The social contract is for suckers

Romney has been stepping up his attacks on Obama lately. One of his main lines seems to be when Obama said "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen."
Poor phrasing to be sure, but the idea is clear - we rely on society to provide an environment where our ideas and innovations may grow.

Freepers, though, aren't really into engaging that premise. Instead, they let loose on some of the most ridiculous strawmen I've ever seen in all my years of bemused observation:

raccoonnookkeeper hates highways and dams and astronauts, among other things:

What a bloated egotistical idea of what government ought to be about.

Government is there to keep a minimum of order and defend the country. That’s it. Businesses and people do very well when government is competent at that.

The nanny is nagging at us about how much she’s needed. Go away nanny.

nolongerademocrat has his own theory of Obama's motivations:

I think he’s back on blow. Have you seen his eyes lately? He’s riding the crazy train.

The Working Man seems to think Obama said government alone is responsible for people's success:

If Government is responsible for all success in this country then I guess they are also responsible for all failures too.

These people and Obama in particular really are in need of some padded room time. I’ve haven’t seen such a disconnect from reality in a very long time. At least I hadn’t prior to this crew getting into office with their myriad hangers-on.

Gabrial doesn't bother with willful misinterpretation, and just makes up what Obama meant to say:

Obama says...
Your success is on the back of others...

Your success is not you own...

Your success is at the expense of others...

Your success has disadvantaged others...

FUBO

Former Proud Canadian also adds on but a few paragraphs, and presto! Obama's vote is fascist:

Failure is caused by greedy businessmen, probably like you. Those unwilling to submit, I mean unwilling to work for the common good, yeah, that's it.

Perhaps a few years at a re-education camp are in your future.

ILS21R thinks this was an example of Obama trying to destroy America:

Obama isn’t even trying to win anymore. And his futile “scorched earth” campaign will be forgotten by this time next year.

Mouton knows what time it is!

The Kenyan is just plain nuts. Yup, 25 amendment time.

justa-hairyape imagines all the people living life in peace:

Lets see, last century government gave the world the marvelous inventions of -World War (two of them) -Nuclear Weapons (two whole cities destroyed) -Cold War (threatened the entire planet with destruction) So far this century government has done the following -Run up the most massive debt in world history (US) -Three nuclear reactor meltdowns (Japan would not have reactors without government involvement) Would the planet be better off without the obvious corrupt evil of human governance ? And BTW, Emperor Zero. Government is doing everything it can to destroy my small business.

ottbmare thinks the government woulda ruined the internet if they had the chance:

If we had continued to wait for government to roll it out, we’d all still be on dialup AOL 2.0 and consider ourselves lucky. ONLY competition and the promise of some payoff stirs humans to strive and innovate.

LtKerst knows you can't be worth anything unless you make a profit!

What an absurd statement..He thinks that Govt is to be credited for a well run Business’s Success??!!

What Branch of Govt under Obama’s controll has Made a profit??? The Last Govt Outlet to run in the Black was the US Post Office and that was years ago the Govt is a Giant Leach on the Taxpayers Wallet...

What a Lying Blowhard this Commie Rats IS!!!!

txrefugee knows Obama's attitude is an acounta being black:

He’s always been given everything because he threatens people. He is Affirmative Action run amok.

sgfan1212 also manages to find evidence of racism:

Because he never acomplished anything on his own initiative, he can’t conceive of anyone starting a business on his own and making a success. Everything Obama has accomplished has been with the help of the white man. Wm Ayers, George Soros to name two. Elite schools gave him a break and let him in even though he wasn’t qualified. Affirmative action got us Obama. I think it’s time to reassess affirmative action. We have made a horrible mistake. A color blind society that MLK envisioned has been replaced and Obama was elected precisely because he was black and the white libs wanted to prove they weren’t prejudiced. Now we have the most radical president in our nation’s history.

hcmama is pretty sure blackness is evidence of stupidity:

This is his pathetic effort to rationalize the fact that he and his beard of a spouse have had the way paved for them by government programs that handicap the success of others. He and THe First Beard have jumped over others that were imminently more qualified. I would love to see their SAT scores and transcripts. I know they suck.

RasterMaster knows all Obama voters want is crack and welfare:

The DUmbasses who voted for him want a future where they can lay around smokin’ crack all day and the only time they get off the couch is to get their welfare check (Obama money) from the mailbox.

MuttTheHoople thinks government contractors mean the government is useless:

Actually, Gubmint created nothing. Whether it be weapons, rockets, internet, whatever, they contracted out to PRIVATE companies to develop what the Government wanted....then, they chose (whether honestly or corruptly is another matter). It was a small car-maker who developed the Jeep in 90 days before World War II. It was a luxury boat maker named Higgins in New Orleans who developed the Higgins Boats. It was private initiative that led to all the modern conveniences we rely upon today.

bray blames the government when things go bad, but I guess doesn't use roads or electricity:

I lost everything in the Obama Meltdown and have worked 10-16 hours a day since then and thanks be to God have rebuilt it better than it was.

I did it in spite of this nimrod.

Pray for America

cableguymn Credits God with all:

No Barry you eff’n moron.. You where not that one that gave me the gift of being able to fix computers. You where not the one that woke me up at 2 in the morning with a web address I had never heard of.. You where not the one that dropped a perfect working van in my lap for the 575 bucks I had to spend so I could go to work.. You’re not the one there, with me, guiding me through the jobs..

Yaelle's dad went to UCLA by himself. Yep, no government involvement in UCLA!

Trying to figure how the government made my father the success that he was. The only credit the government gets is to allow my father to become a citizen from his Displaced Person passport less status as a Holocaust survivor.

It was my dad who saw the kids going to UCLA and said, I want that too. And it was my dad, no government program, who went out and got three jobs to pay for college. He studied hard, helped coach the cricket team, went to med school, got his licenses, and hung out his own medical shingle. Where is the government in all this?

driftless2 actually kinda gets Obama's thesis!

The way socialists see things, nobody ever did anything for themselves. Which is technically true. Unless you live in the wilderness of course. But using their devious logic, since people who live in societies rely on others, whatever you own belongs to everybody else. So if you worked hard, saved, invested, and found yourself after a long period of deferred gratification, with a million bucks or so, you really don’t own it. Because you couldn’t have done it without the help of other people. So let Big Government take care of that “unearned” dough you accumulated...we’ll redistribute it (Obama’s own words) to the right people...you awful capitalist pig you.

"whatever you own belongs to everybody else." Yep, this is what Obama said.

YankeeReb also shows glimmers of understanding, though he does mix up necessary with sufficient.

You couldn't create a business and get rich without government infrastructure, without workers to hire without the military protecting you ---> therefore all your success is a product of the collective and none of it belongs to you.

There's one serious flaw in this argument. How come, if we all have the "blessings" of government, ...we all have roads, we all live among other people we can hire as workers, the military protects everyone etc. , why then isn't EVERYONE rich?

freeangel, though, typifies most Freepers who don't bother with the thinking when Obama speaks:

You have to hate everything the LIAR in chief has to say.