Romney's Fractured Logic Regarding the Non-Wealthy

   The interesting part about the ongoing dissolution of Mitt Romney both as a presidential candidate and as an actual feeling human being is that there hasn't been one revelation of the man over the past few months that should've surprised anyone. From his dirty politicking against the rest of the Republican field in the primary season to his ongoing national TV/radio ads that both misrepresent and spew fabrications to denigrate the ongoing three-year progress of president Barack Obama's administration, his campaign has devolved into a national disgrace. Americans who actually follow the issues and have observed Romney's political modus operandi in action over the past dozen years or so already understand what our nation is dealing with re: this candidate, and everyone else had better hopefully get on board before November 6.

   We've all read about Romney's ludicrous secretly-videotaped "47%" statements at an early-2012 Florida fund raiser as he claimed to his well-heeled audience that the cited percentage of Americans "believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it", and pay no income taxes. He also opined that his job is "not to worry about these citizens who won't take personal responsibility and care for their lives", drawing a wide line between wealthy people like himself and the rest of the electorate.                      

   His ugly comments were not only outright lies castigating the vast majority of the "47%", but also insults another segment of Americans : the caring people who describe themselves as "conservatives" but through their ongoing philanthropy show a concern for the non-wealthy that trumps their other ideological beliefs.

   Romney also slights the vast majority of low-income households in GOP-dominated areas across our nation consisting of service workers, farmers and evangelicals who ostensibly would be on his side.  As William Kristol, editor of the conservative WEEKLY STANDARD wrote days after the videotape came to light, "Romney seems to have contempt not just for the Democrats who oppose him, but for tens of millions (of Republicans) who intend to vote for him".   

   Mitt Romney obviously is a believer in the old cliched vision of the poor/lower middle-class population as primarily consisting of welfare queens, food stamp abusers and lazy daytime TV-watchers, and we all know that a percentage of people on various entitlement programs are indeed that. But like many followers of the Limbaugh Mentality he oversimplifies the topic by painting with the broadest of brushes, and by his statements insulted the vast majority of low-income citizens who receive few or no entitlements and are out there like the rest of us working hard every day and maintaining their various responsibilities.

   And his "pay no taxes" statement showed incredible ignorance of the US tax structure: the fact is that nearly every American  adult pays taxes in several ways, even those who pay a lower (or no) federal income tax rate because their earnings are so negligible. They are still  liable for sales taxes, Social Security levies, as well as property and payroll taxes, and most of them paid a higher income percentage than Romney himself did. The figure that the out-of-touch candidate SHOULD'VE used is actually closer to about 10%, which is the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office's estimate of the ratio of citizens who actually don't pay any taxes. And almost all of them are retirees on fixed incomes. Hope Romney wasn't insulting THEM.  

   This brings up another point re: Romney's entitlementphobia. Like so many rich people with his values he maintains the usual double-standard when it come to his own annual tax payouts. Romney and most other multi-millionaires cheerfully take yearly advantage of every loophole they and their tax advisors can find to reduce their payments (tax-free investments, private equity and corporate deductions, etc.),  just as, say, middle class homeowners enjoy yearly interest/property tax mortgage write-offs, child/dependent care and charitable deductions, among others.

   This is exactly what hard-working Americans SHOULD do...most of us aren't going to refuse any breaks we can get from Uncle Sam. But Romney, a man who has absolutely nothing in common  with about 98% of Americans and couldn't care less, obviously doesn't fret about the hundreds of "entitlements" he takes advantage of every year to drive HIS taxable rate down. Check out his reluctantly-released tax returns, and note that he paid a total percentage of only 20% from years 1990-2009 and a miniscule 14% last year. But instead he in effect bemoans the meager breaks that families just above or below the poverty level annually realize to get by year after year.  Most wealthy citizens' tax reductions are exponentially far more lucrative than anything the working poor and disabled realize, which helps to account for the small percentage millionaires like Romney pay every year.  This is why the richest Americans benefited disproportionately by former president George W. Bush's  huge tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 while the disposable income of the lower middle-class and poor decreased.

   The class warfare and contempt against nearly half of our electorate that Romney obviously espouses behind his scripted public appearances make this phoniest of candidates the living embodiment of a caricature: the image of the uncaring, ambition-driven charlatan who behind his suits and fast-talking answers and continuous spin control is a cipher. Romney has little regard about you, me or the "100%" that he now claims he'll be the president for, which has led to his current 35% likeability rating.

   Much of his candidacy strategy is predicated on the unassailable fact that many polls have shown a precipitous drop in the percentage of Republican voters who feel that the government has any responsibility at all to the less fortunate, from about 62% back in Ronald Reagan's second term in office to the present 40%. This Ron Paul/Tea Party-influenced 60% is the uncharitable segment of the GOP electorate that he is aiming for, and with the ongoing controversy of his viral comments Romney had BETTER hope that he gets their votes.

   And finally, the disgraceful fact that this most unpresidential of candidates attempted to use the recent Libyan tragedy as a political springboard by ridiculously blaming Obama for the consulate attack almost before the four victims' names were even identified enraged the GOP hierarchy as well as Democrats, and only served to shed another spotlight on where Mitt Romney's values really lie.