{"id":567,"date":"2012-09-12T21:33:14","date_gmt":"2012-09-13T01:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=567"},"modified":"2012-09-12T21:33:14","modified_gmt":"2012-09-13T01:33:14","slug":"the-philosophy-behind-obamas-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/09\/the-philosophy-behind-obamas-agenda.html","title":{"rendered":"The Philosophy Behind Obama’s Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"

While addressing the Democratic National Convention, First Lady Michelle Obama told audiences that, ultimately, her husband\u2019s ambitious agenda is not political, but personal.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end,\u201d she said, \u201cfor Barack, these issues aren\u2019t political\u2014they\u2019re personal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barack, Michelle continued, \u201cknows what it means when a family struggles.\u00a0 He knows what it means to want something more for your kids and grandkids. Barack knows the American Dream because he\u2019s lived it\u2014and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we\u2019re from, or what we look like, or who we love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Needless to say, there couldn\u2019t be a more glaring contrast between the Barack Obama who the First Lady described and the Barack Obama who recently informed America\u2019s business owners that they owe their success to others (\u201cYou didn\u2019t build that!\u201d). But if it is the real Obama for whom we are searching, we need look no further than the latter.<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s policies and utterances\u2014like those of his fellow partisans within the Democratic Party\u2014have an intellectual apparatus behind them that has been decades and decades in the making. Chief among its architects is John Rawls, a Harvard philosophy professor who achieved a well deserved reputation for being one of the twentieth century\u2019s most distinguished polemicists for the welfare state.<\/p>\n

Referring to their enterprises, Obama informed the country\u2019s entrepreneurs that \u201cyou didn\u2019t build that.\u201d\u00a0 The President didn\u2019t misspeak, as he now claims.\u00a0 Rather, he expressed a concept that is logically inseparable from the massive redistributive schemes that he favors and for which his intellectual counterparts like Rawls have intelligently\u2014even if wrongly\u2014argued for a long time.<\/p>\n

In his influential tome, A Theory of Justice, <\/em>Rawls asserts that whether a person is successful or not depends upon whether he has a surplus or deficit of \u201cnatural assets.\u201d\u00a0 It also depends upon whether he is afforded opportunities for cultivating those aptitudes and talents. Obviously, though, no one did anything to deserve<\/em> or earn <\/em>either his endowments or his opportunities.\u00a0 This explains why we tend to refer to both as \u201cgifts,\u201d say, or \u201cblessings.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the concept to which Obama spoke when he now infamously said that business owners didn\u2019t \u201cbuild\u201d their success.<\/p>\n

Now, if no one deserves his success, then, Rawls reasons, no one has a legitimate claim against the government\u2019s plan to \u201cspread it around,\u201d to paraphrase Obama\u2019s words to Joe the Plumber in 2008.\u00a0 Since no one did anything to earn or deserve his aptitudes and opportunities, a person\u2019s \u201cnatural assets\u201d must be treated as a common stock upon which all citizens have an equal right to draw.<\/p>\n

Translation: the government has the right to do with a person\u2019s fruits to confiscate and redistribute them.<\/p>\n

Rawls contends that individuals should indeed be at liberty to employ their talents and opportunities for their own purposes\u2014as long as doing so benefits \u201cthe least advantaged.\u201d\u00a0 This is only \u201cfair,\u201d Rawls explains, for just as no one deserves their success, no one deserves their failures.\u00a0 Both \u201cthe advantaged\u201d as well as \u201cthe disadvantaged\u201d are alike the products of factors beyond their control.<\/p>\n

And whatever is beyond the power of one\u2019s labors can\u2019t possibly be deserved.<\/p>\n

What this means, though, is that there are no limits to what the government can do with the fruits of a person\u2019s natural assets.\u00a0 It also means that there are no limits to what the government can do with a person\u2019s natural assets themselves.<\/p>\n

This is the vision of Obama, Rawls, and the left.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, for the rest of us, it is not supported by its own reasoning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rawls conflates that which is not <\/em>deserved with that which is undeserved. <\/em>\u00a0Think about it: just because you may not have a belief in X, doesn\u2019t mean that you disbelieve in X.\u00a0 Neither Aristotle nor Bill Maher believes in the divinity of Jesus. The difference between them is that Aristotle didn\u2019t believe because he had never heard of Jesus (who wasn\u2019t born until nearly 500 years after his death).\u00a0 Maher, on the other hand, knows about Jesus but rejects the notion of his deity.<\/p>\n

Similarly, a person who steals $500.00 is undeserving of it.\u00a0 But one who receives it as a gift is not.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t deserve the gift\u2014a deserved gift is a contradiction in terms. Yet he is not undeserving of it either.\u00a0 Moreover, at that point, it becomes his.\u00a0 <\/em>That is, he is then entitled to do with it as he wishes.<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s and Rawls\u2019 reasoning for the welfare state is flawed.\u00a0 Sadly, however, this will not stop them from trying to grow it ever further.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While addressing the Democratic National Convention, First Lady Michelle Obama told audiences that, ultimately, her husband\u2019s ambitious agenda is not political, but personal.\u00a0 \u201cIn the end,\u201d she said, \u201cfor Barack, these issues aren\u2019t political\u2014they\u2019re personal.\u201d Barack, Michelle continued, \u201cknows what it means when a family struggles.\u00a0 He knows what it means to want something more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Philosophy Behind Obama's Agenda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/09\/the-philosophy-behind-obamas-agenda.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Philosophy Behind Obama's Agenda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While addressing the Democratic National Convention, First Lady Michelle Obama told audiences that, ultimately, her husband\u2019s ambitious agenda is not political, but personal.\u00a0 \u201cIn the end,\u201d she said, \u201cfor Barack, these issues aren\u2019t political\u2014they\u2019re personal.\u201d Barack, Michelle continued, \u201cknows what it means when a family struggles.\u00a0 He knows what it means to want something more…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/09\/the-philosophy-behind-obamas-agenda.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-13T01:33:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jack Kerwick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Philosophy Behind Obama's Agenda","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/09\/the-philosophy-behind-obamas-agenda.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Philosophy Behind Obama's Agenda","og_description":"While addressing the Democratic National Convention, First Lady Michelle Obama told audiences that, ultimately, her husband\u2019s ambitious agenda is not political, but personal.\u00a0 \u201cIn the end,\u201d she said, \u201cfor Barack, these issues aren\u2019t political\u2014they\u2019re personal.\u201d Barack, Michelle continued, \u201cknows what it means when a family struggles.\u00a0 He knows what it means to want something more…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/09\/the-philosophy-behind-obamas-agenda.html","og_site_name":"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture","article_published_time":"2012-09-13T01:33:14+00:00","author":"Jack Kerwick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/09\/the-philosophy-behind-obamas-agenda.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/09\/the-philosophy-behind-obamas-agenda.html","name":"The Philosophy Behind Obama's Agenda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-13T01:33:14+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-13T01:33:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/6832222998cc14717ded1849531201c5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/09\/the-philosophy-behind-obamas-agenda.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/09\/the-philosophy-behind-obamas-agenda.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/09\/the-philosophy-behind-obamas-agenda.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Philosophy Behind Obama’s Agenda"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/","name":"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Jack Kerwick","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/6832222998cc14717ded1849531201c5","name":"Jack Kerwick","description":"I have a Ph.D. in philosophy from Temple University, a master's degree in philosophy from Baylor University, and a bachelor's degree in philosophy and religious studies from Wingate University. I teach philosophy at several colleges in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania areas.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jackkerwick.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/author\/jkerwick"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/399"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":568,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions\/568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}