Heroes Of Old Were Creators — Not Talkers

by Thomas Sowell - January 25th, 2011 - Investor's Business Daily

When I mention that my family used kerosene lamps when I was a small child in the South during the 1930s, that is usually taken as a sign of our poverty, though I never thought of us as poor at the time.

What is ironic is that kerosene lamps were a luxury of the rich in the 19th century, before John D. Rockefeller came along.

At the high price of kerosene at that time, an ordinary working man could not afford to stay up at night, burning this expensive fuel for hours at a time.

Rockefeller did not begin his life as rich, by any means. He made a fortune by revolutionizing the petroleum industry.

Today, Rockefeller is perceived to have unfairly enriched himself. Thomas Sowell reminds us of the good that resulted from Rockefeller working hard to get so wealthy. The poor got cheap light and freedom to move long distances.

You rarely hear anyone on the left acknowledge the good that comes from free enterprise. In fact, given their preferences, kerosene would not be cheap and cars would not allow the vast majority of us to travel long distances. To them, it is intolerable that Rockefeller made so much more money than the poor. To them, no benefit to society is worth the cost to their egos of comparing themselves to those who have done better. It is all about envy. Their envy of anyone who is a creator. The one thing you can be sure of is that they will never stop talking about how evil the people who create are.