To the editor:
I would like to have the opportunity to respond to the accusations from Elizabeth Thomas (Letters, the Times, Saturday, Aug. 18) that somehow I “misconstrued” President Obama’s negative statements against small businesses in America, and that somehow it is I who should apologize to the Gloucester Democratic Committee.
The truth is that Elizabeth Thomas picked out only certain parts of Obama’s speech to clarify her argument. What she chose to leave out were these following words by President Obama: “Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, ‘Well, it must be because I’m just so smart and it must be because I worked harder than everybody else.’”
Why couldn’t he just acknowledge the entrepreneurial spirit of being self-sufficient and praise those small business owners who went out on their own and got themselves an education so they wouldn’t become part of the welfare state in America? The truth is, small businesses pay taxes to build all of America’s infrastructure, and many small businesses in the construction industry take most of the credit for building America’s highways and bridges. All the federal government does well is tax the American worker.
I cannot apologize for speaking the truth.
DEAN BURGESS
Bass Avenue, Gloucester
