If roads were collapsing all across the United States, killing dozens
of drivers, we would surely see that as a moment to talk about what we
could do to keep roads from collapsing. If terrorists were detonating
bombs in port after port, you can be sure Congress would be working to
upgrade the nation’s security measures. If a plague was ripping through
communities, public-health officials would be working feverishly to
contain it.
Only with gun violence do we respond to repeated tragedies by saying
that mourning is acceptable but discussing how to prevent more tragedies
is not. But that’s unacceptable. As others have observed, talking about
how to stop mass shootings in the aftermath of a string of mass
shootings isn’t “too soon.” It’s much too late.
For what it’s worth, this division of “makers” and “takers” isn’t true. Among the Americans who paid no federal income taxes in 2011,
61 percent paid payroll taxes — which means they have jobs and, when
you account for both sides of the payroll tax, they paid 15.3 percent of
their income in taxes, which is higher than the 13.9 percent that
Romney paid. Another 22 percent were elderly.
So 83 percent of those not paying federal income taxes are either
working and paying payroll taxes or they’re elderly and Romney is
promising to protect their benefits because they’ve earned them. The
remainder, by and large, aren’t paying federal income or payroll taxes
because they’re unemployed. But that’s a small fraction of the country.
Leder is notorious for his Caligula-esque parties. From the New York Post's description of his "wild end-of-the-summer bash":
At
the Bridgehampton home that Leder rented for a whopping $500,000 a
month, guests cavorted nude in a pool and performed sex acts, while
scantily clad Russian women danced on platforms. Dancers at the party
also twirled flaming torches to booming beats.
So
to review, people who want housing, food, and healthcare: entitled
freeloaders. People who want to get HJs in the pool while they watch
semi-nude Russian dancers: campaign supporters.
Romney, who criticizes President Obama for
dividing the nation, divided the nation into two groups: the makers and
the moochers. Forty-seven percent of the country, he said, are people
“who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who
believe the government has a responsibility to take care of them, who
believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you
name it.”
This comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that he really
doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these
freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the
student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social
Security or Medicare?
It suggests that Romney doesn’t know much about the culture of America.
Yes, the entitlement state has expanded, but America remains one of the
hardest-working nations on earth. Americans work longer hours than just
about anyone else. Americans believe in work more than almost any other
people. Ninety-two percent say that hard work is the key to success,
according to a 2009 Pew Research Survey.
It says that Romney doesn’t know much about the political culture.
Americans haven’t become childlike worshipers of big government. On the
contrary, trust in government has declined. The number of people who
think government spending promotes social mobility has fallen.
The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending
are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior
citizens. They are white men with high school degrees. As Bill Galston
of the Brookings Institution has noted, the people who have benefited
from the entitlements explosion are middle-class workers, more so than
the dependent poor.
Romney’s comments also reveal that he has lost any sense of the social
compact. In 1987, during Ronald Reagan’s second term, 62 percent of
Republicans believed that the government has a responsibility to help
those who can’t help themselves. Now, according to the Pew Research
Center, only 40 percent of Republicans believe that.
The Republican Party, and apparently Mitt Romney, too, has shifted over
toward a much more hyperindividualistic and atomistic social view — from
the Reaganesque language of common citizenship to the libertarian
language of makers and takers. There’s no way the country will trust the
Republican Party to reform the welfare state if that party doesn’t have
a basic commitment to provide a safety net for those who suffer for no
fault of their own.
The final thing the comment suggests is that Romney knows nothing about
ambition and motivation. The formula he sketches is this: People who are
forced to make it on their own have drive. People who receive benefits
have dependency.
Many political reporters thought the 2008 McCain-Palin campaign set some
kind of a low bar for worst-run presidential campaigns. Well, in
today’s lightning-speed news cycle and instant pundit judgments, it
appears the Romney campaign is heading toward that record and might win
that race.
Finally let's end it with Mitt's quote of the Day!
“My job is not to worry about those people,” Mitt Romney said
of the 47 percent of Americans who are likely to vote for Barack Obama.
“I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and
care for their lives.”
Posts
