Americans Love the "Underdogs"

Israel has had no better friend than the U.S. Many would argue this is so because after the horrors of Nazi Germany were revealed at the end of World War II, Americans adopted the Jewish people and committed to nurturing them back to health. Generally speaking, Americans embrace the concept of "fairness" and we love rooting for the "underdog." The public education system in America was established to provide opportunities for poor children. The rallying cry behind calls for more funding of public education is based on the fairness associated with equal opportunity for each member of the next generation. In short, providing assistance to the "underdog" is viewed as a noble endeavor and most of us actually enjoy doing it. When the TV channel lands on a sporting event, and the game does not involve our favorite team, usually we will find ourselves becoming inclined to pull for the underdog. Even the Statue of Liberty reflects America's love for the underdog.

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Projecting the appearance of being in the corner of the "underdog" works like a charm in American politics. And in America, the old saying in U.S politics goes something like this: "Anything worth doing, is worth OVER-doing." And why not? What kind of heartless person could possibly come out in favor of denying the helpless some sorely needed help? Unfortunately, when it comes to managing the fate of many American businesses, our culture has become polluted with false notions about how many underdogs we actually have in this nation. Not surprisingly, many of our most successful politicians have turned underdog support into a growth industry. And sadly, those who have never operated a business are the most likely to be susceptible to having their perceptions of the realities of the competition corrupted. Clearly, duplicitous politicians claiming to be merely serving the interests of the "underdogs" in our society are in charge. It has not always been this way in our country.

Early in our nation's history Americans were committed to our business. We were hungry for success and wanted to be competitive and prove ourselves as a nation. Our businesses were seen by the vast majority in our society as global underdogs competing on a tough stage. Instinctively Americans knew that when this nation's businesses were successful, national wealth was created. What happened to our attitudes that recognized the importance of following the lead of business? The explanation is pretty simple. The seeds of failure grow rapidly when the complacency of success creeps into the psyche. It happens to sports teams and it happens to nations. For several decades Americans have allowed the effects of a progressive disease to grow on economic attitudes of our once competitive culture.

Slowly but surely, the size of the "underdog" tent that ambitious politicians argue must be embraced and protected, has been expanding. And these days many of our most successful businesses are very popularly portrayed as nothing more than ruthless exploitation machines. Leading companies like Intel, Wal-Mart, and Microsoft along with all domestic drug companies fortunate enough to have funded a successful R & D program are easy political targets. Politicians are successfully arguing that all businesses must be held in check, less they run roughshod over the scores of underdogs in our society. Fast forward to May of 2011. With all that government purports to do for us, less than half of all American households are called upon by our elected officials to contribute federal income taxes into the collective pot to pay for what can best be described as a sophisticated political "protection racket." As we face astronomical federal budget deficits, the majority in control of the U.S. Senate and an anti-business White House begin each day with the idea that more than half of all American households are "underdogs."

And it is in this expensive state of national self-delusion, this very false sense of widespread victim hood, that we have finally crippled and tethered our once revered and robust business community. Don't look to progressive anti-business candidates to ever say it, but America is headed down a dead end road. We will never re-accelerate national prosperity with a national self-image that begins every economic policy discussion with the premise that less than half of all households should be required to contribute to the costs of all the wonderful things our government does for us. It is a false premise. Those of us who work and pay taxes cannot possibly get our arms around that many "underdogs."

Americans Love the "Underdogs"