Let the RIP Begin

Last week in Roanoke, Virginia, Obama revealed the essence of the collectivist's world view: Individuals don't exist and don't get any credit for what they do. He went out of his way to point this out - in a snarky way, I might add. Why the snarkiness, Barack? Where does that come from?



To be fair to the context of this, this is the whole little segment of what he said:   (If you want to watch a longer video of the event, go here.)

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.

What Obama wants us to acknowledge is not his to compel.  Perhaps this is why he is snarky.  Far and away the primary piece of any accomplishment is the will of the man who does it.  And that, whether Obama likes it or not, is what he cannot compel.  No one can force a mind - not even his own.  Atlas Shrugged taught its readers one primary thing:  The ultimate power rests with the producer.  If he stops, all that depends on him stops.  No amount of government force can motivate a man to produce.  The ultimate trump card is not held by the government.  And besides, anyone who succeeds at something knows the people who were there for him and most are quick to acknowledge them.

What Obama reveals is his puny collectivist soul.  He needs people.  But he doesn't trust people to value him, so he has to rope them and draw them near even if they don't want to be there.  His means is to induce guilt - particularly in the individuals who have a mind of their own.  Those are the ones he directs his snarky "let me tell you something" remarks to.  Those who like him and his tactics cheer him. 

This is all revealed because he has to go out of his way to make a point of this.  Most people draw people to them because those people value who they are and what they say and/or do.  But not Obama.  He draws people to him by singling out some other people and driving them away.  He gets snarky with the "outside" people.  His supporters being of like mind, certainly don't want any individuals to think they are smart or work really hard.  Oh, my God no!  (This really is disgusting, isn't it?)

Poor little President.  He can't just be himself and know that people will come to him.  It is as though he insists there be no freedom from people - no freedom to have one's own life.  Is it that he doesn't trust people to value him unless he reminds them that they don't accomplish anything without other people - maybe even him?  Maybe that is why he insists we accept his food stamps. I don't know.  It's all so Mao. (And so evil.  Can you imagine him telling his daughters when they bring home a good grade,  "Just remember, you didn't do that.  Somebody else made that happen."  Wow.)

He apparently fears they will have a purpose which excludes him.  I remember the question Ellsworth Toohey, the collectivist intellectual of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, asked of Howard Roark, "What do you think of me?"

Roark replied, "But I don't think of you."

Could this be Barack's worst nightmare?  The existence of a person who could be as independent as Roark?

At any rate, Barack's disrespect of individual achievement has caught on and fueled a website called "You Didn't Build That."  Check it out.