Almost One Year Ago Today

[we vs us]

Yeah, well Tesla might disagree with that though Edison would say you're a genius.

Why is everything you disagree with have to be framed in terms of "liberal concepts"? This either/or, takeitorleaveit, mindset forces you into contradictory beliefs.

It's because liberals embody all that is despicable and wrong with America.  They undermine all the values that make our country great, and seek to sap our precious bodily fluids.

Wealth and success always and ever have been a combo of luck, externalities, hard work, innovation, and being able to exploit a situation to its fullest.  The mix of these things will change with the times, but it's more obvious now than in any recent American era that hard work may not pay off, that our classic American values of entrepreneurship, risk-taking, and nose-to-the-grindstone may not get you anywhere at all.

The "liberal" view of this -- such as it is -- is that we should make it easier for your hard work and entrepreneurship to pay off, not harder.  We should minimize the negative effect of externalities so that the hard work and risk taking has a better chance of succeeding.  The GOP is hell bent on making it impossible for success, all the while repeating mindlessly that if you just worked harder, or smarter, or were more innovative -- if you just tried to be a better American, dang it! -- wealth would be yours.  It's the worst sort of pollyanna viewpoint, because it masks the increasing impossibility of reaching that wealth for most people.

[Cats Cats Cats]

Wait a minute.. So you are saying that Bill Gates skillset of computer programing wouldn't have made him rich if he was born before computers were invented?  This is crazy talk.

[we vs us]

Wait a minute.. So you are saying that Bill Gates skillset of computer programing wouldn't have made him rich if he was born before computers were invented?  This is crazy talk.

If you're trying to suggest that time and space aren't subject to good old American hard work and entrepreneurship, I'm going to have to call bullcrap. 

[AquaMan]

Its not that Gates wouldn't have been successful. He may have used his particular mental skills in a different manner. Its the simplistic notion that he achieved great wealth through his own hard work, innovation and creativity alone. That ignores so many other strongly contributing factors like timing, family, education, availability of funding, location, current structures etc.  

It also leads to this: Bernie Madoff was a hard working, innovative, creative businessman who achieved great wealth and success.

[Conan71]

The "liberal" view of this -- such as it is -- is that we should make it easier for your hard work and entrepreneurship to pay off, not harder.  We should minimize the negative effect of externalities so that the hard work and risk taking has a better chance of succeeding.  The GOP is hell bent on making it impossible for success, all the while repeating mindlessly that if you just worked harder, or smarter, or were more innovative -- if you just tried to be a better American, dang it! -- wealth would be yours.  It's the worst sort of pollyanna viewpoint, because it masks the increasing impossibility of reaching that wealth for most people.

When has the liberal viewpoint ever been to make it easier for entrepreneurship other than sapping the treasury to funnel money into well-connected political allies pockets?  More mandates, like Obamacare, are viewed as more of a risk for the risk-takers.  The liberal view is always that people are not capable of succeeding without the government getting involved at every turn.

Republicans hold the view that limited government intervention helps spur creativity, entrepreneurship, and helps hard work pay off.

[Gaspar]

Aqua,
You are becoming nauseating.  Who are you trying to convince?  Yourself?

[AquaMan]

Aqua,
You are becoming nauseating.  Who are you trying to convince?  Yourself?

Hah! Like an artist, I'm just glad to have created an emotional response, even if it is nausea.

[Gaspar]

When has the liberal viewpoint ever been to make it easier for entrepreneurship other than sapping the treasury to funnel money into well-connected political allies pockets?  More mandates, like Obamacare, are viewed as more of a risk for the risk-takers.  The liberal view is always that people are not capable of succeeding without the government getting involved at every turn.

Republicans hold the view that limited government intervention helps spur creativity, entrepreneurship, and helps hard work pay off.

Liberal viewpoints on everything are based on groups and dependencies.  Your future is dictated by what race, sex, and affiliation.  Your ability to succeed is dominated by external dependencies and access to wealth or market timing.  Original ideas are regulated by chance.

For a liberal to acknowledge to someone that they have the potential to succeed without the aid of others is blasphemous. In fact, to even recognize individual success is blasphemous.  It is rooted in the need to blame others for personal circumstances.  The perception is, that life is easy when nothing is your fault.  This is a lie.  Life is very hard and depressing when you don't own your own achievements, and your failures are someone else's fault. You end up in a dark place waiting and waiting.  You live that life of quiet desperation.

I choose another path.  In the immortal words of the profit:

Will you succeed?
Yes you will indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
kid you'll move mountains so...be your name buxbaum or bixby or bray or mordecai ale van allen o'shea, you're off to great places! today is your day! your mountain is waiting. so...get on your way.

[AquaMan]

Now whose nauseating?

The demonizing of Liberals is a full time avocation apparently.

[Gaspar]

Now whose nauseating?

The demonizing of Liberals is a full time avocation apparently.

You should point out where I'm wrong. 

[Townsend]

You should point out where I'm wrong. 

Pointing out fallacies in someone's opinions is generally looked on as argumentative.

[Hoss]

You should point out where I'm wrong. 

To turn this around, make a case as to why you're right and not just blame liberals or liberalism ad-hoc.

[AquaMan]

You should point out where I'm wrong. 

Right back at you.

[nathanm]

Wait a minute.. So you are saying that Bill Gates skillset of computer programing wouldn't have made him rich if he was born before computers were invented?  This is crazy talk.

If he had been born a couple of years later he wouldn't have struck it rich, either (at least not his mega-riches). Or if CP/M had been rewritten to support 16 bit CPUs just a little bit sooner.

Gaspar, please continue to erecting this strawman "liberal" and knocking him down over and over again. It's pretty amusing to watch, in the same way watching my dog chase its tail is amusing.

Conan, ironically enough, France now leads us in entrepreneurship. Yes, France.

[RecycleMichael]

Liberal viewpoints on everything are based on groups and dependencies.  Your future is dictated by what race, sex, and affiliation.  Your ability to succeed is dominated by external dependencies and access to wealth or market timing.  Original ideas are regulated by chance.

For a liberal to acknowledge to someone that they have the potential to succeed without the aid of others is blasphemous. In fact, to even recognize individual success is blasphemous.  It is rooted in the need to blame others for personal circumstances.  The perception is, that life is easy when nothing is your fault.  This is a lie.  Life is very hard and depressing when you don't own your own achievements, and your failures are someone else's fault. You end up in a dark place waiting and waiting.  You live that life of quiet desperation.

Why do you feel the need to define others? What possible pleasure can you arrive in posting what you think other people than yourself believe and why?

Are you some sort of combination of nostradamus/Dr. Phil/actuarial scientist?