My Way

My Way was a great song written by Paul Anka and sung by Frank Sinatra.  It appears that many on the right have adopted that as their theme song.  However, the idea behind the song, an individual going through life without any support or assistance, while fine for music, has not bearing on real life reality.  There is no single individual, no matter the degree of success, that made it completely on his own.  Steve Jobs and Bill Gates benefited from a great deal of research paid for with taxpayers’ dollars that resulted in the internet among other things that ended up as applications for the devices that enriched Jobs and Gates.  The Waltons, who are said to have more wealth within a single family than the bottom 40% of Americans combined, could never have had their success without the government building streets, roads, the interstate highway, and encouraging and permitting the importation of lower priced goods from other countries.  Virtually every wealthy CEO was dependent upon the government to educate and help train the workforce that enabled their success.  While Romney may claim it was his entrepreneurial spirit that resulted in the success of Bain and his personal wealth, his draft deferment kept him from harm’s way during the Vietnam war and his family wealth surely did not stand in his way when starting out.  Additionally without the various government tax policies and bankruptcy legislation much of his accomplishments would not have been possible.  When Romney derides President Obama for claiming that the government provided assistance to those in the top 10% and therefore those in the top 10% should be willing to repay the government for that assistance is a insult to the intelligence of the American voter.  Romney did not make it on his own nor did anyone else in this country and for him to claim that he did another of the fifty-nine or more lies that came from Romney or his campaign for President.