Who is responsible for success?

Over the weekend, our president stated that if you are successful in America you have the government to thank. He said, "If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

Without the roads, bridges, teachers and other things provided by the government, people could not have achieved success in America.

I think these are some of the most asinine statements I've ever heard from a world leader. Comments like this are a slap in the face to the American Dream and reveal the president's naïve view that government, and not the hard work, talent and initiative of people, is the center of society and the economy. Obviously Obama has forgotten that there are many other nations in the world with roads, bridges, teachers and other things provided by the government that have not even come close to the achievement levels of the United States.

What those countries lack is the entrepreneurial spirit and the can-do attitude that allowed an explosion of talent and accomplishment that propelled America to the pinnacle of the world in record time. These qualities indicate that our America is an exceptional country, a concept that President Obama has grave difficulty grasping. It is time to celebrate our American exceptionalism. We need to facilitate the talents and spirit that make America the greatest and most powerful nation the world has ever known.

If we continue to denigrate America's accomplishments from the highest levels of government, the can-do spirit will be replaced by a mentality of complacency that will quickly manifest itself in the decline of a great nation. Clearly, this president needs to go back to school and take Economics 101 to realize that a successful economy does not run on government.

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