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Show The Emery County Review, Tuesday, November 18, 2008 VIEWPOINT A7 Opinion and Letters to the Editor Do You Need an Obama To Believe? Larry Elder “Does Obama’s victory, as a black man, make you feel that you can do anything?” Someone asked me that on election night. It is a caricature of America that, pre-Obama, major obstacles blocked achievement. It is equally a caricature that Obama’s win suddenly creates opportunity that did not exist before. Hard work wins, my dad always told me. My Republican father, who disdained Democrats who “give people something for nothing,” taught my brothers and me to work hard, stay focused, live within our means, and at all times avoid self-pity. My mom and dad always said, “Ninety percent of the people don’t care about your problems. And the 10 percent are glad it’s you.” Born in Athens, Ga., and eventually raised in Chattanooga, Tenn., my dad never knew his biological father. The only father figure in his life was harsh, distant and cold. His mother, because he made “too much noise” for her thenboyfriend, threw him out of the house at age 13. So this penniless boy, living in the Jim Crow South as the Great Depression loomed, started knocking on doors. He finally got a job running errands and tending the yard for a white family. One day, the family’s cook failed to show up. But my dad, having watched her in the kitchen, whipped up a passable meal. The family let the other helper go, and a cook was born. Seeking more money, my dad applied for and got a job on the railroads as a Pullman porter -- then the country’s largest private employer of blacks. He traveled all over the country, making a mental note of California because, he says, its beauty and warm weather seemed open and invit- ing, and the people seemed more fair. World War II broke out. My dad enlisted as a Marine. He served as a cook and became a sergeant. The military ultimately stationed him on Guam as we prepared to invade the islands of Japan, an invasion that never took place because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. My dad returned to Chattanooga, where he went to an employment office. The lady at the desk told him he walked through the wrong door, directed him back out to the hall, and told him to enter through the “colored only” door. “That’s it,” he angrily told my mom, whom he had just married. “I’m going to California, and in a few days, I will send for you.” My father arrived in Los Angeles and went from restaurant to restaurant to find work. “Sorry,” he was told, “you have no references.” “Sorry, you have no credentials.” “Sorry …” He, of course, knew why. He went to an employment office. The woman said, “We have no openings.” My dad said, “I’ll sit until you do.” He sat in that office from opening until closing for a day and a half. Finally, the woman called him to the desk and said: “I have a job. It’s for a janitor. Do you want it?” My dad worked at that job for nearly 10 years, while working a second full-time job for nearly as long and cooking for a white family on the weekends. He somehow managed to go to night school to get his GED and save enough money, while in his 40s, to start a small cafe near downtown Los Angeles. He ran the cafe, which provided my brothers and me weekend and summer jobs, until he was in his 80s. One day, my dad and I decided to clean out the garage. We found a letter he wrote to my older brother, then 2 years old. My dad said he feared that if something happened to him, my brother would need guidance: May 4, 1951 Kirk, my Son, you are now starting out in life -- a life that Mother and I cannot live for you. So as you journey through life, remember it’s yours, so make it a good one. Always try to cheer up the other fellow. Learn to think straight, analyze things, be sure you have all the facts before concluding, and always spend less than you earn. Make friends, work hard, and play hard. Most important of all remember this -- the best of friends wear out if you use them. This may sound silly, Son, but no matter where you are on the 29th of September (Kirk’s birthday), see that Mother gets a little gift, if possible, along with a big kiss and a broad smile. When you are out on your own, listen and take advice but do your own thinking and concluding, set up a reasonable goal, then be determined to reach it. You can and will, it’s up to you, Son. Your Father, Randolph Elder Dad is now 93 and, thankfully, still with us. So, yes, Obama’s historic victory makes a statement about the long, hard, bloody journey. Obama makes people believe. Some of us always did. (Larry Elder is a syndicated radio talk show host and best-selling author. His latest book, “Stupid Black Men: How to Play the Race Card -- and Lose,” is available now. Creators Syndicate. Copyright 2008 Laurence A. Elder.) Bush Shows Obama the Way Lawrence Kudlow President George W. Bush came out fighting for free markets with a strong and stirring defense of American capitalism on the eve of the G-20 World Economic Conference. Stocks soared 550 points Thursday, as Bush’s luncheon speech was played live on all the major cable networks. It was as though Bush was trying to leave an economic primer to his successor-elect Barack Obama. Markets cheered be- Established January 2, 2007 James L. Davis, Publisher & Editor w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w Colleen A. Davis, Co-Publisher, Office & Advertising Manager Josie Luke, Assistant Editor Lyndsay Reid, Advertising Design Kathy P. Ockey, Staff Journalist Casey Wood, Webmaster Our Vision To be a valued member of the communities we serve and to be trusted as an honest, truthful and reliable source of news. w w w Our Mission To inform, entertain and provide a public forum for the discussion of events impacting the people of the Emery County area and to inform with news and features relevant to those who call the Castle Valley area home w w w Our Principles We will be ethical in all of our efforts to provide information to the public. We will be unbiased in our reporting and will report the facts as we see them and do our best to focus on the good news of the county, its people, history and way of life. We will be strong and active members of the community and assist in any way that we are able. We will strive to provide the best quality product possible to our readers and advertisers...always. We will verify the details of news we are reporting and if a mistake is made on our part we will correct it immediately. We will always listen to suggestions on how to do our job better. Editorial Submission Guidelines The Emery County Review welcomes and invites letters to the editor and guest opinion articles on public policy or current events. We welcome letters of thanks to individuals who have helped make our community a better place to live, work and play. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit all submissions for space constraints, clarity and errors in fact. Submissions must include author’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be published. Letter’s and opinion articles can be sent to jldavis@theemerycountyreview.com, mailed to The Emery County Review, P.O. Box 487, Orangeville, UT. 84537 or faxed to 435-748-2543. cause it’s the best thing they’ve heard in many weeks. Here’s one of several great passages from Bush: “At its most basic level, capitalism offers people the freedom to choose where they work and what they do … the dignity that comes with profiting from their talent and hard work. … The free-market system also provides the incentives that lead to prosperity -- the incentive to work, to innovate, to save and invest wisely, and to create jobs for others.” In other words, free-market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. During a gloomy period of financial crisis, recession, big-government rescues, and ailing banks and industrial companies, Bush has provided a strong visionary dose of big-picture economic prosperity and optimism that can lead the United States and the rest of the world out of their economic doldrums. Here’s another uplifting passage from Bush: “Free-market capitalism is far more than an economic theory. It is the engine of social mobility -- the highway to the American dream. And it is what transformed America from a rugged frontier to the greatest economic power in history -- a nation that gave the world the steamboat and the airplane, the computer and the CAT scan, the Internet and the iPod.” Capping all this off, Bush said: “The triumph of freemarket capitalism has been proven across time, geography, culture and faith. And it would be a terrible mistake to allow a few months of crisis to undermine 60 years of success.” That reference to 60 years harkens back to the original post-World War II economic-rebuilding conference held in Bretton Woods, N.H., in July 1944. At that historic meeting, the United States and Britain led 170 delegates from around the world into a new era of free markets, free trade and stable currencies. It was a conference of global coordination that broke down the isolationist and protectionist sentiments that upset the world order so badly during the prior 15 years. Ultimately, the free-market system forged at Bretton Woods, which was in no small way predicated on economic prosperity, led to a triumph of Western values over Soviet state socialism. And it was President Reagan -- along with his friend, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher -- who applied the final blow to the now-defunct Soviet system with his rejuvenation of free-market capitalism. So what George W. Bush seems to be saying is this: Do not discard that triumphal system just because we’ve had a rough year in the financial markets and the economy. In a few weeks, Barack Obama will inherit the mantle of the capitalist system. What will he do with this responsibility? That’s the question being asked everywhere. Since the election, and up until President Bush’s important G-20 speech, stock markets sold off nearly 15 percent. Investors want to know if economic rewards will be encouraged or penalized. Will trade remain open and free? Will we maintain competitive businesses that can compete worldwide? Or will we resort to the protection of ailing or failed businesses? Will the United States lurch toward the semi-socialism of Old Europe? Or will we stay with free-market capitalism? Will we expand the nanny-state economy? Or will we keep the door wide open to entrepreneurial spirit and gales of creative destruction? Investors want to know which way President-elect Obama is going to go. Might he reach back to the Democratic pro-growth supply-side policies of John F. Kennedy’s tax cuts, free trade and strong dollar? Will he opt for Bill Clinton’s free-trade and strong-dollar policies or even his capital-gains tax cut? Or will he fall back to the hopeless government tinkering of Jimmy Carter or the welfare-statism of Lyndon Johnson? I’m keeping an open mind on Obama during this postelection honeymoon period. After all, he stole the tax-cut issue from Sen. McCain during the election. And surely he knows the conservative red states that joined his campaign for change didn’t vote for a leftward lurch to socialism lite. Obama has a huge opportunity and an outsized responsibility to mend and revive the economy. It may be too much to ask, but perhaps he will give President Bush’s marvelous speech a close read. There is much wisdom there. And there is no iron-clad reason why a Democrat can’t adopt the economic-growth model that has worked so well and so long for this country. (Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate Inc.) |