glad the meme is exposed, at least.
now anyone who relies upon the unpleasant argument that the poor and dependent are useless losers will have a chance to rethink their views.
there are, doubtless, some, of course who mooch. but it is a claim you want to make sparingly. rather than of 47% (non-income tax payers), or even 8.1% (unemployment rate), of people. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics/federal-taxes-households.cfm
as david brooks says in this rushed piece, americans mostly want to work, work hard and are productive. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/brooks-thurston-howell-romney.html
but really, this moocher view is something that this ticket believes in. they really do want to repeal the safety net. they just don't wish to admit it. except in private to wealthy donors. there is a calculated coldness to their ideas. they want to cut government programs. they just don't want to tell you which ones and how.
now, at least, it is exposed to the light of day.
and in its exposure, a new mitt is revealed: "Instead the video exposes an authentic Romney as a far more sinister character than I had imagined. Here is the sneering plutocrat, fully in thrall to a series of pernicious myths that are at the heart of the mania that has seized his party. He believes that market incomes in the United States are a perfect reflection of merit. Far from seeing his own privileged upbringing as the private-school educated son of an auto executive-turned-governor as an obvious refutation of that belief, Romney cites his own life, preposterously, as a confirmation of it. (“I have inherited nothing. Everything I earned I earned the old fashioned way.”)" http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/09/real-romney-is-a-sneering-plutocrat.html
here's a reaction which gets to the nub of the issue: "That Romney quote about people in the 47 percent not taking responsibility for their lives made me so angry I almost cried. I'm in that 47 percent. My household hasn't paid income taxes in ten years - not since my husband became seriously disabled and could no longer work. How dare Romney tell me I'm not taking responsibility. I've been nothing but responsible - responsible for raising three children and caring for my husband for five years until he died, through some very tough times. I worked part-time through much of this, but SSDI and private disability insurance made it possible for my family to survive financially. My two sons received federal loans for college. One is now a public school teacher, and a darn good one - a worthwhile investment, I'd say. The other is still in college. My third child is disabled and continues to receive SSDI, and I'm still responsible for her. I work full-time, pay payroll taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes. But I work for a not-for-profit and don't receive the kind of salary people of my abilities earn in investment banking.
The stuff that happened to me - a spouse who died prematurely, a child with a genetically-based disability - these things can happen to anyone. Anyone."
of course everyone should try their hardest in life. but even so, luck is a major factor in life's outcomes. dependency exists largely when folks are unfortunate. all the theories of ayn rand and her acolytes cannot change this truth.
and once you admit this to yourself, you cannot remain a republican.
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