrastructure, not the other way around.
Indeed. I can state with certainty, and on merit of my work in rual areas of Northern Florida attest to this.
I do alot of work in rual areas where dirt roads and septic tanks are the rule...powerlines along those unimproved roads exist out of necessity, and are private.
I've seen similiar areas grow, and with growth of population the county gets involved with a large enough tax base to IMPROVE those roads, and everything else that goes with it.
Well done.
Might be good to divide Reagan into his Democrat/Republican phases. Reagan was a New Dealer to the core until he landed in the top tax bracket in 1954 with his massive Warner Brothers checks.
But his support of the Left, FDR, and the New Deal is without question. In his autobiography "Where's the rest of me?" - which Nancy tried to re-publish but Norquist and Legacy Project crushed - he supports FDR massively. He definitely grew disillusioned under Truman but he was an ardent Cold Warrior, which used to be the province of the Left, which wanted to save the world from Washington.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJDhS4oUm0M]Reagan Campaigns for Truman in 1948 - YouTube[/ame]
Yes but the liberals have created huge ghettos of dependency, to buy votes, that go on and on over many generations. The liberal Great Society amounted to a near genocide against American blacks.
It's interesting to see how LBJ and Reagan handled the "black problem". LBJ used the War on Poverty to help lift them up whereas Reagan used the War on Drugs to cage them. Both policies failed.
(Look at the rate of black incarceration under Reagan's War on Drugs. It will blow your mind. The War on Drugs gave Washington and the states more power to incarcerate the superfluous - people laid low by circumstance (slavery), poor genes, and choice. The USA has the highest prison population by an unbelievable margin - and the proportion of blacks to whites is beyond belief. This is the natural consequence of unwinding a welfare state. When you get rid of safety nets and disposses entire races or classes, you better build cages. So much of government is dealing with either the dependents or have-nots. White people had/have much higher pot consumption, but as property owners with accumulated wealth, they are less disruptive. The need for social control is much less for people who benefit from the status quo)
Regardless . . . be careful with the Right's construction of Reagan. Seriously, the Reagan Legacy Project created by Norquist was designed to create a symbolic Reagan - a leader as meaningful and important to the Right as FDR was to the Left. Norquist literally drained Reagan of all his moderate and Leftist elements. For God's sake, Reagan passed the most liberal abortion policy as governor of California (where he was in EVERY position to stop it. He got in bed with the Moral Majority so he could consolidate the South and Heartland. Much of his supposed social conservatism was pure opportunism. It was a way to win elections by creating a powerful rightwing populism that appealed to the poor. Please turn off talk radio).
I agree the war on drugs has been a huge failure. But it started with Richard Nixon. Reagan brought us a second wave of regressive policies. The United States has less than 5% of the worlds population. But it has almost 25% of the worlds prisoners.
On the other hand, the war on poverty was a success, despite the fact Johnson effectively pulled the plug on the War on Poverty to fund the war in Vietnam. The war on poverty was based on a design conservatives should get behind. But, as you said: The rightwing voter has been 100% captured by propaganda.
Here are some FACTS for you on what the War on Poverty.
The war on poverty was a New Frontier idea. In 1961, Kennedy took office and put together a Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime. Surplus funds were put to work for job, housing and education programs. President Kennedy had on his agenda a war on poverty and this was the beginning. Kennedy died in Dallas but not his desire to attack poverty.
When President Kennedy's brother-in law Sargent Shriver accepted President Johnson's challenge and took on the 'War on Poverty' the first thing he discovered was rather startling and disturbing. Half of the Americans living in poverty were children. Another large segment were elderly and another segment were mentally and/or physically disabled. So a HUGE segment of the poor fit the TRUE definition of a dependent. So there is an obligation as a civil society to make sure those real dependents are not trampled on or extinguished.
To address some of the players in the conservative fairy tale, voila! We have an unabashed flaming liberal...Sargent Shriver. But I hate to disappoint you. Sargent Shriver hated welfare and had no intention of creating a handout program. He didn't believe in handouts, he believed in community action, opportunity, responsibility, and empowerment.
The 'War on Poverty' was called the Office of Economic Opportunity. The core principles were opportunity, responsibility, community and empowerment. The program's goal was maximum feasible participation. One of the concepts of empowerment was poor people had a right to one-third of the seats on every local poverty program board. It was a community based program that focused on education as the keys to the city. Programs such as VISTA, Job Corps, Community Action Program, and Head Start were created to increase opportunity for the poor so they could pull themselves out of poverty with a hand UP, not a hand out. Even when Johnson effectively pulled the plug on the War on Poverty to fund the war in Vietnam, Shriver fought on and won. During the Shriver years more Americans got out of poverty than during any similar time in our history. (The Clinton years - employing the same philosophy - were the second best.) Ref
Here is one of the agencies created by the WOP...
Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free-of-charge education and vocational training to youth ages 16 to 24.
Job Corps offers career planning, on-the-job training, job placement, residential housing, food service, driver's education, basic health and dental care, a bi-weekly basic living allowance and clothing allowance. Some centers offer childcare programs for single parents as well.
Besides vocational training, the Job Corps program also offers academic training, including basic reading and math, GED attainment, college preparatory, and Limited English Proficiency courses. Some centers also offer programs that allow students to remain in residence at their center while attending college.[citation needed] Job Corps provides career counseling and transition support to its students for up to one year after they graduate from the program.
Career paths
Career paths offered by Job Corps include:
Advanced manufacturing
Communication design
Drafting
Electronic assembly
Machine appliance repair
Machining
Welding
Manufacturing technology
Sign, billboard, and display
Automotive and machine repair
Automobile technician
General services technician
Collision repair and refinish
Heavy construction equipment mechanic
Diesel mechanic
Medium/heavy truck repair
Electronics tech
Stationary engineering
Construction
Bricklaying
Carpentry
Cement masonry
Concrete and terrazzo
Construction craft laborer
Electrical
Electrical overhead line
Facilities maintenance
Floor covering
Glazing
HVAC
Industrial engineering technician
Licensed electrician (bilingual)
Mechanical engineering technician
Painting
Plastering
Plumbing
Roto-Rooter plumbing
Tile setting
Extension programs
Advanced Career Training (ACT)
General Educational Development (GED)
Commercial driver's license (CDL)
Off-Center Training (OCT Program)
High school diploma (HSD Program)
Finance and Business
Accounting services
Business management
Clerical occupations
Legal secretary
Insurance and financial services
Marketing
Medical insurance specialist
Office administration
Paralegal
Purchasing
Health care/allied health professions
Clinical medical assistant
Dental assistant
EKG technician
Emergency medical technician
Exercise/massage therapy
Hemodialysis technician
Licensed practical/vocational nurse
Medical office support
Nurse assistant/home health aide
Opticianry
Pharmacy technician
Phlebotomy
Physical therapy assistant
Rehabilitation therapy
Rehabilitation technician
Registered nurse
Respiratory therapy
Sterile processing
Surgical technician
Homeland security
Corrections officer
Seamanship
Security and protective services
Hospitality
Culinary arts
Hotel and lodging
Information technology
A+ Microsoft MSCE
Computer Networking/Cisco
Computer systems administrator
Computer support specialist
Computer technician
Integrated system tech
Network cable installation
Visual communications
Renewable resources and energy
Forest conservation and urban forestry
Firefighting
Wastewater
Landscaping
Retail sales and services
Behavioral health aide
Criminal justice
Child development
Residential advisor
Cosmetology
Retail sales
Transportation
Asphalt paving
Material and distribution operations
Clerical occupations
Heavy equipment operations
Roustabout operator
Heavy truck driving
TCU administrative clerk
Regardless . . . be careful with the Right's construction of Reagan.
Regardless . . . be careful with the Right's construction of Reagan.
Too stupid but perfectly liberal. Reagan was best friends with Wm. Buckley to the end based on a shared ideology! No one loved and supported Reagan more than National Review. I can't think of even one liberal position Reagan held after he became a Republican.
There is no one more ardent than a recent convert!!
In a 1991 editorial, Reagan wrote that the Brady Act would provide a crucial “enforcement mechanism” to end the “honor system” of the 1968 Gun Control Act and “can’t help but stop thousands of illegal handgun purchases.” He knew that responsibility had to be part of gun ownership and that protections needed to be in place to keep criminals and the mentally disabled from having guns, therefore protecting innocent American lives. The Brady Act would be signed two years after Reagan’s editorial by Bill Clinton in 1993.
In 1986, Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. The act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants, required employers to attest to their employees’ immigration status, and granted amnesty to approximately 3 million illegal immigrants who entered the United States prior to January 1, 1982, and had lived in the country continuously.
According to Reagan’s biographer Lou Cannon, the president called the death of innocent civilians in anti-terror operations “terrorism itself.” Reagan also denounced the use of torture and believed it shouldn’t be used under any circumstances. And as proof that Reagan abhorred torture and supported the U.N. he signed the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1988. It stated that torture cannot be used under “no exceptional circumstances, whatsoever.”
Despite cutting taxes once in 1981, Reagan raised corporate taxes and many other taxes as well. But he also hired more government workers. 200,000 more to be exact.
Despite his promise to cut Social Security and kill Medicare, Reagan actually saved both programs. First, his admiration for FDR and his New Deal programs were enough for Reagan to save the program by raising payroll taxes in 1983.
Reagan The Liberal | Addicting Info
Regardless . . . be careful with the Right's construction of Reagan.
Too stupid but perfectly liberal. Reagan was best friends with Wm. Buckley to the end based on a shared ideology! No one loved and supported Reagan more than National Review. I can't think of even one liberal position Reagan held after he became a Republican.
There is no one more ardent than a recent convert!!
Then youre not thinking hard enough. ( no surprise there! )
In a 1991 editorial, Reagan wrote that the Brady Act would provide a crucial “enforcement mechanism” to end the “honor system” of the 1968 Gun Control Act and “can’t help but stop thousands of illegal handgun purchases.” He knew that responsibility had to be part of gun ownership and that protections needed to be in place to keep criminals and the mentally disabled from having guns, therefore protecting innocent American lives. The Brady Act would be signed two years after Reagan’s editorial by Bill Clinton in 1993.
In 1986, Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. The act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants, required employers to attest to their employees’ immigration status, and granted amnesty to approximately 3 million illegal immigrants who entered the United States prior to January 1, 1982, and had lived in the country continuously.
According to Reagan’s biographer Lou Cannon, the president called the death of innocent civilians in anti-terror operations “terrorism itself.” Reagan also denounced the use of torture and believed it shouldn’t be used under any circumstances. And as proof that Reagan abhorred torture and supported the U.N. he signed the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1988. It stated that torture cannot be used under “no exceptional circumstances, whatsoever.”
Reagan The Liberal | Addicting Info
Too stupid but perfectly liberal. Reagan was best friends with Wm. Buckley to the end based on a shared ideology! No one loved and supported Reagan more than National Review. I can't think of even one liberal position Reagan held after he became a Republican.
There is no one more ardent than a recent convert!!
Then youre not thinking hard enough. ( no surprise there! )
In a 1991 editorial, Reagan wrote that the Brady Act would provide a crucial enforcement mechanism to end the honor system of the 1968 Gun Control Act and cant help but stop thousands of illegal handgun purchases. He knew that responsibility had to be part of gun ownership and that protections needed to be in place to keep criminals and the mentally disabled from having guns, therefore protecting innocent American lives. The Brady Act would be signed two years after Reagans editorial by Bill Clinton in 1993.
In 1986, Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act. The act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants, required employers to attest to their employees immigration status, and granted amnesty to approximately 3 million illegal immigrants who entered the United States prior to January 1, 1982, and had lived in the country continuously.
According to Reagans biographer Lou Cannon, the president called the death of innocent civilians in anti-terror operations terrorism itself. Reagan also denounced the use of torture and believed it shouldnt be used under any circumstances. And as proof that Reagan abhorred torture and supported the U.N. he signed the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1988. It stated that torture cannot be used under no exceptional circumstances, whatsoever.
Reagan The Liberal | Addicting Info
Yeah he was a real bleeding heart. First his friend Jim Brady was the one shot in the head, so it was personal and emotion overcame his brain....
second he did sign amnesty and it didnt work....which is why we dont want to do it again....because we're not retarded
And third, I dont know about the quote, but I do know he bombed the shit out of Libya and liberals cried over it and he did this:
I love this skit...AWESOME!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go-FoUrn63Q&feature=related"]Ron Reagan - SNL - YouTube[/ame]
Yeah, let's compare a dirt track to freeways, the state highway system etc etc etc.
Dear, Roman roads survive to this day. Roads are hardly big achievements like Iphone's, jet planes, CAT scans, and LCD TV's. America's greatness is not in its roads I can assure you!!
See why we are positive a liberal will be slow?
Roads and bridges cannot be credited or blamed for a business' success or failure... They exist and their existence does not guarantee you will be successful in your business...
And it only resonates with the people who never had exposure to American free enterprise, the ones who embrace this are the losers, the slackers, the Mommy's basement resident, the feeble-minded who are convinced that they failed because America is so darn mean-spirited. It's not just an unAmerican attitude, it's anti-American
Might be good to divide Reagan into his Democrat/Republican phases. Reagan was a New Dealer to the core until he landed in the top tax bracket in 1954 with his massive Warner Brothers checks.
But his support of the Left, FDR, and the New Deal is without question. In his autobiography "Where's the rest of me?" - which Nancy tried to re-publish but Norquist and Legacy Project crushed - he supports FDR massively. He definitely grew disillusioned under Truman but he was an ardent Cold Warrior, which used to be the province of the Left, which wanted to save the world from Washington.
Reagan Campaigns for Truman in 1948 - YouTube
It's interesting to see how LBJ and Reagan handled the "black problem". LBJ used the War on Poverty to help lift them up whereas Reagan used the War on Drugs to cage them. Both policies failed.
(Look at the rate of black incarceration under Reagan's War on Drugs. It will blow your mind. The War on Drugs gave Washington and the states more power to incarcerate the superfluous - people laid low by circumstance (slavery), poor genes, and choice. The USA has the highest prison population by an unbelievable margin - and the proportion of blacks to whites is beyond belief. This is the natural consequence of unwinding a welfare state. When you get rid of safety nets and disposses entire races or classes, you better build cages. So much of government is dealing with either the dependents or have-nots. White people had/have much higher pot consumption, but as property owners with accumulated wealth, they are less disruptive. The need for social control is much less for people who benefit from the status quo)
Regardless . . . be careful with the Right's construction of Reagan. Seriously, the Reagan Legacy Project created by Norquist was designed to create a symbolic Reagan - a leader as meaningful and important to the Right as FDR was to the Left. Norquist literally drained Reagan of all his moderate and Leftist elements. For God's sake, Reagan passed the most liberal abortion policy as governor of California (where he was in EVERY position to stop it. He got in bed with the Moral Majority so he could consolidate the South and Heartland. Much of his supposed social conservatism was pure opportunism. It was a way to win elections by creating a powerful rightwing populism that appealed to the poor. Please turn off talk radio).
I agree the war on drugs has been a huge failure. But it started with Richard Nixon. Reagan brought us a second wave of regressive policies. The United States has less than 5% of the worlds population. But it has almost 25% of the worlds prisoners.
On the other hand, the war on poverty was a success, despite the fact Johnson effectively pulled the plug on the War on Poverty to fund the war in Vietnam. The war on poverty was based on a design conservatives should get behind. But, as you said: The rightwing voter has been 100% captured by propaganda.
Here are some FACTS for you on what the War on Poverty.
The war on poverty was a New Frontier idea. In 1961, Kennedy took office and put together a Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime. Surplus funds were put to work for job, housing and education programs. President Kennedy had on his agenda a war on poverty and this was the beginning. Kennedy died in Dallas but not his desire to attack poverty.
When President Kennedy's brother-in law Sargent Shriver accepted President Johnson's challenge and took on the 'War on Poverty' the first thing he discovered was rather startling and disturbing. Half of the Americans living in poverty were children. Another large segment were elderly and another segment were mentally and/or physically disabled. So a HUGE segment of the poor fit the TRUE definition of a dependent. So there is an obligation as a civil society to make sure those real dependents are not trampled on or extinguished.
To address some of the players in the conservative fairy tale, voila! We have an unabashed flaming liberal...Sargent Shriver. But I hate to disappoint you. Sargent Shriver hated welfare and had no intention of creating a handout program. He didn't believe in handouts, he believed in community action, opportunity, responsibility, and empowerment.
The 'War on Poverty' was called the Office of Economic Opportunity. The core principles were opportunity, responsibility, community and empowerment. The program's goal was maximum feasible participation. One of the concepts of empowerment was poor people had a right to one-third of the seats on every local poverty program board. It was a community based program that focused on education as the keys to the city. Programs such as VISTA, Job Corps, Community Action Program, and Head Start were created to increase opportunity for the poor so they could pull themselves out of poverty with a hand UP, not a hand out. Even when Johnson effectively pulled the plug on the War on Poverty to fund the war in Vietnam, Shriver fought on and won. During the Shriver years more Americans got out of poverty than during any similar time in our history. (The Clinton years - employing the same philosophy - were the second best.) Ref
Here is one of the agencies created by the WOP...
Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free-of-charge education and vocational training to youth ages 16 to 24.
Job Corps offers career planning, on-the-job training, job placement, residential housing, food service, driver's education, basic health and dental care, a bi-weekly basic living allowance and clothing allowance. Some centers offer childcare programs for single parents as well.
Besides vocational training, the Job Corps program also offers academic training, including basic reading and math, GED attainment, college preparatory, and Limited English Proficiency courses. Some centers also offer programs that allow students to remain in residence at their center while attending college.[citation needed] Job Corps provides career counseling and transition support to its students for up to one year after they graduate from the program.
Career paths
Career paths offered by Job Corps include:
Advanced manufacturing
Communication design
Drafting
Electronic assembly
Machine appliance repair
Machining
Welding
Manufacturing technology
Sign, billboard, and display
Automotive and machine repair
Automobile technician
General services technician
Collision repair and refinish
Heavy construction equipment mechanic
Diesel mechanic
Medium/heavy truck repair
Electronics tech
Stationary engineering
Construction
Bricklaying
Carpentry
Cement masonry
Concrete and terrazzo
Construction craft laborer
Electrical
Electrical overhead line
Facilities maintenance
Floor covering
Glazing
HVAC
Industrial engineering technician
Licensed electrician (bilingual)
Mechanical engineering technician
Painting
Plastering
Plumbing
Roto-Rooter plumbing
Tile setting
Extension programs
Advanced Career Training (ACT)
General Educational Development (GED)
Commercial driver's license (CDL)
Off-Center Training (OCT Program)
High school diploma (HSD Program)
Finance and Business
Accounting services
Business management
Clerical occupations
Legal secretary
Insurance and financial services
Marketing
Medical insurance specialist
Office administration
Paralegal
Purchasing
Health care/allied health professions
Clinical medical assistant
Dental assistant
EKG technician
Emergency medical technician
Exercise/massage therapy
Hemodialysis technician
Licensed practical/vocational nurse
Medical office support
Nurse assistant/home health aide
Opticianry
Pharmacy technician
Phlebotomy
Physical therapy assistant
Rehabilitation therapy
Rehabilitation technician
Registered nurse
Respiratory therapy
Sterile processing
Surgical technician
Homeland security
Corrections officer
Seamanship
Security and protective services
Hospitality
Culinary arts
Hotel and lodging
Information technology
A+ Microsoft MSCE
Computer Networking/Cisco
Computer systems administrator
Computer support specialist
Computer technician
Integrated system tech
Network cable installation
Visual communications
Renewable resources and energy
Forest conservation and urban forestry
Firefighting
Wastewater
Landscaping
Retail sales and services
Behavioral health aide
Criminal justice
Child development
Residential advisor
Cosmetology
Retail sales
Transportation
Asphalt paving
Material and distribution operations
Clerical occupations
Heavy equipment operations
Roustabout operator
Heavy truck driving
TCU administrative clerk
All very well thought out in theory.
The times have changed. It is far easier to simply apply for and receive checks from the government for doing nothing.
Why become skilled in a trade when it is easier to sit on one's fat useless ass and collect?
Roads and bridges cannot be credited or blamed for a business' success or failure... They exist and their existence does not guarantee you will be successful in your business...
You'd think, but this notion appears to be at the heart of the left's argument. A business owner drives on roads, so they clearly don't work nearly as hard or risk nearly as much as they think they do.
Astonishing, huh?
.
The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.
Even those embodying the "invisible hand" of laissez-faire capitalism recognize the public good of freeing those in business from the dangers of fraud, breach of contract, safety from fire, protection from criminals (whether disenfranchised marauders, corporate thieves, or terrorists), etc. The founding fathers recognized how commerce would be enhanced by public infrastructure. Yes, these are all paid by taxes. Since they are therefore provided, businesses can be built.
This doesn't touch on the fact that most of modern businesses (which depend on computers, the internet, telecommunications, interstate roads, etc.) could not exist without the educated populace and government investments that gave rise to such tools (the list goes on).
I have owned and now run small businesses successfully. I've worked hard. I am reasonably clever. I asked for no handouts. However, I'm not so deluded to think that my success arose from my sheer efforts alone. I think those who believe so need a reality check.
