obama forward flagPresident Obama released a 7-minute video called “Forward" last week. It’s the usual Obama meme of Bush wrecked everything and obstructionist Republicans are halting progress. No mention of the fact that the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate by large majorities for the first two years of Obama’s term. 

The video begins by saying how incredibly bad things were in 2008, when Bush was president. You know, when the annual deficit was roughly 1/3 of what it is today. Then it goes on to tout President Obama’s accomplishments, like saving the economy (pay no attention to the real unemployment rate behind the curtain), and the auto industry (debatable).

Plus he, like, totally fixed the over-regulated health insurance industry by adding more regulations. Or something.

But then!! The evil Republicans came in, and instead of “working together to lift America up, [they] were waging a campaign to tear the president down.” Following that statement is a montage of prominent Republicans publically saying, “Vote no!” to President Obama’s policies.

Democrats practically sneer as they say, “Republicans are the Party of No,” like it’s a bad thing. It’s never wrong to say no when you disagree with something. Heck, not a single Democrat agreed with President Obama’s proposed budget, so why don’t we call them the Party of No? 

The word NO can be a good thing when it’s the answer to the question of whether or not to spend money that’s just not there. It would be amazing to live in a land where everyone worked according to their ability, and took only according to their need -- but we don’t. We live in an imperfect world, where people work as hard as they need to in order to pay for the things they want/need to buy. 

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. We have family, friends, activities, hobbies, etc. that enhance our lives. We have goals and ambitions in our professional lives too. The trick is to find that balance that works for us. The government coming in and demanding that people start paying other people’s bills is not an incentive to anyone to be as productive as possible.

Videos like this one are incredibly frustrating because they sound wonderful but are not based in reality. Of course prosperity for all would be wonderful, but money doesn’t grow on trees. Taking money from someone that’s earned it to pay someone else’s medical bills (or any bills) isn’t charity -- it’s theft.

Nothing wrong with saying no to that.