Is Lou Holtz Right about the Democratic party?

2015-12-29T14:04:14-05:00

Does Lou Holtz have it right?

Please read his speech before you answer the survey.

The Democrats are right, there are two Americas. The America that works and the America that doesn’t. The America that contributes and the America that doesn’t. It’s not the haves and the have nots, it’s the dos and the don’ts. Some people do their duty as Americans, obey the law, support themselves, contribute to society and others don’t. That’s the divide in America .

It’s not about income inequality, it’s about civic irresponsibility. It’s about a political party that preaches hatred, greed and victimization in order to win elective office. It’s about a political party that loves power more than it loves its country.

That’s not invective, that’s truth, and it’s about time someone said it.

The politics of envy was on proud display a couple weeks ago when President Obama pledged the rest of his term to fighting “income inequality.” He noted that some people make more than other people, that some people have higher incomes than others, and he says that’s not just. That is the rationale of thievery.

The other guy has it, you want it, Obama will take it for you. Vote Democrat. That is the philosophy that produced Detroit.

It is the electoral philosophy that is destroying America. It conceals a fundamental deviation from American values and common sense because it ends up not benefiting the people who support it, but a betrayal.

The Democrats have not empowered their followers, they have enslaved them in a culture of dependence and entitlement, of victim-hood and anger instead of ability and hope. The president’s premise – that you reduce income inequality by debasing the successful–seeks to deny the successful the consequences of their choices and spare the unsuccessful the consequences of their choices. Because, by and large, income variations in society are a result of different choices leading to different consequences.

Those who choose wisely and responsibly have a far greater likelihood of success, while those who choose foolishly and irresponsibly have a far greater likelihood of failure.

Success and failure usually manifest themselves in personal and family income. You choose to drop out of high school or to skip college – and you are apt to have a different outcome than someone who gets a diploma and pushes on with purposeful education.

You have your children out of wedlock and life is apt to take one course; you have them within a marriage and life is apt to take another course. Most often in life our destination is determined by the course we take.

My doctor, for example, makes far more than I do. There is significant income inequality between us. Our lives have had an inequality of outcome, but, our lives also have had an in equality of effort. While my doctor went to college and then devoted his young adulthood to medical school and residency, I got a job in a restaurant. He made a choice, I made a choice, and our choices led us to different outcomes. His outcome pays a lot better than mine. Does that mean he cheated and Barack Obama needs to take away his wealth? No, it means we are both free men in a free society where free choices lead to different outcomes.

It is not inequality Barack Obama intends to take away, it is freedom. The freedom to succeed, and the freedom to fail. There is no true option for success if there is no true option for failure. The pursuit of happiness means a whole lot less when you face the punitive hand of government if your pursuit brings you more happiness than the other guy. Even if the other guy sat on his arse and did nothing. Even if the other guy made a lifetime’s worth of asinine and short sighted decisions.

Barack Obama and the Democrats preach equality of outcome as a right, while completely ignoring inequality of effort.

The simple Law of the Harvest – as ye sow, so shall ye reap – is sometimes applied as, “The harder you work, the more you get.”

Obama would turn that upside down. Those who achieve are to be punished as enemies of society and those who fail are to be rewarded as wards of society. Entitlement will replace effort as the key to upward mobility in American society if Barack Obama gets his way. He seeks a lowest common denominator society in which the government besieges the successful and productive to foster equality through mediocrity. He and his party speak of two Americas, and their grip on power is based on using the votes of one to sap the productivity of the other. America is not divided by the differences in our outcomes, it is divided by the differences in our efforts.

It is a false philosophy to say one man’s success comes about unavoidably as the result of another man’s victimization.

What Obama offered was not a solution, but a separatism. He fomented division and strife, pitted one set of Americans against another for his own political benefit. That’s what socialists offer. Marxist class warfare wrapped up with a bow. Two Americas, coming closer each day to proving the truth to Lincoln’s maxim that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

“Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.”

Lou Holtz

Leo “Lou” Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is a retired American football coach, and active sportscaster, author, and motivational speaker.

Response by PO2 Mark Saffell made Dec 29 at 2015 2:06 PM

2015-12-29T14:06:30-05:00

Yes he is correct. sad to say

Response by SFC Stephen King made Dec 29 at 2015 2:11 PM

2015-12-29T14:11:49-05:00

Bob Lonsberry says he wrote this on his website link below:

On his website, the entire essay of Dec. 9, 2013, is posted Lonsberry confirmed that he is the author of “Two Americas,” not Lou Holtz.

http://www.lonsberry.com/writings.cfm?story=3651

bob lonsberry dot com

The America that works, and the America that doesn’t. The America that contributes, and the America that doesn’t.

Response by SFC Stephen King made Dec 29 at 2015 2:12 PM

2015-12-29T14:12:27-05:00

http://jacksonville.com/reason/fact-check/2015-01-20/story/fact-check-former-football-coach-didnt-write-about-two-americas

Fact Check: Former football coach didn't write about 'two Americas'

Former football coach and current sports personality Lou Holtz is credited as saying that there are "two Americas: the America that works and the America that doesn't, the America that contributes and the America that doesn't.

Response by Capt Walter Miller made Dec 29 at 2015 2:12 PM

2015-12-29T14:12:35-05:00

I didn't know Lou Holtz was such a crazed nut job.

I WAS RIGHT! There is a crazed nut job involved in this but it isn't Lou Holtz.

Walt

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 29 at 2015 2:13 PM

2015-12-29T14:13:32-05:00

Good article. It is sad to see what is happening to America.

Response by Capt Walter Miller made Dec 29 at 2015 2:14 PM

2015-12-29T14:14:22-05:00

This is just a rant by Holtz - or by someone defaming Holtz.

"Barack Obama and the Democrats preach equality of outcome as a right, while completely ignoring inequality of effort."

Can anyone source this statement back to something the Democrats actually say?

Walt

Response by Capt Walter Miller made Dec 29 at 2015 2:23 PM

2015-12-29T14:23:04-05:00

Is this the kind of program passed by the Democrats that ya'll don't like:

"The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (P.L. 78-346, 58 Stat. 284m), known informally as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). Benefits included low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business, cash payments of tuition and living expenses to attend university, high school or vocational education, as well as one year of unemployment compensation. It was available to every veteran who had been on active duty during the war years for at least one-hundred twenty days and had not been dishonorably discharged; combat was not required.[1] By 1956, roughly 2.2 million veterans had used the G.I. Bill education benefits in order to attend colleges or universities, and an additional 5.6 million used these benefits for some kind of training program.[2]

Historians and economists judge the G.I. Bill a major political and economic success—especially in contrast to the treatments of World War I veterans—and a major contribution to America's stock of human capital that sped long-term economic growth.[3][4][5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Bill

G.I. Bill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (P.L. 78-346, 58 Stat. 284m), known informally as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). Benefits included low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business, cash payments of tuition and living expenses to attend university, high school or vocational education, as well as one year of unemployment...

Response by Col Joseph Lenertz made Dec 29 at 2015 2:37 PM

2015-12-29T14:37:06-05:00

Lonsberry wrote the speech, but yes, he has it mostly right. I would say Republicans also bear some blame on this topic, so I would not have placed the burden only on Democrats. In the end, we do not need more disincentives to education and hard work, and more incentives to leave the labor force. Wealth redistribution does both. Income inequality is outcome-focused without considering what hard work those outcomes require. It attempts to paint all those with more as undeserving of what they have.

Response by LTC Kevin B. made Dec 29 at 2015 2:57 PM

2015-12-29T14:57:13-05:00

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 29 at 2015 3:08 PM

2015-12-29T15:08:41-05:00

While what he stated is truth, if only it is the whole truth. It only shown one side of the coin, while one side is trying to enslave its citizen through entitlements and personal irresponsibility, the other side is partnering with big business and making sure the small one don't threaten the big one, or feeding the big business with citizens' money.While both are actually doing the same thing, just to different "targeted" players. They are the same ... ... Stop believe in the parties ....

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Dec 29 at 2015 3:11 PM

2015-12-29T15:11:12-05:00

Regardless of who wrote this essay or presented it as a speech, it is fundamentally correct. There are at least two Americas and the Democrats are more inclined to value their party over and above their nation. However, to be fair, the same can be said of the other parties. That's the trouble with parties.

Again, to be fair, the Democrats are structured to abuse power more flagrantly. Look for example at the subject of "brokered conventions". It's much in the news these days because it appears that the GOP leadership is preparing for a brokered convention to defeat Donald Trump whom they fear as a candidate. Yes, the GOP hasn't had a brokered convention with its candidate selected in a smoke-filled backroom deal in a long time. Generally, they are selected democratically by the general membership of the party. (And in the interest of full disclosure I have often complained that they have chosen unwisely and wished for a return to brokered conventions of yesteryear.) However, in looking at the DNC conventions, I lose heart. Everyone of their conventions is brokered and none of them have produced any good candidates. The reason the Democrats end up selecting their candidates in smoke-filled backrooms is because not all delegates to their conventions are equal. Yes, there are those selected democratically by the membership at large. But the more "powerful" delegates represent special interests such as unions and their votes carry more weight than common delegates. Such a system is rife with potential for abuse.

Response by CW2 Ernest Krutzsch made Dec 29 at 2015 3:25 PM

2015-12-29T15:25:22-05:00

If you don't believe that, just read General Powell's book "My American Journey" We owe it to help those who are unfortunate and cannot help themselves, we owe nothing to the lazy or unmotivated

Response by CW3 Jim Norris made Dec 29 at 2015 4:28 PM

2015-12-29T16:28:05-05:00

Lou's is spot on. Those who would sacrifice freedom for safety, will be neither safe nor free.

Response by Sgt Carol Grisham made Dec 29 at 2015 5:55 PM

2015-12-29T17:55:40-05:00

Honestly! I am so tired of all the whining! "The Democrats do this!" "The Republicans do that!" Isn't it about time to require that politicians (and all of the similarly inclined populace) grow up and debate ACTUAL TOPICS in a CIVIL manner. Stop the finger-pointing, fear-mongering and present the electorate with real-world, achievable answers for the important issues. Get off your moralistic soapboxes, get down in the trenches and produce viable results that improve things!

Response by PO3 Brad Phlipot made Dec 29 at 2015 7:19 PM

2015-12-29T19:19:23-05:00

NOTHING IS FREE! Every time I see on the those free healthcare commercials I just want to vomit

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 29 at 2015 8:20 PM

2015-12-29T20:20:04-05:00

It's amazing to me how easily some here shrug off the fact that this entire topic is based on lies. First, the lie that Lou Holtz said this when he didn't. Why is that important? Because Holtz is a nationally known and generally respected figure. So attaching his name to something carries weight and gravitas that the name of the actual author doesnt. IOW, if you cant get traction for your propaganda piece of disinformation--no problem. Say someone respected said all that BS instead of the truth.

The other big lie is the content itself. It states things as President Obama's position that are completely false. If you don't believe that, take a look at the transcript of the speech this Lonsberry guy is referencing. It's the speech the president gave in December 2013 about income inequality. Here's a link to the text:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/12/04/remarks-president-economic-mobility

Read that, and you will easily see that the President did not say the things refered to in this post. Far from it. So in essence, this post is a post full of lies, attributed to someone who never said it. It is lies upon lies.

I don't point this out because of any personal political leanings one way or another. As a retired PSYOPer, I have great interest in the way the internet has allowed the use of mis and disinformation to skyrocket. Anyone can say anything, and with a few clicks and some search engine optimization, make something created out of thin air have all the trappings of a valid news report. And since people now can choose to get their "information" soley from sources tailored to their political beliefs, the result, IMO is the paradox that in the "information age" we may have the greatest number of ill- and misinformed people ever. And I believe the ultimate consequence of that will be terrible for our nation.

It's just a shame that so many political posts and discussions no longer revolve around debating the pros and cons of particular policies, but rather have devolved into having to fight just to establish the truth.

Remarks by the President on Economic Mobility

THEARC Washington, D.C. 11:31 A.M. EST

Response by SSG Michael Hartsfield made Dec 29 at 2015 10:17 PM

2015-12-29T22:17:44-05:00

Ummm. NO! All this does is feed into everyone's preconceived notions and prejudices about the Democratic Party and their members. Also, this is nothing more than a hatch job opinion told by a recognized celebrity that uses the same old and tired anecdotes FoxNews has been using for years.

Response by SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT made Dec 30 at 2015 8:04 AM

2015-12-30T08:04:23-05:00

I think this is valid for everyone regardless of party affiliation

Response by MSgt Michelle Mondia made Dec 30 at 2015 10:58 AM

2015-12-30T10:58:21-05:00

Now that I've read what this Sportscaster has to say why should I care? Another rich white male blaming the lower middle class, shocker! How are the 1% performing a civic duty? The über wealthy need to promote this Ayn Rand myth of their importance by encoraging the working class to blame all its problems on the poor while they manipulate, exploit and enslave the world. Wake up...any rich kids joining the military? Any Lt Koch, TSgt Rockafeller, Col Gates, Pft Buffetts?