Aaron J. Crowley

Stone Industry Consultant

In the opening of his stump speech in Virginia in January, President Obama offended me very deeply when he said the following:   
   
“[Our 2008 Campaign was] a vision of America that wasn’t narrow, it wasn’t cramped, it wasn’t an idea that in America everybody goes out and fends for themselves and plays by their own rules and an America that’s built on what’s in it for me."

Excuse me?

To say that the idea of “going out” and fending for oneself, “playing by one’s own rules,” and pursuing “what’s in it for me” is narrow and cramped, is to demean the very character of the American small business owner and what motivates him.

He also demeans the spirit of the pioneers, our ancestors, who were prone to “going out” on their own and fending for themselves, who not only “played by their own rules” but made them, and singularly sought “what was in it for them” as in sufficient food, shelter, and property.

If he really believes this, that individuals who go out on their own to seek a better life for themselves and their families are somehow narrow and cramped and are not a part of his vision for America, small business owners look out.

But perhaps I’m reading too much into his statements, perhaps I’m overreacting.

Or…perhaps I understand that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution consider and protect the rights of the individual as sovereign. This means the individual is free to pursue happiness (a.k.a. his own self-interest) without regard for anyone else’s ideas about what he should be pursuing.

But that seems antithetical to President Obama’s vision.  He continued:

“it was a vision that said we’re greater together than we are on our own. It was a vision that says everybody deserves a fair shot and everybody needs to do their fair share and everybody has to play by the same set of rules, and that when that happens, we all advance together.”

Sounds good if you’re a slacker in college and get graded on the curve.

But for those of us who are grinding out a future in the real world, phrases like “We’re greater together” and “everybody needs to do their fair share” and “we all advance together” are not merely utopian platitudes, but the rhetoric of a philosophy that threatens the very fabric of our free enterprise system.

These phrases are reflective of a radical world-view where equality trumps liberty…where “we all advance together” overrides the individual going it alone. 

It’s a world-view where a self-appointed minority believes they are uniquely gifted to organize the masses…somebody has to tell me what my “fair share” contribution is supposed to be.

Finally, it’s a world-view where the individual is stripped of the recognition and compensation that they would otherwise receive from those who benefit from their ideas and redistributes it so we are “greater together.”

And friends, that’s why President Obama’s vision is so offensive.

When you and I are no longer able to reap the rewards that have historically accompanied innovation, risk-taking, and hard work, the motivation to create will cease to exist.

And so will the American Dream.

Aaron J. Crowley is the founder and president of FabricatorsFriend.com, the exclusive promoter of Stone Sleeve fabricator sleeves and Bullet Proof aprons. He is also the author of Less Chaos More Cash. You can reach him by email at Aaron@CrowleysGranite.com