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cory miller
June 2009 
Letter to Obama by Cory Miller
Little Big O
A liberal is someone who feels a
great debt to his fellow man, which
debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
Please share this email with everybody. Time is short.
Thanks for investing your time in reading Cory's message. It’s long but very important. Thanks again Cory for your courage and for standing up for what is right!
A lot of political emails are being passed around and it is hard to know which ones are true and which ones are made up. Well I can assure you this one is true because I live it every day. It's worth the time to read it, even if you don't agree!
Cory
Mr. Obama,
Given the uproar about the simple question asked you by Joe the plumber, and the persecution that has been heaped on him because he dared to question you, I find myself motivated to say a few things to you myself. While Joe aspires to start a business someday, I already have started not one, but 4 businesses. But first, let me introduce myself. You can call me "Cory the well driller". I am a 54 year old high school graduate. I didn't go to college like you, I was too ready to go "conquer the world" when I finished high school. 25 years ago at age 29, I started my own water well drilling business at a time when the economy here in East Texas was in a tailspin from the crash of the early 80's oil boom. I didn't get a ny help from the government, nor did I look for any. I borrowed what I could from my sister, my uncle, and even the pawn shop and managed to scrape together a homemade drill rig and a few tools to do my first job. My businesses did not start not a result of privilege. It is the result of my personal drive, personal ambition, self discipline, self reliance, and a determination to treat my customers fairly. From the very start my business provided one other (than myself) East Texan a full time job. I couldn't afford a backhoe the first few years (something every well drilling business had), so I and my helper had to dig the mud pits that are necessary for each and every job with hand shovels. I had to use my 10 year old, 1/2 ton pickup truck for my water tank truck (normally a job for at least a 2 ton truck).
A year and a half after I started the business, I scraped together a 20% down payment to get a modest bank loan and bought a (28 year) old, worn out, slightly bigger drilling rig to allow me to drill the deeper water wells in my area. I spent the next few years drilling wells with the rig while simultaneously rebuilding it between jobs. Through these years I never knew from one month to the next if I would have any work or be able to pay the bills. I got behind on my income taxes one year, and spent the next two years paying that back (with penalty and interest) while keeping up with ongoing taxes. I got behind on my water well supply bill 2 different years (way behind the second time... $80,000.00), and spent over a year paying it b ack (each time) while continuing to pay for ongoing supplies C.O.D.. Of course, the personal stress endured through these experiences and years is hard to measure. I do have a stent in my heart now to memorialize it all.
I spent the next 10 years developing the reputation for being the most competent and most honest water well driller in East Texas . 2 years along the way, I hired another full time employee for the drilling business so that we could provide full time water well pump service as well as the well drilling. Also, 3 years along the path, I bought a water well screen service machine from a friend, starting business # 2. 5 years later I made a business loan for $100,000.00 to build a new, higher production, computer controlled screen service machine. I had designed the machine myself, and it didn't work out for 3 years so I had to make the loan payments without the benefit of any added income from the new machine. No government program was there to help me with the payments, or to help me sleep at night a s I lay awake wondering how I would solve my machine problems or pay my bills. Finally, after 3 years, I got the screen machine working properly, and that provided another full time job for an East Texan in the screen service business.
2 years after that, I made another business loan, this time for $250,000.00, to buy another used drilling rig and all the support equipment needed to run another, larger, drill rig. This provided another 2 full time jobs for East Texans. Again, I spent a couple of years not knowing if I had made a smart move, or a move that would bankrupt me. For the third time in 13 years, I had placed everything I owned on the line, risking everything, in order to build a business.
A couple of years into this, I came up with a bright idea for a new kind of mud pump, a fundamentally necessary pump used on water well drill rigs. I spent my entire life savings to date (just $30,000.00), building a prototype of the pump and took it to the national water well convention to show it off. Customers immediately started coming out of the woodworks to buy the pumps, but there was a problem. I had depleted my assets making the prototype, and nobody would make me a business loan to start production of the new pumps. With several deposits for pump orders in hand, and nowhere to go, I finally started applying for as many credit card as I could find and took cash withdrawals on these cards to the tune of over $150,000.00 (including modest loans from my dear sister and brother), to get this 3rd business going.
Yes, once again, I had everything hanging over the line in an effort to start another business. I had never manufactured anything, and I had to design and bring into production a complex hydraulic machine from an untested prototype to a reliable production model (in six months). How many nights I lay awake wondering if I had just made the paramount mistake of my life I cannot tell you, but there were plenty. I managed to get the pumps into production, which immediately created another 2 full time jobs in East Texas . Some of the models in the first year suffered from quality issues due to the poor workmanship of one of my key suppliers, so I and an employee (another East Texan employed) had to drive across the country to repair customers' pumps, practically from coast to coast. I stood behind the product, an d made payments to all the credit cards that had financed me (and my brother and sister). I spent the next 5 years improving and refining the product, building a reputation for the pump and the company, working to get the pump into drill rig manufacturers' product lines, and paying back credit cards. During all this time I continued to manage a growing water well business that was now operating 3 drill rig crews, and 2 well service crews. Also, the screen service business continued to grow. No government programs were there to help me, Mr. Obama, but that's ok, I didn't expect any, nor did I want any. I was too busy fighting to make success happen to sit around waiting for the government to help me.
Now, we have been manufacturing the mud pumps for 7 years, my combined businesses employ 32 full time employees, and distribute $5,000,000.00 annually through the local economy. Now, just 4 months ago I borrowed $1,254,000.00, purchasing computer controlled machining equipment to start my 4th business, a production machine shop. The machine shop will serve the mud pump company so that we can better manufacture our pumps that are being shipped worldwide. Of course, the machine shop will also do work for outside companies as well. This has already produced 2 more full time jobs, and 2 more should develop out of it in the next few months. This should work out, but if it doesn't it will be because you, and the other professional politicians like yourself, will have destroyed our countrys ' (and the world) economy with your meddling with mortgage loan programs through your liberal manipulation and intimidation of loaning institutions to make sure that unqualified borrowers could get mortgages. You see, at the very time when I couldn't get a business loan to get my mud pumps into production, you were working with Acorn and the Community Reinvestment Act programs to make sure that unqualified borrowers could buy homes with no down payment, and even no credit or worse yet, bad credit. Even the infamous, liberal, Ninja loans (No Income, No Job or Assets). While these unqualified borrowers were enjoying unrealistically low interest rates, I was paying 22% to 24% interest on the credit cards that I had used to provide me the funds for the mud pump business that has created jobs for more East Texans. It's funny, because after 25 years of turning almost every dime of extra mone y back into my businesses to grow them, it has been only in the last two years that I have finally made enough money to be able to put a little away for retirement, and now the value of that has dropped 40% because of the policies you and your ilk have perpetrated on our country.
You see, Mr. Obama, I'm the guy you intend to raise taxes on. I'm the guy who has spent 25 years toiling and sweating, fretting and fighting, stressing and risking, to build a business and get ahead. I'm the guy who has been on the very edge of bankruptcy more than a dozen times over the last 25 years, and all the while creating more and more jobs for East Texans who didn't want to take a risk, and wouldn't demand from themselves what I have demanded from myself. I'm the guy you characterize as "the Americans who can afford it the most" that you believe should be taxed more to provide income redistribution "to spread the wealth" to those who have never toiled, sweated, fretted, fought, stressed, or risked anything. You want to char acterize me as someone who has enjoyed a life of privilege and who needs to pay a higher percentage of my income than those who have bought into your entitlement culture. I resent you, Mr. Obama, as I resent all who want to use class warfare as a tool to advance their political career. What's worse, each year more Americans buy into your liberal entitlement culture, and turn to the government for their hope of a better life instead of themselves. Liberals are succeeding through more than 40 years of collaborative effort between the predominant liberal media, and liberal indoctrination programs in the public school systems across our land.
What is so terribly sad about this is this. America was made great by people who embraced the one-time American culture of self reliance, self motivation, self determination, self discipline, personal betterment, hard work, risk taking. A culture built around the concept that success was in reach on every able bodied American who would strive for it. Each year that less Americans embrace that culture, we all descend together. We descend down the socialist path that has brought country after country ultimately to bitter and unremarkable states. If you and your liberal comrades in the media and school systems would spend half as much effort cultivating a culture of can-do across America as you do cultivating your entitlement culture, we could see Americans at large embracing the conviction that they can elevate themselves through personal betterment, personal achievement, and self reliance. You see, when people embrace such ideals, they act on them. When people act on such ideals, they succeed. All of America could find herself elevating instead of deteriorating. But that would eliminate the need for liberal politicians, wouldn't it, Mr. Obama? The country would not need you if the country was convinced that problem solving was best left with individuals instead of the government. You and all your liberal comrades have got a vested interested in creating a dependent class in our country. It is the very business of liberals to create an ever expanding dependence on government. What's remarkable is that you, who have never produced a job in your life, are going to tax me to take more of my money and give it to people who wouldn't need my money if they would get off their entitlement mentality asses and apply themselves at work, demand more from themselves, and quit looking to liberal politicians to raise their station in life.
You see, I know because I've had them work for me before. Hundreds of them over these 25 years. People who simply will not show up to work on time. People who just will not work 5 days in a week, much less, 6 days. People always looking for a way to put less effort out. People who actually tell me that they would do more if I just would first pay them more. People who take off work to sit in government offices to apply to get free government handouts (gee, I wonder how things would have turned out for them if they had spent that time earning money and pleasing their employer?). Yo u see, all of this comes from your entitlement mentality culture.
Oh, I know you will say I am uncompassionate. Sorry, Mr. Obama, wrong again. You see, I've seen what the average percentage of your income has been given to charities over the years of 2000 to 2004 (ignoring the years you started running for office - can you pronounce "politically motivated"), you averaged of less than 1% annually. And your running mate, Joe Biden, averaged less than ¼% of his annual income in charitable contributions over the last 10 years. Like so many liberals, the two of you want to give to the needy, just as long as it i s someone else's money you are giving to them. I won't say what I have given to charities over the last 25 years, but the percentage is several times more than you or Joe Biden (don't you just hate Google?). Tell me again how you feel my pain.
In short, Mr. Obama, your political philosophies represent everything that is wrong with our country. You represent the culture of government dependence instead of self reliance; Entitlement mentality instead of personal achievement; Penalization of the successful to reward the unmotivated; Political correctness instead of open mindedness and open debate. If you are successful, you may preside over the final transformation of America from being the greatest and most self-reliant culture on earth, to just another country of whiners and wimps, who sit around looking to the government to solve their problems. Like all of western Europe. All countries on the decline. All countries that, because of liberal socialistic mentalities, have a little less to offer mankind every year.
God help us...
Cory Miller
just a ordinary, extraordinary American, the way a lot of Americans used to be.
P.S. Yes, Mr. Obama, I am a real American... www.cmillerdrilling.com
Access: Public
Hello, O
Yes, it takes balls to post a blog like this here is Obama-land. I know you’ve got em.
so I am just telling you I read it, I acknowledge you for posting it. I don’t agree with Mr. Miller’s conclusions regarding who Obama is and what he may do. But I am in no position to argue with him or call him wrong in any way, cause I have not achieved what he has achieved, working hard with vision and grit.
Were I to compare myself to Mr. Miller, I have led a soft, liberal socialist life, and I still do. I do not apologize. It takes all kinds, my kind and his kind, your kind and Obama’s kind.
All my relations.
love
DC
It doesn't take much to post a blog, let's face it, especially not in this forum. But thankfully I have people like you who read and give consideration to my posts. Thank you. That you have “led a soft, liberal socialist life” comes as no suprise: most Democrats and Republicans in this country have: we've been a solidly socialist/fascist country since FDR, which is why Friedrich Hayek's book “The Road to Serfdom” is addressed to “all socialists from the Left and the Right.” But that's another matter entirely.
However you choose to live your life is your business. My objection is not to your choices except in the measure that people like so many of us speak of “peace” and then support government-funded programs that are funded under threat. If government is so brilliant, if their plans for healthcare, education, welfare, etc., are so brilliant, why don't they enter the marketplace of ideas, services and products and freely offer up the CHOICE of participating, or NOT? Because we continue to acquiesce to government plunder.
In some countries, such as Singapore, the citizenry pays no taxes, because the government has actually developed a model of productivity and creativity in becoming an active partner of economic development and social enterprise. That attitude transformed a malaria-infested swamp on the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula into one of the most prosperous societies on Earth.
But the paternalistic state, or the “nanny” state is not only plundering individual's wealth, labor and destroying their very lives, it also dispossesses people of their indigenous, self-run, self-created webs of interrelatedness whereby the challenges and promise of individuals in relationship to others allows the recognition of both talents and needs in an exchange that is personal and relational. This is the true wealth of societies and one that flourishes proportionately to the absence of coercion and coercively-funded institutions.
Yes, you're right, it takes all kinds: your kind, my kind and Obama's kind and many others. But the difference between you, me and Obama, is that I have not chosen to avail myself of the inherent violence of the state to foist my agenda upon others: Obama and his ilk, whether McCain, Bill Clinton, or G.W. Bush have dedicated their careers to it, and to serving the interests that fund them and without which their aspirations to power and control would bear no fruit.
Kind Regards and Love to YOu,
O
Sometimes when I read you I forget that this is what is important to you, and this is where we meet, you and I.
…it also dispossesses people of their indigenous, self-run, self-created webs of interrelatedness whereby the challenges and promise of individuals in relationship to others allows the recognition of both talents and needs in an exchange that is personal and relational. This is the true wealth of societies and one that flourishes proportionately to the absence of coercion and coercively-funded institutions.
I have had glimmers as I occasionally listen to the reports of the “economic crisis” of how the people who will thrive in this time will dream into and recreate a community web of interelatedness to meet physical and economic needs. I suddenly understood the blessing of the currency collapse you have written about. It is hard to imagine the unimaginable. But it is sinking in. We don't die when this happens, we begin to live differently. Riches are redefined… REmembered.
O, I find myself working very hard to follow you with my mind. You have schooled yourself and write easily about things that take me to an uncomfortable place, trying to understand, imagine, integrate. Then I stop listening with my mind, and my heart becomes very clear, and it is much easier to grasp what you say, and why you say it.
As always, I appreciate the light shining, glaring sometimes, hurting my eyes.
If I am to actively remember and recreate the rich life I believe in, I will have to stop being so S and L.
And I mean Soft and Lazy, not socialist and liberal…
I think I am going back to bed now… well, I have just been invited, so I think I'll accept the invitation.
Carla,
I can't tell you how profound an honor it is to engage in dialogue with another human being and if that delight has been available to me through this forum, I think that you stand as an amazing example to me of that art form of deep listening and, I believe, through our personal conversations we know each other's intentions for a true evolutionary adventure, not cosmetic change to the same old game.
This is precisely where culture rebuilds itself: when we move beyond allegiances to false change and their prophets, and re-engage in the promise of person-to-person encounters. That's why, when people ask me who I'm voting for, I tell them “I'm voting for you and me talking about it.”
But we are so consistently acculturated to external authority that, in this culture, it seems almost preposterous to vote for you and me. We have disowned the power of the INDIVIDUAL, while embracing the collective abstract. Yet Rosa Parks, for example, was just an INDIVIDUAL who told an INDIVIDUAL bus driver, “I'm not going to the back of the bus!” And she did it in a community of African Americans who had not yet been acculturated to sucking at the tit of the State, as we ALL have in this country (over 70% of people in this country get a paycheck from government, either directly, or through their work for government subcontractors. We ARE a socialist/ centralist/fascist state), so though they were poor and oppressed, they were NOT dispossessed of their capacity to speak to one another and to real-eyes that through conversation an incredible web of interrelatedness was at the ready to be awakened. This same web of interrelated conversation is what allowed the American Revolution to happen, and it is only through awakening rich, textured, diverse, edgey, imaginative, loud, quiet, boisterous, methodical and varied dialogue that we will emerge as a people who lay claim, once again, to the very bedrock of sovereign human societies: the capacity of its members to engage each other PERSONALLY.
You, Carla, stand as my example of one who comes forward beautifully, sumptuously, wisely and willingly - TO ENGAGE!
Many Thanks!
O
Ha! it didn't matter who got into office, unless they were going to abolish the IRS' extortion of the common folk, run the bankers out and give us a sound currency… who cares what that currency is jelly beans just as long as it's not INSTANT DEBT… Taxes are going to go up anyway because we have a 50 trillion dollar elephant in the room and when that bill comes due… it's BOOM.. and I don't mean a “good financial boom” I mean it's a bomb blast of TAXES and wallet busting Hyper-Inflation.
So Obama's socialism really isn't about taxing and distribution of wealth to the common folk, NO, it's about more bailouts to CEOs who run companies under at the expense of others, get fired or go to jail yet STILL get their multi million dollar golden parachutes and pensions regardless!! And it's ALSO to pay for the interest on LOANS to the federal government from the federa reserve, a PRIVATE bank that is fleecing us all… Sure they say we borrow from China, but really it's the Federal Reserve, because THEY borrow in USD from the Fed/ World Bank as well then lend it BACK to the US at interest… how cute?
And Bush's economic stimulus package was Socialism, too!!! So, which type of socialism are we complaining about anyway?? hahaha
Am I the only one that wants to poke Mubarak Hussein Obama's eyes out for saying all the stupid/naive things he does? lolol
Oh well it's not him that is going to be prez, it's Zbig Brother!! Hahaha! Creator of Al CIAda. Hail to the Commander in Chief! What a rediculous circus elections are!
(don't take me too seriously hahhaa… I am laffing as I type usually)
with love,
sara
Sara, though you may be laughing, you're right on all counts. I have nothing against Obama, I think he's a very accomplished political parasite and, when you read his c.v., you realize that this guy has understood and played the game exceedingly well, jockeying his dark skin and stomping even on his own mentors and supporters who brought him up in the political reality of Chicago's South side.
Somehow, it's a perfect world. Lamb chops are still one of my favorites, and surely one of Obama's too.
But in a place like gaia, where so many fancy themselves “progressive,” it surprises me how many people still subscribe to coercion and the “Big Man Theory of Politics/Culture/Religion.” It's a huge u-turn from our conditioning to rediscover authority within, and to recognize the difference between thugs like Obama, McCain, Bush, Clinton, Lincoln, Washington, etc. - and the individuals who rose up armed with nothing but the courage to speak the truth plainly - people like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Studs Terkel, César Chávez, Chief Red Bull, Geronimo, Chief Joseph, the Dan sisters of the Western Shoshone, and so many unacknowledged others who continue to rise and to reweave the web of our relatedness, of our ability to converse, etc. throughout the world.
I think you'll enjoy this article: http://www.counterpunch.org/fierro11042008.html
Ha! That article was great! I even added it to my blog. LOL
I agree with you 100%, but please tell me what is meant by “c.v.”?
with love,
sara
c.v. = curriculum vitae which is latin for his life course, i.e. resumé
I appreciate all your wisdom Little Big O and all those who have interacted with him. It is refreshing to see that differences are being debated, yet mutual respect is being fostered. Our world needs more dialogue like this.
The underscore everything that has been said, our nation needs to resolve three fundamental challenges immediately: (1.) Lack of community, (2.) Lack of voice, and (3.) Selfishness. We are too “busy” doing little things that don't matter to truly focus on these important issues.
Precious few Americans can claim to truly claim to be “invested” community stakeholders who know their neigbors and care enough about their communities and members to get involved in volunteer efforts for the general well-being of their neihbors, communities, and our nation. This is civic duty in the highest sense and must never be neglected.
Only individuals in our entrepreneurial class and motivational speakers seem to truly care about discovering one's voice. Discovering one's voice important because it forces us to reflect on our interests, talents, values, and needs and how they can all be used toward a working life that will maximize their contributions towards more prosperous families and communities and a more prosperous nation. Work that is not interesting will not fully engage a worker and will lower quality of work. Work that is performed by someone with no talent for the position will also lower the quality of work accomplished. Work that is not in-line with someone's values will also not fully engage a worker and will lower work quality. Work that does not produce enough to support one's needs is also demoralizing to the worker, resulting in poor work quality.
Finally, selfishness. Selfishness permeates our society in the sense that we don't want to waste our time in personal development or the development of our nations potential because “there is no time”. Well, I cannot think of a better use of freetime for those who have it. Selfishness means “No time to vote”, “No time to write my politicians to let them know how I feel”, “No time to volunteer with the local community organizations or schools”, “No time to help my kids with their homework”, “No time to exercise or eat right”, “No time to read even one page of a book per day”, “No time to reflect on my life for even 5 minutes while I am going to work”, “No time to spend with my friends, family, etc.”. There is always time to do the most important things in life, even at the expense of doing more comfortable but less demanding things. We should remember that the most demanding things tend to reap the most rewarding results (in business, in relationships, in education, etc)
I would encourage all people to get more involved with their communities and themselves for a more aware and unified nation.
Very wise words, Michael!
To those who say no time I usually say:
TURN OFF YOUR TV, DANGIT!!! ;)
Dear Michael,
Thanks for your comments and for expanding the dialogue. Your comments on “selfishness” incite me to examine the question further: thank you. You speak of work that is not fulfilling and, before we enter the work world, we spend approximately 12 + years getting programmed to tolerate frustration and external control, moment-to-moment, situation-to-situation, in relationship to so-called “teachers” who pursue their roles in mental institutions called schools where the motivation to “behave” as commanded derives from a threat that lurks under a surface that is increasingly transparent. One need only examine how many schools now have police presence during class hours to see what our society conditions youth for: institutionalization.
So, when one uses the term “selfish” what comes up for me is “what is the nature of this manufactured, processed, obedient/rebellious, punished/rewarded “self” that emerges from institutionalized child abuse? and how does the human being thus affected go about trying to satisfy the warped desires of such a manufactured “self”?
In the natural world, true selfishness leads to greater interactivity, mutual consideration, exchange and, yes - something that is prohibited in cultures based in domination - pleasuring. Once we reconnect with pleasure, i.e. wholesome intercourse, delight, and appreciation of all of the elements of our existence, then selfishness informs us that our “self” is beyond this person we imagine ourselves to be. We begin to see that everything is expressing a Singular Movement, and we rediscover the capacity to harmonize with it.
We can then move beyond the Hero complex and realize that the only true heroism is to end this internalized conflict that domination and coercion-based cultures (external or internal) would have us wage with our natural humanness.
I wandered over here after a day of NPR's company on a long drive to remind myself that whatever happens next is a good thing! and You all are part of why. So am I. When the going gets tough, what do the tough do? Buy Art.
I spent money today on on my friend's extraordinary pottery, and another friend's photography, and art supplies to continue my own production.
That's neither selfish nor selfless, it's renegade. Or the very popular Maverick.
Hope you are well and happy O, wherever you are now.
Hey Carla, my sister is a talented artist herself. Buying art and truly enjoying it is a great thing and very enjoyable.
Very very insightful comment on the nature of education and people being out of touch with themselves Little Big O.
Carla, YES! I’ve got a bunch of art I need to frame.
Michael, a book that was a very powerful read, and which Marshall Rosenberg of Non-Violent Communication referred to, was Alfie Kohn’s Punished by Rewards which is a very poignant look at how we our culture uses rewards to manipulate behavior, in essence expropriating the inner satisfaction that is derived from an activity or experience itself and replacing it with an external confirmation, i.e. reward.
Rosenberg’s NVC has a whole section on how non-violent speech does not compliment, in terms of saying, for example, “Michael, you’re a great guy,” or “Carla, you’re such a wise woman and awesome artist” but rather builds relationship through rich communication, i.e., “Michael, I feel fulfilled and connected when I read your comments on my blog and I enjoy the dialogue.” “Carla, your engaging with me invites me to an appreciation for the sorts of spiritual communities, ceremonies and teachings that are emerging person-to-person below my radar, and I feel warm and happy when I talk with you.”
Yesterday evening I delved deeply into a book called Original Instructions which is a compilation of talks by indigenous people at several Bioneers conferences. It is an amazing sourcebook for seeing how human communities with many thousands of years of tenure on this land have developed social/ecological/and linguistic sciences to mitigate and bring wisdom, fun, and openness to the dynamics that often lead to violence in human groups. Several of the articles speak of the inherent violence that is at the heart of the democratic process as adopted by Euro-americans inspired by the Iroquois Confederacy but who never took the time to learn the whole process, which is founded in non-coercion, profound relationship and trust-building, and connecting all the way through to the disagreements; i.e. we can’t have true peace until we can not only disagree, but adventure together into disagreement without forcing one person to submit to another or to a group of others.