Okay, I think I figured it out.
Mitt Romney is disdainful of anyone receiving government assistance because:
1. He comes from a rich and privileged background, so he has never needed or received government assistance and...
2. He comes from a rich and privileged background, so he's never known anyone who's needed or received government assistance.
Almost everyone I know has received some sort of government assistance, whether it's student loans or small business loans, Medicare or Medicaid. And almost everyone I know now pays taxes and contributes to society.
I'll use myself as an example.
I was the only child of a single working mom. We struggled a lot economically, and there were times when we lived off of food stamps, social security and government assistance. And then when i went to the University of Connecticut and SUNY Purchase, I received Pell grants and student loans.
So, according to Mitt Romney, I was part of the 47 percent "who are dependent upon government... who pay no income tax." He made clear that his "job is not to worry about those people. [He]'ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
In the past 20 years, I have either personally or professionally paid millions of dollars in income taxes to the state, local, and federal government. I have employed hundreds of people, who have in turn paid income taxes and in many cases have gone on to start their own businesses.
So I think it's safe to say that the government assistance my mother and I received was money well spent. I was able to go to decent schools and get a decent education, all thanks to 'government assistance.' My mother and i were able to eat, all thanks to 'government assistance.' I was able to see doctors, all thanks to 'government assistance.' We were able to pay our rent at times thanks to 'government assistance.'
Not to mention the roads, clean water, streetlights, police departments, fire departments, clean air, libraries, public transit, electricity, etc. that all came from the government and enabled my mother and I to stay alive and live good, educated, safe and healthy lives.
Mitt Romney came from extreme wealth. He has never once needed financial assistance from the government, as his family had millions and millions of dollars at their disposal. But there are millions and millions and millions of Americans like me who didn't come from extreme wealth and who needed help with education and food and health care and shelter, but who have gone on to start businesses and pay taxes.
We are not an 'entitled' class, we are not 'dependent upon the federal government' and we do not consider ourselves 'victims.'
We are the hundreds of millions of Americans who had the misfortune of not being born to millionaire parents.
So I understand why Mitt Romney is disdainful of government assistance, as his parents paid for everything and he never needed help being fed or educated or looked after by doctors. I understand that in Mitt Romney's entire life he's never known anyone who's needed student loans. He's never known anyone who needed food stamps to keep their family fed. He's never known anyone who's had to spend hours in a health clinic just to get basic medical care. He's never known anyone who couldn't pay the rent.
I understand that Mitt Romney grew up with phenomenal wealth and privilege but I don't understand why that leads him to contemptuously dismiss anyone (like my mother and I) who have, at times, needed government help with food and education and shelter and health care.
Mitt Romney is a product of wealth and privilege. That does not give him the right to loathe and dismiss the rest of us who are not the product of wealth and privilege.
Oh, for some reason I was thinking of 'Common People' by Pulp when I heard Romney's quotes.
-Moby
But still you'll never get it right,cos when you're laid in bed at night,
watching roaches climb the wall,
if you call your Dad he could stop it all.You'll never live like common people,
you'll never do what common people do,
you'll never fail like common people,
you'll never watch your life slide out of view.
-'Common People' by Pulp
This essay originally ran as part of 90 Days, 90 Reasons. For more essays, written by people such as Judd Apatow, Marilynne Robinson, Paul Simon, Jonathan Franzen, and Michael Stipe, go to 90days90reasons.com.
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Terry O'Neill: The Romney-Ryan Budget: Who Are the Real Moochers in Their Medicaid Scheme?
David Paul: Romney's 47 Percent Is Not the Only Statistic That Conceals the Truth
 |
 |
|
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
the reason we have more poor people on government assistance is because there are more people and fewer jobs, higher costs for food, housing and transportation, fewer people with job skills for the new high tech and engineering jobs, inflation etc etc etc the list goes on...but yes there are some people that got caught up in the vicious cycle of entitlement, but that is not the majority. I get sick and tired of people that think like you and are such selfish mean spirited hateful far rigtht moralistic better than everybody else jerks, same way Romeny really thinks, he hates anybody that is not rich and thinks he is better than everbody else. I know this because I grew up in a Republican culture that thinks that way and I'm fed up listening to this BS...
Despite my best efforts ACA has: decreased my income, my staff size, the weekly work hours of remaining staff, the amount of free/charity care provided at my office, and purchases of capital equipment. Now I supervise nurses instead of patients. I simply can no longer afford to treat them so instead they see a nurse with 1/10 of my qualifications.
I will educate you on the so called poor. The following are facts about providing treatment in the inner city from a man with EXTENSIVE experience. If there are 20 (non painkiller) appointments on the schedule, sometimes 6 show and some of these are walk ins. Patients often speak poor English preventing optimum communication and contingent optimum treatment. They don’t follow instructions unless you hold their pain script hostage. They just don't seem to care about their own health. The rooms must be sprayed with Lysol because they don’t bathe regularly (particularly bad from non-American cultures). The bath room toilet is constantly clogged. I run to local businesses to satisfy m-nature. They never call to cancel appointments.
As for shangri la -- Free market is the fruition of the genius of the great J Locke. Look state to state NY, NJ, Cal, most gov worst records on debt, failure of s business, and standard of living. I am well aware of no utopia. Its the fools on left that keep promising utopianism. However, the closest we can get to it is with the least possible gov. Look at Europe and Japan -- as gov grew they shrank in all ways including help for the poor. lazafare as the other great free-market capitalist T Jefferson put it.
Besides freedom to chose is our right as is freedom to succed and fail -- even if it produced worse results in wealth and inferior HC. Freedom is its own reward. P Henry give
Don't believe me? Just ask Obama-phone lady.
If you're one of the 26% of Americans who are working and paying Social Security and payroll taxes as well as sales taxes and (directly or through your landlord) property taxes, but aren't making enough to pay income tax, Romney doesn't want your vote, and thinks you're going to vote for Obama, so go ahead. Even if you're a Republican.
If you're a kid in school, paid for by your parents' taxes but not your own, Romney might or might not be counting you in the 47%, but he doesn't want you voting Republican when you turn 18, so don't.
Personally I'm part of the 53%, and I think Obama's done a terrible job as President, but Romney would be even worse, and no way I'm voting for him. (I live in California, which has a solid Democratic majority, so I can safely vote third party instead of holding my nose and voting for Obama just to stop Romney. The Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson believes in many of the same things I do, and I'll be voting for him, and if he weren't on the ballot I'd vote for the Greens or Peace&Freedom even though they both have their issues.)
The one time in this campaign we have seen him speak unvarnished truth and it figures it would be to insult and demean us showing us his true attitude toward us.
His 47% video tells us more than a thousand baloney laden campaign ads will. It tells us all we need to know about how Mitt and his crowd view us.
The working poor have, for the most part, been "dismissed" by pollies in BOTH parties - except when they're hurting for votes.
If you ain't got money for lobbyists or to make big campaign contributions, Washington and the state capitols don't care much of anything about you.... unless you get "out of line" or forget to pay a tax.
"There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party ... and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt — until recently ... and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties" - Gore Vidal
People of Asian culture come to USA with little money, language deficits, poor understanding of complexities of the culture, and little support from close family. In one generation they often are successful and may own a business and there children are excelling in school. But native Americans (meaning us non immigrants) in poverty remain there generation after generation. Many of the rich that went broke in the GD became millionaires again after. America has been the land of opportunity.
Teach a man to fish and all. I'll add ti it -- teach a man he is entitled to someone else s fish and you made him incompetent or lazy. The Marxist that has the power to redistribute fish of the hard working fisherman makes the lazy and incompetent their slave. The ever growing poor are there because it benefits those that buy there vote.