Commentary on "State of the Union Address"

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans:

We are fifteen years into this new century. Fifteen years that dawned with terror touching our shores; that unfolded with a new generation fighting two long and costly wars; that saw a vicious recession spread across our nation and the world. It has been, and still is, a hard time for many.

But tonight, we turn the page.

Tonight, after a breakthrough year for America, our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. Our unemployment rate is now lower than it was before the financial crisis. More of our kids are graduating than ever before; more of our people are insured than ever before; we are as free from the grip of foreign oil as we've been in almost 30 years. (True, although the prices have dropped, which could hurt our independence in that field)

Tonight, for the first time since 9/11, our combat mission in Afghanistan is over. Six years ago, nearly 180,000 American troops served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, fewer than 15,000 remain. And we salute the courage and sacrifice of every man and woman in this 9/11 Generation who has served to keep us safe. We are humbled and grateful for your service.

America, for all that we've endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this:

The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.

At this moment -- with a growing economy, shrinking deficits, bustling industry, and booming energy production -- we have risen from recession freer to write our own future than any other nation on Earth. It's now up to us to choose who we want to be over the next fifteen years, and for decades to come.

Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and chances for everyone who makes the effort?

Will we approach the world fearful and reactive, dragged into costly conflicts that strain our military and set back our standing? Or will we lead wisely, using all elements of our power to defeat new threats and protect our planet?

Will we allow ourselves to be sorted into factions and turned against one another -- or will we recapture the sense of common purpose that has always propelled America forward?

In two weeks, I will send this Congress a budget filled with ideas that are practical, not partisan. And in the months ahead, I'll crisscross the country making a case for those ideas.

So tonight, I want to focus less on a checklist of proposals, and focus more on the values at stake in the choices before us.

It begins with our economy.

Seven years ago, Rebekah and Ben Erler of Minneapolis were newlyweds. She waited tables. He worked construction. Their first child, Jack, was on the way.

They were young and in love in America, and it doesn't get much better than that.

"If only we had known," Rebekah wrote to me last spring, "what was about to happen to the housing and construction market."

As the crisis worsened, Ben's business dried up, so he took what jobs he could find, even if they kept him on the road for long stretches of time. Rebekah took out student loans, enrolled in community college, and retrained for a new career. They sacrificed for each other. And slowly, it paid off. They bought their first home. They had a second son, Henry. Rebekah got a better job, and then a raise. Ben is back in construction -- and home for dinner every night.

"It is amazing," Rebekah wrote, "what you can bounce back from when you have to...we are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times."

We are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.

America, Rebekah and Ben's story is our story. They represent the millions who have worked hard, and scrimped, and sacrificed, and retooled. You are the reason I ran for this office. You're the people I was thinking of six years ago today, in the darkest months of the crisis, when I stood on the steps of this Capitol and promised we would rebuild our economy on a new foundation. And it's been your effort and resilience that has made it possible for our country to emerge stronger.

We believed we could reverse the tide of outsourcing, and draw new jobs to our shores. And over the past five years, our businesses have created more than 11 million new jobs. (Paying people out of the increased taxes that they're taking from those people. Clever, subtle)

We believed we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil and protect our planet. And today, America is number one in oil and gas. America is number one in wind power. Every three weeks, we bring online as much solar power as we did in all of 2008. And thanks to lower gas prices and higher fuel standards, the typical family this year should save $750 at the pump.

We believed we could prepare our kids for a more competitive world. And today, our younger students have earned the highest math and reading scores on record. Our high school graduation rate has hit an all-time high. And more Americans finish college than ever before. (Is that a sign of increased intelligence or decreased expectations? I'm sure that plenty of people are smart, but I don't think that that was a specific enough statement)

We believed that sensible regulations could prevent another crisis, shield families from ruin, and encourage fair competition. Today, we have new tools to stop taxpayer-funded bailouts, and a new consumer watchdog to protect us from predatory lending and abusive credit card practices. And in the past year alone, about ten million uninsured Americans finally gained the security of health coverage.

At every step, we were told our goals were misguided or too ambitious; that we would crush jobs and explode deficits. Instead, we've seen the fastest economic growth in over a decade, our deficits cut by two-thirds, a stock market that has doubled, and health care inflation at its lowest rate in fifty years. (Where does he get that info? Is it because his policies that these came about? 
How long will this last? Is this short-termed gratification, or long-term planning?)

So the verdict is clear. Middle-class economics works. (True). Expanding opportunity works. (Not necessarily from the government). And these policies will continue to work, as long as politics don't get in the way. We can't slow down businesses or put our economy at risk with government shutdowns or fiscal showdowns. We can't put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance, or unraveling the new rules on Wall Street, or refighting past battles on immigration when we've got a system to fix. (If the government weren't tied up in these aspects of the nation, then inefficiencies in the government wouldn't effect them.). And if a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things, it will earn my veto.

Today, thanks to a growing economy, the recovery is touching more and more lives. Wages are finally starting to rise again. We know that more small business owners plan to raise their employees' pay than at any time since 2007. But here's the thing -- those of us here tonight, we need to set our sights higher than just making sure government doesn't halt the progress we're making. We need to do more than just do no harm. Tonight, together, let's do more to restore the link between hard work and growing opportunity for every American.

Because families like Rebekah's still need our help. She and Ben are working as hard as ever, but have to forego vacations and a new car so they can pay off student loans and save for retirement. Basic childcare for Jack and Henry costs more than their mortgage, and almost as much as a year at the University of Minnesota. Like millions of hardworking Americans, Rebekah isn't asking for a handout, but she is asking that we look for more ways to help families get ahead.

In fact, at every moment of economic change throughout our history, this country has taken bold action to adapt to new circumstances, and to make sure everyone gets a fair shot. We set up worker protections, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to protect ourselves from the harshest adversity. We gave our citizens schools and colleges, infrastructure and the internet -- tools they needed to go as far as their effort will take them.

That's what middle-class economics is -- the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. We don't just want everyone to share in America's success -- we want everyone to contribute to our success.

So what does middle-class economics require in our time?

First -- middle-class economics means helping working families feel more secure in a world of constant change. (Wall Street Journal actually affirms that middle-class economics is a very vague term, with not a lot of meaning) That means helping folks afford childcare, college, health care, a home, retirement -- and my budget will address each of these issues, lowering the taxes of working families and putting thousands of dollars back into their pockets each year. (How is he going to do that? Make magical money and cause inflation?)

Here's one example. During World War II, when men like my grandfather went off to war, having women like my grandmother in the workforce was a national security priority -- so this country provided universal childcare. In today's economy, when having both parents in the workforce is an economic necessity for many families, we need affordable, high-quality childcare more than ever. It's not a nice-to-have -- it's a must-have. It's time we stop treating childcare as a side issue, or a women's issue, and treat it like the national economic priority that it is for all of us. And that's why my plan will make quality childcare more available, and more affordable, for every middle-class and low-income family with young children in America -- by creating more slots and a new tax cut of up to $3,000 per child, per year. (see Hitler's policies before WWII in Austria)

That's all I can take for now.
If you don't like my comments, feel free to read the original State of the Union Address, and make your own judgments (which I hope you'll do anyway). My main goal with this post is to help you ask questions about statements (including mine!!), and not just take them for face value.

Freedom isn't Enough

by Stephen Palmer

This isn’t political.

I want to assure you of that from the outset because our journey today starts with a man in a concentration camp yearning for freedom.

Actually, let me start with where I was first introduced to that man, one of my greatest heroes.

When I was just a teenager — to my best recollection it would have been in 1992 — I read a book that completely altered the trajectory of my life. I consider it to be among the top five books ever written in the history of the world.

That book is Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

I read a quote that has stuck with me all these years:

“Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.”

Not long after I read that quote, Dr. Frankl and a small group of individuals, including Dr. Stephen R. Covey, Dr. James Newman, and Kevin Hall (of “genshai” fame) got together to discuss how to make Viktor’s suggestion a reality.

They formed the Statue of Responsibility Foundation and, in 1997, commissioned world-renowned sculptor Gary Lee Price to design the statue.

I was twenty-one years old at the time, trying to figure out what to do with my life.

Viktor Frankl passed away on September 2 of that same year at the age of ninety-two.

In 2004, a small group of people, including Gary Lee Price and Kevin Hall, flew to Vienna, Austria to meet with Viktor’s widow, Elly, to get her blessing on Gary’s design, which depicts two hands clasped together.

When she saw the design, Elly could not contain her emotion.

She invited Gary into Viktor’s’ private study. Located in a small niche amongst his thousands of books was a woodcarving of a man reaching upward with his hands outstretched toward heaven, entitled “The Suffering Man”:

Elly told Gary how much Viktor cherished this sculpture, which he had discovered shortly after his release from the concentration camps. Viktor, she said, often used it as a metaphor for responsibility, asking the question, “Where is the hand reaching back?”

Elly then said to Gary, “And here you bring me a statue that answers that question.”

Building a 300-foot-tall monument is, to be sure, a monumental task. Over the past ten years the project has remained virtually underground, while the foundations of not only the statue but also a global movement were being laid.

In 2007 I stumbled across the Statue of Responsibility website and remembered reading Viktor’s quote as a teenager.

I immediately called the CEO of the Foundation and asked him how I could get involved. But the timing wasn’t right. The right elements weren’t in place to engage.

In 2014 I was stunned to receive a phone call from Woody Woodward, an advisor to the Foundation.

“Have you ever heard of the Statue of Responsibility?” he asked me.

“Absolutely,” I said. I recounted my history with the concept and project, including reading Viktor’s book as a teenager.

Woody asked me to write a manifesto for the project, similar to Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus,” which sits at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

I got chills.

I dropped everything for the next week and poured my heart and soul into the manifesto, enthralled with the stars that had aligned, thrilled and humbled beyond words to honor my hero and to play a role in the world-changing project.

I emerged from my reverie with this manifesto:

United in Freedom

“To this land of liberty flocked the ‘tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’ Today I breathe free and live abundantly because of their blood, sweat, and tears.

“My brothers, my sisters who have gone before: Never will I forget the monumental price you paid for my freedom. As I joyfully exercise my rights, I will humbly remember my responsibility to mankind.

“My brothers, my sisters with whom I share this consecrated land: As the hands of our ancestors reach down through the ages to uphold you and me, so too do I extend my hand to you. As great sacrifice was required by our forebears, loving service is required of me.

“My brothers, my sisters yet unborn: Ever will I remember that my choices today bear consequences for you tomorrow. May my hand reaching across generations be not oppressive, but uplifting.

“For the lamp of liberty is fueled by responsibility, and our destiny is not individual, but communal. As that is our legacy of the past, so shall it be our hope in the future…”

I know of no other principle that will have a greater impact on an individual’s life and on the health of a nation than unconditional personal responsibility. I know of no problem that cannot be solved by personal responsibility.

Responsibility is your ability to respond through conscious choice — not merely react — to events and circumstances, however horrendous.

Responsibility is the duty we share to voluntarily serve and uplift one another.

Responsibility is the core foundation of and the one great key to all human progress.

We don’t need more freedom. What we need is more responsibility.

What Viktor Frankl discovered in a concentration camp is now becoming a global movement.

I invite you to join that movement by asking yourself daily: “What is my responsibility?”