Obama, Out of Touch with America and its Values

By Tom Rhodes, 6/13/2012

There is a American Middle Class value that Obama and liberals don't understand. It is fundamental idea of the middle class which those on the left have total contempt. The lack of understanding, and total contempt for the financial foundation of the middle class explains exactly why Obama and his administration is completely out of touch with the vast majority of Americans, the middle class; This is a libertarian value can best be summed up in the simple advice every middle class kid received from our parents, grandparents, etc. "Don't spend more than you earn, and always try to save some of what you earn." This is the entire basis and totally sums up Dave Ramsey and the empire he's created by simply offering this sage old advice over and over again.

Dave Ramsey, is a modern day version of Ben Franklin, and a purveyor of traditional middle class values. Virtually all his advice can be found in the writings of Franklin. What advice he gives, and what he writes is a rehash of Ben Franklin's The Way To Wealth, and is still viable today.

Ben Franklin believed that success was a consequent of hard work, diligence, and study. A self-made man, his own beginnings were unassuming, but he advanced through entrepreneurship and lifelong learning. He was always honest about who he was and how he came by his success. Like Obama, Ben Franklin started with humble beginnings and rose to greatness in American Politics. Unlike Obama his wisdom as withstood the test of time. The American middle class, who mostly lives in the suburbs not cities, has seen the failure of urban communitarian thinking and is going back to this simple advice that can be dated back to Ben Franklin and before. Over the past few years while the debt of our government has been exponentially climbing, the total private debt of the people has been declining. In effect the people are ignoring Obama, and following the advice of Dave Ramsey which is the advice of Ben Franklin, or grandparents and parents.

Ben Franklin said all of the below; these quotes reflect the Values of most Americans, and specifically the middle class; Obama's actions and words do not reflect the Values of most Americans and clearly are contrary to the wisdom of Ben Franklin:

"The second vice is lying, the first is running in debt"

"He that lives upon hope will die fasting"

"A penny saved is a penny earned"

"If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher's stone"

"If you would know the value of money, go try to borrow some; for he that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing"

"An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest"

"Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt"

"When you run in debt; you give to another power over your liberty"

"Disdain the chain, preserve your freedom; and maintain your independency: be industrious and free; be frugal and free"

"Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise"

"Diligence is the mother of good luck"

"God helps them that help themselves"

"Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while the used key is always bright"

"Lost time is never found again"

"He that riseth late, must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night"

"Drive thy business, let not that drive thee"

"Industry need not wish"

"There are no gains, without pains"

"Plough deep, while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to keep"

"Have you somewhat to do tomorrow, do it today"

"Be ashamed to catch yourself idle"

"At the working man's house hunger looks in, but dares not enter"

"For industry pays debts, while despair encreaseth them"

"By diligence and patience the mouse ate in two the cable"

"Little strokes fell great oaks"

"Employ thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure"

"A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. Do you imagine that sloth will afford you more comfort than labor?"

"Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease."

"Industry gives comfort, and plenty, and respect: fly pleasures, and they'll follow you"

"Keep the shop, and thy shop will keep thee"

"He that by the plough would thrive, Himself must either hold or drive."

"Want of care does us more damage than want of knowledge"

"In the affairs of this world men are saved not by faith, but by the want of it"

"Learning is to the studious, and riches to the careful, as well as power to the bold, and Heaven to the virtuous"

"Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship"

"Buy what thou hast no need of, and before long thou shalt sell thy necessaries"

"Many estates are spent in the getting, Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting, And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting."

"Think of saving as well as of getting: the Indies have not made Spain rich, because her outgoes are greater than her incomes"

"Women and wine, game and deceit, Make the wealth small, and the wants great."

"Wise men learn by others' harms, fools scarcely by their own"

"A ploughman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees"

"When the well's dry, they know the worth of water"

"Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy"

"But what madness must it be to run in debt for these superfluities!"

"The borrower is a slave to the lender, and the debtor to the creditor"

This one is worth repeating, as it describes the current occupier of the White House

"The second vice is lying, the first is running in debt"


Since our government and we as a nation quit following these values and advice; it now takes $80 to buy what a single dollar used to buy; we are being dictated what products and services we must purchase; we are being told that the government should determine if you've made enough money; and our children will not have a better life than we did. The people of this country are again recognizing that the sage old advice we choose to ignore had value, and is the path to wealth and/or happiness. In Wisconsin, despite the best efforts of the left, Scott Walker showed that following Franklin's advice can and will work. The people of Wisconsin no longer have a budget in debt, have more not less employment, and have shown that even in a Democrat stronghold, logic, reason, and the self-evident truth of what Franklin preached are what Americans want. It is also a clear indication that Obama is totally out of touch with America and its values.