Autobiography - The Galindo Group

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Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 32 Indians who had settled on it for perhaps millennia before Europeans appeared was also cruelly abusive. Following the reasoning of the previous paragraph, perhaps it should also be quantified and a bill for a pre-determined amount and for a pre-fixed period of time handed to all taxpayers. But in my opinion, the best solution is to fling open the doors of equal opportunity for self-reliant progress through minimum taxation for everyone. Our national heritage shows that it is far better to limit government and to free individuals. The promises of equal opportunity and the right to enjoy the benefit of our creations are not promises of big government ensuring that all “voters” fulfill their dream. Allegorically, they are not an assurance that all runners will finish the race at the same time. To proclaim that is a travesty pandered by politicians and interest groups deforming the American system. The promise of equal rights speaks of access to equal educational opportunities, equal public services, equal protection of the law, equal enjoyment of the benefits of one’s creations and equal opportunities and responsibilities. The promise to protect our lawfully earned property speaks of a government that does not despoil or loot us through excessive taxation. If we are to decide as individuals what competition to enter, where to compete and when to do our best, we must count on the fact that the government will live up to our expectations of keeping the reward for ourselves. We enter every competition of life realizing that there always are few winners and many losers. But we also remember that there is always another competition! Understanding this makes life a lot more fun and productive and it eliminates the need to legislate redress for past abuses of a continually developing society. While the attempt to even old scores is laudable, establishing quotas or mandated setasides for minorities only are invitations to abuse, as proven by recent experience. They add to the cost of government in a dubiously productive way. Two wrongs don’t make a right. In the long run intrusive big government has never been, and will never be, the individual’s protector. A just, democratic and limited government is and will continue to be a guarantor of freedom. Propagating the concept of self-realization through the pursuit of a dream is the best way politicians and bureaucrats can bring redress to the descendants of formerly abused people. When the practice of minority set-asides under the doctrine of Affirmative Action was first adopted in government contracts in the 1970’s, I had established a branch of my consulting engineering company in Bryan, Texas. I was approached by several larger companies competing for these contracts to present joint proposals, mine being the “minority” firm. I thought this might be a bona-fide new marketing channel for my company’s services and I agreed to participate. Soon I realized that the main contractor was not really planning on handing me any work, much less any responsibility, and therefore not fulfilling the purported object of the law. I wanted to create a value, not just collect an empty fee. Autobiography.doc 32 of 239
Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 33 The use of my company’s name was a ruse for the bigger players to improve their bidding chances. I suspended this practice very quickly, preferring to limit my bidding horizon than to debase my professional practice. It is possible that if I had continued applying for minority work on my own, my engineering company may have grown bigger, as other “minority” owned firms have. My experience, however, demonstrates that no sooner a well-intentioned socialengineering law is made ingenious ways to exploit it in unforeseen ways arise faster. In the 1980’s after my brother Chris took over the firm and I was in a position to alert him to Affirmative Action opportunities, he would not even hear of them. He came to this conclusion independently and before me, demonstrating again his superior understanding of the concept of limited government. My brother’s and my example weigh on the side that proves the futility of this kind of social-engineering laws. We would much rather be able to keep more of our income than be offered government help to benefit without work. I am sad to say that the principal gainers are the bureaucrats managing programs such as Affirmative Action. ---014--- DREAMS PLANTED, DREAMS HARVESTED. Our pyramid of progress has inched upwards, inexorably driving toward “Concept America,” thanks to the visionary perseverance of a few great men who were able to find sponsors for their great enterprises and their strategic thinking patrons who sought to benefit from their protégé’s labors. In America, we have now come to an evolutionary point in our social development where what matters most to each of us is to pursue our happiness as individuals without having to find a sponsor first. However, many in our own time and place, still believe that government must continue extending a protective hand through programs such as Affirmative Action, Bi-lingual Education and other minority-oriented initiatives. The nature of these efforts is too close to paternalism and in my opinion their cost is not justifiable. When it comes to making a living, most of us are happy with just having a good job. Some of us prefer to be self-employed. Very few of us are engaged in earth-shaking enterprises for which we want to assume ultimate responsibilities from the beginning. For the great majority of self-starters, risk sharing with other parties, whether the risk is financial, intellectual or physical, is today’s way of quick-starting a dream. By and large the greatest majority of individual’s dreams, if they entail financial risk, can be pursued Autobiography.doc 33 of 239
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Bernard Bailyn, THE IDEOLOGICAL ORI
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George Fuermann, HOUSTON LAND OF TH
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Council for Natural Cooperation in
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Autobiography - The Galindo Group

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