Obama's so-called "Succeeding"

I was originally going to make this a reply to another post, but I feel like this deserves its own topic. A lot of people on the right, the middle, and the left are having reactions to Rush's comment on wanting the President to not succeed, or fail.

I wish people would simply understand that by saying they hope Obama does not succeed does not mean that they hope the country will not succeed. If Obama's intention is to take an obscene amount from those who earn and give to those who don't, then I do not want him to succeed. If he intends to over-empower union labor and take power away from those company owners who actually create the jobs, then I do not want him to succeed. If his intention is to turn the United States into a carbon copy of a European nation in which the populous has little incentive to work harder for extra pay, therefore slowing the economy, then I hope he does not succeed. Obama succeeding does not mean that the country cannot succeed. If it were that simple, we would do away with the checks and balances system we have and ordain him the nation's first king so as to not hold up his change train to prosperity.

I am sure many already felt this way, but I am not really reading this anywhere, so I felt like typing it up for all to read.

There is a lot of negativity about this country, as if we are past our prime. Unfortunately, a lot of this sentiment is coming from our government. The public is being told that we are down in the dumps, that we are going to be surpassed by other nations soon, and the dumb American population can do nothing about it. The bad news is that if we believe that horse shit, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we decide to rise up from our slump however, and continue to strive each day in our daily activity, working as hard as we can, rather than as hard as we have to to meet the bare minimum, we as a country can attain the greatness we have come to be associated with. The USA is a shining beacon of freedom where people from other countries risk life and limb to get to, because they have a chance at prosperity and a better life. They do not come here with a sense of entitlement, rather, they come with a desire to work hard and make something of themselves.

Entitlement, in a nutshell, is what is killing this country. People go to public schools (and private ones) learning how FDR got us out of the depression with the New Deal, creating great things like social security. Now people feel that just because they are alive they should be entitled to a safe and secure retirement, not to mention unlimited health care, just for existing. It doesn't work like that. You earn your keep and you should be able to keep what you earn. That is why this country was on top for so long. Benjamin Franklin once said "people willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both." I still believe a good education should be available to those who cannot afford it because an educated population is an asset to every individual. Bare-minimum immediate life saving health care should be available regardless of ability to pay in the name if humanity. But outside of that, how can one say we should guarantee a certain quality of life for retirement, or top of the line health care? Those things are limited resources like cars and TVs. Not everyone gets a new Benz because all they can afford is a '02 Kia. The luxury items of today will become the standard options of tomorrow, mostly because the rich funded those things in their infancy. Most new cars have CD players and power windows--those were limited to top of the line models when they first came out. The same principle holds with medical care and anything else.

Obama, I think, is a good human being and has honest intentions, but they are misguided ones. The government cannot create wealth, only take from those who do. If he fails the in the ventures I mentioned above, then unions will be kept in check, more jobs will be created and investments made because of decreased risk through lower corporate and capital gains taxes, and incentive to work those extra hours each week without fear of getting into a higher tax bracket will cause an increase in the GDP.

Every decade has it's challenges, and we will overcome this one as well.