you didn't build that

I've seen a lot of people recently getting mad at President Obama for his comments in Roanoke, so I thought I would find out the context of his controversial words and I ended up reading his entire speech. Here's the relevant part, with my thoughts to follow:

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. (Applause.) 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.

Not gonna lie, this is pretty persuasive to me. I recognize that some businesses have been created from the ground up, not from any government handouts, but the fact remains that they simply could not have been founded in many other times or places. The American system really is great and people often forget about the "free" services and conveniences we have access to, which allow this to be possible. And Obama is correct--we did not build anything from scratch. Every business in this country has, intentionally or not, benefited from some of the "basic freedoms" guaranteed to citizens, whether that's from public education, copyright laws, or basic infrastructure, because every citizen has benefited from these things. Although businesses may be started without explicit government help, the American government has set up all the necessary conditions and provided the necessary tools for businesses/individuals to thrive (like tax cuts for small business owners and every single American history class which teach us the value of entrepreneurship and breed us for the pursuit of the American Dream).

While I'm fairly certain that some NGO's helped develop the internet and that individuals (and not The Government) have made the most progress or the most significant effects on any particular person's life (like the idea of a great teacher somewhere along the road), there is such a thing as a positive externality and the government has capitalized on some great efficiencies (like fire-fighting). This is common enough in the first world today that we don't consider what our life would look like without a lot of government support (post office, police, national security, highways, etc. would be left to the free market and I think a lot of people would find it extremely inconvenient....imagine having to pay a fee for every road you drive on! This used to happen and it was terrible). I don't know much about health care but I'd like to think that it's a similarly efficient step toward freeing people to pursue the so-called American Dream, and I'd like to trust my politicians to know what's the most efficient and fair use of my tax money.

I'm currently reading Radical by David Platt, which calls the American Dream the antithesis to the gospel (disclaimer: I am not done reading it and therefore cannot articulate a complete analysis). While it seems self-absorbed and hypocritical of a Christian to say that they got where they did simply because of their own smartness/work ethic, I think that the American Dream that President Obama is talking about is not a bad thing. Although it doesn't explicitly acknowledge our dependence on God, it does on each other and on the system that we were born into. (I think it's important to note that a lot of people were born in America and feel entitled to certain things, being American citizens, but never acknowledge that their freedom exists because of a lot of spilled blood. This idea has been brought to you by an analogy to the gospel introduced to me by my pastor.) I don't think that the gospel and the American Dream, as outlined below, are mutually exclusive.

And what this reminded me of was that, at the heart of this country, its central idea is the idea that in this country, if you’re willing to work hard, if you’re willing to take responsibility, you can make it if you try.  (Applause.)  That you can find a job that supports a family and find a home you can make your own; that you won’t go bankrupt when you get sick.  That maybe you can take a little vacation with your family once in a while -- nothing fancy, but just time to spend with those you love.  Maybe see the country a little bit, maybe come down to Roanoke.  (Applause.)  That your kids can get a great education, and if they’re willing to work hard, then they can achieve things that you wouldn’t have even imagined achieving.  And then you can maybe retire with some dignity and some respect, and be part of a community and give something back.  (Applause.) That’s the idea of America.  It doesn’t matter what you look like.  It doesn’t matter where you come from.  It doesn’t matter what your last name is.  You can live out the American Dream.  That’s what binds us all together. 

His remarks can be found here.

While I certainly think that living life in response to God and relying on him is more important than relying on my own ability to work hard and then vacation, I really think that our country is great and I am so grateful to live in a place where I trust that my education is relatively unbiased and affordable, and my work prospects are decent. I don't know where I stand politically or who I'll vote for in November, but I thought that this was some interesting rhetoric to consider. I'm not all about the Taking Video Clips Out of Context strategy to select my candidate of choice (or to find things to get upset about).