Its time to consider the realization of an idea which has intrigued many for a long time: What if a successful businessman were to move from that directly to the Presidency?. We flirted with the idea in the candidacies of Wendell Willkie in 1940, George Romney in 1968 (well, via the Michigan Governorship) and with H. Ross Perot in 1992 ( which ultimately yielded us the disgraceful Clintons).
There is a strong strain, in 20th century American thought and expression, of disdain for "businessmen". Upton Sinclair caused TR to cast his breakfast sausages from the White House window. Sinclair Lewis in the 20's cast doubt upon their value and values; Steinbeck and Arthur Miller denounced them in very popular works.The seminally disdainful Pete Seeger excoriated their housing product in his post war ditty "Little boxes, little boxes and all made out of ticky tacky " (lacking, I suppose, the charms of a 1930's tenement) with a youthful Bernie Sanders dancing attendance. And then the '60's: "Take care of business, Mr. Businessman if you can!". "Another Pleasant Valley Sundayyayyyh, here in status symbol land" (that wasteland where people who in the '30's could never have sanely entertained the thought of a suburban lifestyle insolently luxuriate notwithstanding after their edifying outings at Tarawa, the Battle of the Bulge and Chosin Reservoir). Then there was of course, the influence of theretofore marginalized college Marxist profs, with their anticapitalist pipedreams, on the monstrously naive and self assured baby boomers as they invaded the campuses in unprecedented numbers in 1965 due to the generosity of their parents' generation. Nonetheless, with unassailable arrogance though, many 'businessmen " persisted with their heresy.
Now one of them, a baby boom apostate no less, with skills he honed in the business world, has attained the Presidency and has manifested a truly intolerable tendency to apply those lessons he learned in commerce to his very office!
What characteristics would we expect of a successful businessman? Lets start with the ability to add 2 plus2 and get 4 instead of . . . . ? Having to meet a payroll and make a profit tends to encourage that kind of common sense. How about guts, perseverance and self confidence? The belief that sensibly regulated capitalist free enterprise has amply demonstrated that it is the most successful way to advance human material well being in a wide range of settings is most likely to be discerned . He or she will necessarily hold that a country which enjoys unprecedented prosperity for most who are willing to give the economy a real try is not in need of "fundamental transformation"by confiscatory taxes and suffocating regulation written by 23 year old amateur Marxists. You might even guess that the economy will prosper if the Federal executive branch is supervised by someone willing to keep governmental "do gooders" in check and allow business to do what it does best, that is, produce real wealth and create real jobs.
President Trump has demonstrated many of these qualities. After a year the economy is "s----in and gittin". Its hot and its getting hotter. Why, surprise, surprise! "Political correctness" the supporters of which have considered it sacrosanct, have found in President Trump one utterly unintimidated and it has them reaching for their binkers. The "universities" are bracing for a siege rivaling that of Leningrad and drafting regiments of counselors to minister to those psychologically savaged by having their leftist ideology questioned.The President has wisely taken us out of the dreamy Paris Accords and has unforgiveablely rolled back the Sainted Obama's theretofore unassailable Marxist attacks on productive economics including his "health care" grab for one seventh of the national economy.
Bring on the businessmen! Welcome back to the real world. Jack
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Well said! Our country does indeed have a love-hate relationship with the business world. You'd think, in the world capital of capitalism, we might show them some respect, but to much of the elite they are...horribly gauche and grasping. The irony is that, much of the time, leftism is just capitalism by other means: plenty of liberals are chasing the Almighty Dollar -- they just expect government to give it to them. Corporate welfare is alive and well, and most of its beneficiaries support Democrats, and with good reason. Anyway, I quite agree that some common sense is just what Washington, D.C. needs.
Thanx Dr. Waddy: I'd be willing to bet that some of President Trump's most strident critics live lives of surpassing comfort and ease. We know of course and they must needs ignore, the fact that such prosperity is impossible in an economy managed by government. The 20th century gave that view a thorough test and it was proven by the murderous results. Frankly, "limousine liberals" or even Buick liberals are hypocritical leaches. Just as a week in N.Korea would clear their minds; an imposed necessity for earning their livings in the real world would teach them some respect. They don't have the guts to endure the inevitable product of their dreams; I've seen that acted out.
Post a Comment