George Lakoff...

“You didn't build that!” has been much in the news recently.  But where did Obama's idea actually come from?  James Taranto, writing at the Wall Street Journal, tracked down this text, which may well have started the whole thing:

There is no such thing as a self-made man. Every businessman has used the vast American infrastructure, which the taxpayers paid for, to make his money. He did not make his money alone. He used taxpayer infrastructure. He got rich on what other taxpayers had paid for: the banking system, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and Commerce Departments, and the judicial system, where nine-tenths of cases involve corporate law. These taxpayer investments support companies and wealthy investors. There are no self-made men! The wealthy have gotten rich using what previous taxpayers have paid for. They owe the taxpayers of this country a great deal and should be paying it back.

Those words were written by George Lakoff. Read about Mr. Lakoff, and then enjoy the spectacle of Mr. Taranto ripping him to shreds...