Tuesday, July 17, 2012

WERE IT NOT FOR THE GOVERNMENT...



Until President Obama explained it to an audience in Roanoke, Virginia last Friday, I did not understand how I managed to succeed in whatever small way I have in life.  Why, the fog of these last six-plus decades seemed to magically lift when Mr. O announced it was the government that was responsible for my getting an education.  After all, he insisted to a highly enthused audience, where would any of us be without the "infrastructure" provided by government.
You know...INFRASTRUCTURE..like paved roads and sidewalks and such.
Gee!!! I hadn't thought of that particular highway to success.
Afterall, when I thought about it, it was government which built the sidewalks that made it possible for me to often walk the 2.5-miles to the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company building in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma when I didn't have 15-cents for bus fare; then work eight hours a day as a long distance operator to pay my tuition to the University of Tulsa at a starting salary of $47.50 per week. I suppose that the government-provided "INFRASTRUCTURE" did beat trudging through a field or along an unpaved road.
Please accept my apologies government for being so remiss all these years in not realizing it is "INFRASTRUCTURE" which paves the way to success.
However, there is one small problem with your premise Mr. O...I attended Catholic schools for elementary and high school.  In the 1950's, no government money went to parochial schools. The tuition paid by parents for their children to attend a parochial school was not tax deductible. And still isn't. Nor did it reduce the fair share those same parents paid in property and other local and state taxes to fund public schools. Such taxes are still paid today by parents of parochial school students.
Also, the university I attended...well, last time I checked the University of Tulsa was, and remains, a "private institution."
Gee!!! Mr.O...now I'm growing a bit more puzzled over how "INFRASTRUCTURE" had anything to do with my elementary and secondary education. Probably more credit is due those Sunday worshippers who faithfully put a portion of their paycheck in the collection basket each week.
As for government "INFRASTRUCTURE" providing for my higher education?  More puzzlement, Mr. O!!! 
The University of Tulsa was much more beholden to some of those evil, villainous, depraved and greedy oilmen like the legendary Robert McFarlin and Bill Skelly than any government "INFRASTRUCTURE."  
And I would presume, with its 800-million-plus in endowments, the university does not have to depend on government to provide a quality education to its students today.
So much, Mr. O, for your Keynesian theory of the path to success. 

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