Dear Dr. Bob,
I can’t believe it when the Republicans keep misquoting President Obama about building a business. But I’m not very good at responding to them.
Can you help?
Confronting the B.S.
Dear Confronting,
The deliberate mis-quoting was originally stated by Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren. She was rebutting the GOP-touted notion that raising taxes on the wealthy amounts to “class warfare,” contending that “there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody.” Here’s what that was all about…
Warren rejects the concept that it is possible for Americans to become wealthy in isolation.
“You built a factory out there? Good for you,” she says. “But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did.”
She continues: “Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”
Memorize this. Use it.
