The Conservative Movement in America has succeeded in turning America into two different distinct countries. There is the America where those who watch Fox News and listen to right wing hate radio live, and then there is reality. Seldom do the two Americas meet.
This is just another example of how the Conservative Movement and the Republicans have done this:
Fox News, right wing hate radio and Romney have all been saying that Obama made this statement: “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”
Sounds pretty harsh doesn’t it? It really sounds like President Obama is bashing small businesses and small business owners. And that is what it is supposed to sound like, never mind that isn’t what he said at all.
Here is the rest of the paragraph that one sentence was taken out of context from: “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.”
Sounds completely different now doesn’t it? President Obama’s point was that businesses are not created in a vacuum. Without the infrastructure provided by the government, aka the taxpayers, no business could succeed.
So now, the Fox News and right wing hate radio listeners have just “learned” something about President Obama that isn’t true at all. That of course is along with the fact that those on the right think Obama is a Muslim, Marxist, Communist, Fascist, Socialist, Crony Capitalist that was not born in the United States.
Of course, since we are talking about Willard Mitt Romney there must be a flip-flop or two-faced comment in there somewhere.
Oh, here it is. Mitt Romney said this yesterday:
“I know that you recognize a lot of people help you in a business. Perhaps the bank, the investors. There is no question your mom and dad, your school teachers. The people who provide roads, the fire, the police. A lot of people help. But let me ask you this. Did you build your business? If you did, raise your hand. Take that Mr. President! This is what’s happening in this country. These people are entrepreneurs.”
The first half of his statement is almost word for word what President Obama said.
Romney Agrees With Obama: Government Does ‘Help You In A Business’
A “news” organization, (I use that term loosely), like Fox that is misinforming people in this way to make a political point is a huge disservice to the American people. For our democracy to work well, the electorate needs to be informed. Fox News and the right wing are not only failing to inform the American people, they are actually actively working to misinform the American people for political gain. If for our democracy to work the people need to be informed, then misinforming the people is decidedly undemocratic.
Fox Viewers Know Less Than Those Who Don’t Watch New
Here are President Obama’s remarks in their entirety:
There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me, because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something – there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.
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, is that 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.
So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for president – because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together.”