Obama: Limited Gov't That Preserves Free Markets 'Doesn't Work. It Has Never Worked

Obama: Limited Gov't That Preserves Free Markets 'Doesn't Work. It Has Never Worked'

In a speech delivered at Osawatomie High School in Osawatomie, Kansas, on Tuesday, President Barack Obama argued that while a limited government that preserves free markets "speaks to our rugged individualism" as Americans, such a system "doesn't work" and "has never worked" and that Americans must look to a more activist government that taxes more, spends more and regulates more if they want to preserve the middle class...

"Now, it’s a simple theory," said Obama. "And we have to admit, it’s one that speaks to our rugged individualism and our healthy skepticism of too much government. That’s in America’s DNA. And that theory fits well on a bumper sticker. But here’s the problem: It doesn’t work. It has never worked.

"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. " - Thomas Jefferson

"The lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned and the better lesson taught that while the people should patriotically and cheerfully support their government, its functions do not include the support of the people. " - Grover Cleveland

"The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager." - Calvin Coolidge

President Obama did not directly say they were wrong, of course, it was indirect. By declaring our history of rugged individualism and skepticism of government doesn’t work he is saying that the Founders themselves were wrong in their philosophy. Apparently the ideas of limited government and personal liberty as espoused and established by the Founders are good for bumper stickers and that is all, otherwise they need to hush up.

Sorry to inform President Obama, they were right and you are wrong. You are just one man who has surrounded himself with likeminded lunatics that within the past 40 years have proven their absolute arrogance and disdain for everything that has made this country great. It was not the Federal government that settled the prairies and farmed them under the hot sun; it was not the Federal government that worked the factories to grow our economy, the Federal government when it interfered in those areas only made things worse, not better.

Perhaps for a Progressive such as yourself you see that only the Feds can be a force for good because it was they who took us into countless wars, gave us affirmative action, the New Deal, Great Society, began deconstructing our sovereignty, and brought in hoards of immigrants from the third world destroying our melting pot. Maybe it is because the Federal government employes and/or subsidizes your voting base, so any cut to that is a cut to your bought off allies.

A few radical potheads do not know more than brave men who fought a revolution against an empire, much like the one you are running.




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MOD EDIT: ATS policy states that stories discussing news reports need to have the actual news item heading as the thread title. You, yourself say later that Obama never actually says "The founders were wrong" and that this is your interpretation of his words. Changed title to reflect the correct title of the news story.

edit on 8-12-2011 by Byrd because: Corrected title

This from a man that has put our country and all it's wonders into a nosedive of doom. I noticed he seems to think as long as he says something, anything whether sensible or not addressing an issue, he can do whatever his little heart desires regardless of who gets screwed.

Well, I talked to the founders and they said Obama was wrong.

No one can deny it...Obama's agenda is clear. He is definitely wanting to "fundamentally transform America", as he said during the last election.

Seriously, have you ever heard of someone so arrogant? He knows better than our founding fathers. Maybe he could go somewhere else and found something, then. Warren Buffet can join him, and become Secretary of the Treasury. Buffett can make the first donation.

The Founders called....they want their country back.

reply to post by Misoir


Except America never had free markets. Not in the last 98 years at least.

Remember the robber barons? The war industry that started in WW1?

Free markets died the day the FED was created and the day political contributions from corporations were allowed.

I would like to bring to attention the leaps and bounds made in technology and quality of life between 1776 and 1900. This was also the time when americans had a government that did what it was told and didnt regulate or extort money from the american people. We are responsible for the modern world in that 1 century's time and it only happened because there was little or no attempt to control, regulate or dominate by any powers-that-be. We did better than great without big brother. People still cared about each other. A person could make a living off 1 job. Something to think about.

What a fantastic post and thread. Thanks for that OP!

It's something that's been subtle since Obama was even on the campaign trail that he had "issues" with the constitutional view of America. How many passes have we given this man? He has no foreign policy, he has no experience actually governing at home policy, hell the man can't even provide us with a U.S. issued birth certificate!

We are still engaged in a war that we were supposed to be pulled out of a while ago, anyone remember that promise? We're even more in debt now than we were before, what happened to the securing of wall street? In fact, the only promises I've seen Obama keep is "change" of the American Fundamentals...and from what I've seen it's been for the worst.

reply to post by Misoir


i don't know what to make of this because it seems anytime obama says something, anything, he does the exact opposite of it. hopefully these statements he's made won't break that pattern? ahaha

it's a cosmic joke how the american people have been duped.

in all seriousness though, obama is simply incorrect and only trying to use his skills of rhetoric to justify the coming police state and gigantic controling government that is to soon come.

Originally posted by KySc5
The Founders called....they want their country back.

They called back, and have decided to let the Chinese have it.

Some lessons are best learned the hard way.... Americans need to learn what they have lost the hard way, and fight the good fight to get it back.

From the heavens above...

"Tyranny is yours to embrace, or to liberate yourselves from."

reply to post by Misoir


Not only is Obama a jackass, but he is an arrogant radical jackass.

I plead again, will they just impeach this radical arrogant jackass already?
How much more crap and illegal actions are needed before he is held accountable?

Obama scares me spitless. I see a Gestapo style government being slid into position to make sure we are all being good little Americans. Voting is only for those old archaic Americans...the *new* Obama americans won't need to waste time on that pesky old outdated practice.

reply to post by Misoir


As an Englishman, i don't usually get involved in the topic of US politics. However here in Britain we see Obama as the most Anti-British President for many decades. His comments about your founders may be because of the man who is regarded as the instigator of the War Of Independence. That man was Thomas Paine:-

en.wikipedia.org...


You guessed it.......Thomas Paine was an Englishman.

I'm no huge fan of Obama, at all, but to blame him is naive. The problems we are facing today are the result of decades of exceptionally arrogant corruption and criminal behavior by our leaders, all the way from the White House to your/my local city council. To think that we think of Tammany Hall as the height of corruption and, compared to politics today, Boss Tweed was actually pretty darned honest.

Short of a massive, groundswell revolution (of opinions, not guns), nothing will change, and it will all continue to slide downhill. The scales, right now, in fact, may be too weighted to one side to ever right things.

~Heff

If a leader can state that free market economic system (rugged individualism/economic capitalism) does not work....then he can also declare that our political system (individual rights/democratic republicanism) does not work either and force the "fundamental transformation" of our country and it's economic and political institutions. That would be without our consent but for our own good, of course.

reply to post by alldaylong


I am merely speculating here so do not assume it to be any more than that but perhaps his big reason for disliking Great Britain stems from his familial past in Kenya which was a territory of the United Kingdom. If you recall, Kenya sought independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland around the same time his father had come of age. So an obvious anti-British sentiment could have been transferred down to him from his father, even without his father being present in his life.

How could that be? Think about if you hardly knew your father yet believed strongly in your ancestry, which would usually mean you go along with the feelings at the time. Factor into that the staunchly anti-Western view of the university campuses across America that lasted throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, I mean he was associated with a man from the Weather Underground.

Add to that the staunch hatred, which I believe to be envy, of the WASP’s which was quite prevalent throughout that time in America while he was in university, especially among the radical groups he was associated with. These people were associated with wealth, status, and had a firm control over the country since they were the most established ones here.

WASP = White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

Originally posted by macman
reply to post by Misoir

 

Not only is Obama a jackass, but he is an arrogant radical jackass.

I plead again, will they just impeach this radical arrogant jackass already?
How much more crap and illegal actions are needed before he is held accountable?

The question is... Is Obama really any more of an arrogant radical jackass than his predecessor?

Was Bush a champion of liberty and freedom and economic growth?

Does it really matter anymore who the American people select and vote for out of the only two choices they are given for each presidential election?

Food for thought, the answers are actually unnecessary.

reply to post by Fractured.Facade


I should bring up the fact, that the American public is given more choices on paper than what the media allows broadcast. It's all about Republicans and Democrats on TV, but there are many options on paper, people just don't utilize those options like they should.

Originally posted by Misoir
President Obama did not directly say they were wrong, of course, it was indirect.

Close enough. :shk: This guy is a real piece of work. But then again ... it's the fault of Americans who believed in him and his rhetoric that he's in office. He said he wanted to fundamentaly transform this country. He's trying to do exactly that. And considering he doesn't even believe in it's founding ideals ... It's easy to see that he's trying to turn it into something completely different than what it's supposed to be. And yes .. that's a bad thing.

S&F Misoir

Like Obama has any clout to say so. What a poor excuse for a leader. Blaming founders? How about blaming followers like himself. He is obviously going down the same path Bush had us going through. Obama can't think for himself so I think he is wrong for following others wrong doings... Disgusting

reply to post by Misoir


The founder were wrong on many things...slavery, not letting women vote, killing off the natives.

Why is it so surprising to you that people have differing opinions with the "founders"...they are irrelevant today...they aren't gods to be worshipped.

In todays world, the founders would be viewed as extremist idiots...I doubt if they would even get 1% of any vote.