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CAPITALISM IS FUN – OBAMAISM IS BORING |
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Written by Dr. Joel Wade
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Thursday, 04 February 2010 |
I'd like to expand on a theme I briefly discussed at the Remember The Alamo
Rendezvous this past weekend, because it provides such a stark contrast between
us and the Left.
Amid all the worry and anxiety over our economy and political situation, all
the Obama self-righteous preachiness and
the threats to our founding principles, there is one persistent truth that
bodes well for our values of individual liberty and self-government. One simple
fact:
Capitalism... is fun!
Remember back when you were a kid, and you were building a model airplane,
or learning to ride your bike, or creating some new work of art on a drawing
pad, or understanding how something worked for the very first time?
When you were a little older, and were maybe getting better at a sport, or
earning a good grade in a class that you were working hard at... or earning some
money doing yard work at home, or babysitting, or mowing a neighbor's lawn, do
you remember the profound pride and excitement at getting praise or seeing that
report card, or making your own money?
That's fun.
Don't you feel that same way now, when you do good work on a project and
earn a bonus? Or when you make your own business work to the point where you're
making your living from it, and maybe making it possible for other people to
make their living from it by employing them? And then maybe making a very good living from it?
Don't you feel that very same way when you get completely absorbed in your
work, and you feel later the satisfaction, not only of having been completely absorbed,
but knowing that you've also made a good chunk of money or opened up other
opportunities for your efforts?
That's capitalism. That's fun.
Twenty years ago, I traveled with Jack Wheeler through Eastern
Europe in the midst of its revolution out of communism. We were
there for Romania's
very first election day; we met with some of the people who had risked their
lives and were transforming those countries at that very moment.
Jack and I then went on to Moldova
and Ukraine,
and then I went on for another month traveling across Siberia
and into Soviet Central Asia and the Balkans. A couple of years earlier I had traveled
with Jack across Communist China and Tibet.
I'm sure you've all seen those communist paintings or statues where there's
a whole group of "workers" standing resolved and in one of those self-righteous
poses, looking off into that glorious future they were supposedly building.
Those things were everywhere.
People would wait for hours to get
a look at Dead Mao or Dead Lenin in their glass sarcophagi. People would wait
for hours for all kinds of things.
The one overriding sentiment that came over me as I traveled around and
witnessed these examples of collectivist ideology was, "How terribly boring."
Well, this is what the latest instantiation of the left - Obamaism - has to
offer us. This is what Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the rest of these folks get
excited about. This is the kind of world that they want to create for us.
Beyond all of our great intellectual understanding of economics and
political systems, apart from the history that we can point to that shows how
freedom and capitalism is the best path for America - and for humankind in
general - there is one fundamental emotional truth that gives me hope: Capitalism is fun, and what Obamaism has
to offer is an incredibly boring,
stifling, and depressing way of life.
More than any other system of government, our Republic is a relationship - a relationship, in our
case, between about three hundred million people. One thing we know about
relationships is that how we deal with the sad things, the difficulties, the
needs of each other, is certainly important - but the
most important interaction, the interaction that can predict and determine the
success of a relationship over time, is how we deal with the good times.
When you support and respond to good news with a positive and an active
response - ‘positive' meaning "hey, that's great"; ‘active' meaning you ask a couple of
questions, you show interest - that is what builds the crucial positive
atmosphere of a relationship.
That is what capitalism, freedom, and the opportunity for self-direction
encourages.
Every time you buy a product or service, you are in effect saying, "Great
job, I like what you've made happen here (enough that I'm willing to give you
money for it)! How does this work?"
Socialism, Fascism, Communism, Obamaism, ideologies that seek to move masses
of people as masses in some
particular direction or other in order to fulfill some politician or
bureaucrat's lofty and self-righteous vision... is boring. Such systems dwell on what's wrong with life, they view
people as helpless victims, and they undermine the joy of living.
One reason why I have such great hope for our country is that a defining characteristic
of the American People is that we like to
have fun. We're playful people. We
like the excitement of a new possibility. We love to solve problems; we like to
get applause for a talk, pay and appreciation for a job well done, rewards for
a new path explored, a new idea, and an exceptional performance.
We are a problem solving, adventure seeking, and fun loving people; and
making our own way, building and creating a business is about solving problems
and looking toward novel perspectives on practical life circumstances. This is
fun.
This is something Obama and the others have no understanding of. Obama with
his chin upturned in communist art form style; Pelosi with her giddy school
girl class president ideas of how we should all behave; Gore with his ascetic
and moralistic Green religious zeal.
It's all boring. We on the right have
long been fed up with it all, and the American people in general I think are
beginning to really see what these people have to offer with their progressive
agenda. I think many self-identified liberals also have little practical use
for the reality of a socialist lifestyle - because in their personal lives,
they are still practicing individualists.
The leaders on the left have nothing to offer but grey, bland, boring drudgery
- because they are choosing and directing our lives for us, sucking the life
and fun out of everything we might do.
We who advocate freedom and capitalism have fun and excitement, playfulness
and challenges, an acceptance and embracing of risk, and an expansive vision
for the future. We have the potential for three hundred million people to
personally, individually, earn and hear: "That's great! Good job! How'd you do
that? That is so cool!"
When the choice is made explicit - which it should be - all the empty
promises and fake subsidies in the world can't compete with the pure fun and
adventure of capitalism and freedom.
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