Success comes from teamwork

John Esperian, Las Vegas

Tuesday, July 31, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.

It is annoying but not surprising, with the election less than three months away, that the right insists on hammering the president about his comments that if someone were successful, he or she didn’t do it alone. The expected parade of vitriol followed with President Barack Obama backpedaling and attempting to explain the context of his message.

We don’t do it alone; the days of 19th-century rugged individualism are long gone, and to a very real extent, people, with few exceptions, need to work together — from the memorable teacher we had in first grade to the great medical or law school professor who helped us understand — as well as the support teams with which every right-minded CEO surrounds himself or herself.

Of course a hard-working entrepreneurial spirit is to be admired and rewarded, but it is a democratic society — where working together is the norm, rather than adherence to social Darwinism — in which that spirit thrives and helps promote success.