OPINION:
I just returned from a “working vacation” at my Park City, Utah, vacation home. As I was sitting on the plane reading the newspaper, I noticed that President Obama’s new 2013 budget is out, and it’s chock full of $1.5 trillion in tax increases on the wealthy. Some people never learn.
Suddenly, I realized that just about everything I do in Park City makes Mr. Obama and his leftist cabal angry. My vacation experience is proof positive that the president understands nothing about economics or creating jobs.
First, Mr. Obama would be angry to hear I own a vacation home in a beautiful place like Park City. I can hear Mr. Obama now: “What right does Wayne Root have to possess such wealth while there are so many poor among us?”
A couple thousand years ago, Jesus said, “The poor will always be among us.” Because of liberals like Mr. Obama, nothing has changed. Rather than creating an environment to encourage ambition, personal growth and attempts at higher education or learning a valuable trade, Mr. Obama gives the poor just enough handouts and entitlements to kill their desire and keep them poor, dependent on government and voting Democratic.
I am sure Mr. Obama would be angry to hear I think I earned my vacation home. He is much more familiar and comfortable with people (generally his voters) getting something for nothing: welfare, food stamps, tax credits, housing allowances, stimulus, bailouts, school meals, health care, education, cellphone minutes. Personal responsibility and earning anything without government help are clearly foreign concepts to our president.
In the real world, it often takes 20 years (or longer) to achieve “overnight success.” I dreamed about, planned and worked like a dog for more than 20 years, risking my own money on a dozen different businesses, to earn the down payment on that vacation home.
I’m sure Mr. Obama also gets angry at the mere mention of my “working vacation.” Since he has never run a business, he would never understand this concept. He works for government, where the idea of a “working vacation” is a labor violation. But as a business owner, my business responsibilities don’t stop just because I’m away. On a typical vacation day, I work about 10 to 12 hours, leaving enough time for 3 hours of skiing. That’s the only difference between my normal 16-hour workdays at home and my “vacations.” But I’m not unique or special. Many business owners have a similar schedule.
Mr. Obama loves to paint business owners as “greedy.” He gets angry when we talk about the jobs we create with our 16-hour workdays, working vacations and incredible financial risks taken with our own money.
People like me don’t rely on government. We rely on ourselves. Government only gets in the way and steals our money, calling it “income redistribution.” But we just lower our heads and work even harder. Then, after years of hard work, one day we buy a vacation home. Does Mr. Obama realize this is the economic engine of America?
Our ambition, earning and spending are good for everyone. Any money you steal from us in the way of higher taxes prevents us from ever saving enough money to buy our dream vacation homes. This damages the economy and kills jobs.
Here is a lesson in economics for Mr. Obama.
When I bought my vacation home, I enriched the employees of the realtor, the developer, the furniture manufacturer and the bank that provided the mortgage. The building where my Park City condo is located now employs about 50 people, all of whom I’m sure appreciate the jobs created by me and fellow vacation homeowners.
On each trip, I enrich the employees of airlines, restaurants, the ski mountain and various retail stores.
Of course, the government takes its cut, too. There are property taxes and sales taxes on everything I buy while on vacation that pay for roads, teachers, and all those government employees’ salaries and pensions. I pay for all those but don’t use any of them. I don’t live in Utah, but I’ll bet all those Utah teachers and government employees are glad I own that vacation home.
I’m sure Mr. Obama is also angry when I buy skis and ski clothing. He thinks I should use that money to pay higher taxes. I’ll bet the employees of the ski store and the ski manufacturer disagree.
I’m sure that driving around Park City in my Cadillac Escalade makes Mr. Obama angry, too. But I’ll lay you odds that GM and their employees disagree. The employees of gas stations and oil companies are also happy. So are the government employees who get paid from the sales and gas taxes I spend on this luxury SUV.
The reality is that the ambition, dreams, hard work and spending of small business owners like me creates jobs by the millions.
Lastly, I’ll bet Mr. Obama would be angry to learn I skied down the mountains of Park City at 65.8 mph. Liberals are offended and aghast if cars speed at more than 65 mph. Nanny-state politicians such as Mr. Obama would blow a gasket to hear that a person skis at more than 65 mph.
Mr. Obama, this is called freedom. Please understand we are a nation of rugged individualists, living in a free country, with free will. I’ll spend the money I earn any way I want, and ski at any speed I want.
God Bless America.
Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee and is author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution With God, Guns, Gold, Gambling & Tax Cuts” (Wiley, 2009). He writes online at RootForAmerica.com.
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