In January of 1776, Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense that galvanized colonist support for American independence. 236 years later, Barack Obama presented his own forceful version of common sense in his third State-of-the-Union address.
Since last May, Republican presidential candidates have engaged in the political equivalent of Demolition Derby; attacking each other, the president, and the necessity for a Federal government. As a consequence of their media circus, Barack Obama has been out of the limelight. His State-of-the-Union address was a dynamic reminder that among Washington politicians Obama remains the adult in the room.
In recent history, the annual State-of-the-Union address has been used as an opportunity for the president to present a laundry list of items that he wants Congress to work on over the next year. But this Congress -- because of Tea-Party obstructionists in the House of Representatives -- is unlikely to pass little but the most essential legislation. So Obama delivered a more philosophical speech than is usual. He asked: how do we construct "an economy built to last?" An economy "where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded?"
The president gently reminded Congress that members of the Armed Forces work together. He repeatedly asked Congress to work more cooperatively with the executive branch, to pay attention to the U.S. value of shared responsibility.
Remembering his grandparents. Obama spoke of the American optimism after World War II. They were contributing to the basic American promise that if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement. Obama paused to emphasize, "The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive... We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules." Obama threw down the gauntlet: in the 2012 election he will stand with the 99 percent.
The president repeatedly linked fairness to the health of the economy. "An economy built to last is one where we encourage the talent and ingenuity of every person in this country." "An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody."
Obama reserved his strongest rhetoric for a discussion of tax fairness. He pointed out that Billionaire "Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary." "We need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes." "Tax reform should follow the Buffet Rule. If you make more that $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes." Obama distinguished his candidacy from those of Gingrich and Romney.
Because of Obama's insistence that American millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share in taxes, Republican presidential candidates have accused the president of being divisive, of fostering class warfare. In his State-of-the-Union address, Obama responded, "Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most American would call that common sense." He linked common sense with defense of the 99 percent.
Obama elaborated this populist theme. "Americans... know that this generation's success is only possible because past generations felt a responsibility to each other, and to the future of their country, they know our way of life will only endure if we feel that same sense of shared responsibility... That's an America built to last."
The president ended his state-of-the-union address with an emotional story about the Navy SEAL team that conducted the mission to get Osama bin Laden. "One of the young men involved in the raid later told me that he didn't deserve credit for the mission. It only succeeded, he said, because every single member of that unit did their job... because you can't charge up those stairs, into darkness and danger, unless you know that there's somebody behind you, watching your back." Obama finished with this common sense message: "No one built this country on their own. This nation is great because we built it together. This nation is great because we worked as team. This nation is great because we get each other's backs."
Barack Obama's memorable State-of-the-union address kicked off his 2012 campaign. The centerpiece will be common sense. "The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive... We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules."
Robert Scheer: Obama's Faux Populism Sounds Like Bill Clinton
Paul Stoller: Class Illusions Revisited
Daniel A. Bell: Memo from Davos: Down with Democracy!
Chris Weigant: The Alternative Millionaires' Minimum Tax
"... as we are running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them [future generations] meanly and pitifully."
"... government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer."
"In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the bargain!"
All you Obama-worshippers, including Mr. Burnett, need to realize that this country was founded on the common sense of self-sufficiency with government as a necessary evil, not on government command and control of how we live. 2012: OMG = Obama Must Go!
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_19829060
Although it is a small excerpt which doesn't include the information that the 36 are out of 1800 and is 2% which is the same as the national average. He also failed to mention that in 2008 under Bush's last year in office there were 3% of his aides who owed back taxes. More selective information.
To sense just how far we've come since these words were written, imagine yourself shouting the paragraph above via megaphone in front of the home offices of a major financial institution. See all the policemen gathering to escort you to jail?
Also, many of the problems here are due to the rogues gallery of horrendous advisers appointed by the president. He's a totally lost cause right now.
Agree with you though, as to the manifold disaster that President McCain might have been.
SHORT TAKES:
Gabby will be missed since she was an outstanding representative and the greatest tribute to her could be achieved if the U.S. Congress had the guts, common sense and compassion to pass a handgun bill that outlawed every automatic handgun in America.
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There is no question Newtie is America's greatest flim flam boy and watching him push our species red demon keys like a concert pianist is something to behold, of course, it would be better for those whose demon keys are being pushed if they were aware of what he was doing; making a fool of them!!!
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No major reforms of unjust, unfair ideologies, policies, laws or activities ever happens until the people have taken to the streets!!!
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7 and a half million homes have been foreclosed in America since 2008 and 4 million are in the process of being foreclosed.
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1 out of 4 American children are facing a lack of enough food to sustain good health in the richest country on earth.
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Statistics reveal that more Americans die from legal drugs then illegal drugs.
Republicans forced austerity in U.S. also exactly wrong for global and U.S. economy. We need to INVEST our way out of this depression. Starvation of U.S. population is the Repbulican plan for the future.
Say no the next DARK AGE by removing all republicans/conservatives from power.
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"Government is no further necessary than to supply the few cases to which society and civilization are not conveniently competent; everything which government can usefully add thereto, has been performed by the common consent of society, without government.
Formal government makes but a small part of civilized life. All the great laws of society are the laws of nature. Those of trade and commerce, whether with respect to the intercourse of individuals or nations, are laws of mutual and reciprocal interest. They are followed and obeyed because it is the interest of the parties so to do, and not on account of laws their governments may impose.
But how often is the natural propensity to society disturbed or destroyed by the operations of government! When the latter, instead of being engrafted on the principles of the former, assumes to exist for itself, and acts by partialities of favor and oppression, it becomes the cause of the mischiefs it ought to prevent.
If there is anything to wonder at in this miserable scene of governments, it is the progress that the peaceful arts of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce have made, beneath such a long accumulating load of discouragement and oppression. Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
http://mises.org/daily/2897
And even Paine in that first sentence you post admits that government should step in when society and civilization are not conveniently competent. And yes, of course these need to be and are performed by the common consent of society. But in today's modern society, there are MANY things Paine wouldn't have imagined, and many more for which society and civilization are not conveniently competent.
"Remember that political entrepreneurs become wealthy at the taxpayers’ expense and use the power of government to protect that wealth, while free-market entrepreneurs become wealthy only when they successfully meet their customers’ demands."
http://thenewamerican.com/history/american/4036-railroads-robber-barons-and-unbridled-capitalism
Yes, corporations and individuals take advantage of others and that is why laws are in place. Limited laws that preserve freedoms and property rights, the negative rights. Those are the laws of Paine and the founders. The laws of Obama and Burnett are those that seek to provide positive rights, to strive for "equality" as opposed to simply providing justice. Big difference.
Libertarian philosophy CANNOT be applied to economics in a one-sided way, however. The nation was built on mercantilist economics, and is being destroyed by the mercantilism of other nations, aided by our very own corporations (and corporate-owned government).
So, yes, it is too late to look to libertarianism as a solution to modern economic problems. But Mr. Burnett's (and Obama's) proposed solution of even greater government intervention in all walks of life can only lead to greater loss of liberty and loss of the voluntary cooperation that great civilizations are built upon. Burnett has no business putting Paine and Obama in the same sentence unless he is giving lessons on antonyms.
Does he not realize that half the country is at war with the other half? The level of political and cultural hatred has not been this high in at least 4 generations. Even during the Vietnam war when the young gerenarion thought the olders were sending us to needless slaughter, we all got along better than we do now. He may not be the cause of that, but as a leader it was his job to minimize it. Instead he allowed Reid and Pelosi to run rampant and be as inflamatory as possible. The other side acted the same way, and we are stuck with a non-functioning government. Obama portrays himself as the victim of all this. We are the victim of his lack of leadership. A decent leader would have given people reason to get together despite their differences. That was what Reagan accomplished after the Nixon / Carter disasters.
Reid and Pelosi run rampant????? There have never been two less effective congressional leaders in my lifetime
As far as Reagan bringing us together, that is laughable. HE is the reason we are where we are today. Women had historically voted democratic then he made abortion a political issue (I know it was before but not like it is now); he brought religion into the mix with his litmus tests for judges; he turned liberal into a dirty word and he told us we should be wary of 'intellectuals'. No one has done more to splinter the fabric of this country than Ronnie Reagan.
Your assessment that even during Viet Nam things were not this bad is 100% correct. But when someone tries to tell me that the democrats are causing it or that both sides do it, I have to laugh. The hate is coming squarely from the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Coulter, and more recently Palin and Bachman. There is no one on the left who even remotely compares to them. If you think there is, you've had enough 'coolaid'.
The first lie is about "the rich". The truth is they pay a bigger share of the national burden than ever before. The truth is that most of "them" work hard and play by the rules. Warren Buffet's secretary is all the evidence we need: presented as the victim of unfairness, her annual income appears to be over 200K. That puts her well into the top 5%. The truth is that any Obama tax increases will be targeted at people just like her. She is one of the people doing "really well", getting more than her "fair share", and playing by a special "set of rules". Yet, there she sat.
But the most important lie is that the problems we face have much of anything to do with income inequality. This is the reddest of herrings. We spend more on education, send more people to college, and own our own homes more than any time in our history and more than almost any nation in the world. We have big challenges today and in the future, but focusing on income inequality - and taxation as the answer - is pure prestidigitation. It's a cheap attempt to get re-elected and continue to grow the size and scope of the federal government, at the continued expense of dealing with the real problems and any real solutions.
What would you define as the real problems and solutions. I really do want your opinion. What can we do to return to a level playing field for everyone?, and I don't mean redistribution. I mean jobs, and the peaceful coexistence of folks of every income level.
I, myself, don't begrudge those who have wealth. Most of them I know came by it the hard way, through hard work, innovation, and taking great risks that paid off. They honor our society.
But, surely, things have become unfair in both the job marketplace, and in the products and services market. Big money has bought shortcuts to making even bigger money in ways that are unfair and dangerous to the general public.
How can we work this out?
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/north-america/gates-urges-need-raising-taxes-399
“Even as the economy improves and you end the wars, you’re going to have to raise taxes and certainly, whatever form it takes, and I’m not an expert on this — the rich should bear a larger increase than the rest,” Politico quoted Gates, as saying on Thursday. ....
"There is no strong correlation between job creation and what the tax environment has been at any point in time,” he said.
“If something’s a profitable activity, you’re going to engage in it. "
Second, I don't disagree with Gates' point at all. I think the reality is that, if and when the economy stabilizes, we will have to raise taxes on most people, especially the top 20%. That is the unfortunate legacy that our politicians of both parties have left us. However, those increases should be allocated to reducing deficits rather than new spending.
they have no probelm tanking the country just to get power back and hand breaks to their corporate masters.
That is a fact.