I am one of the 47% - are you?

Romney made a statement when he was preaching to the choir "that 47% of Americans "pay no income tax", people who he could "never convince … to take personal responsibility and care for their lives." [Who are Romney's 47% that don't pay tax?].

The full excerpt from a video acquired by Mother Jones:

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax."

Now he didn't mean for it to be made public - it is the kind of honesty that politicians only express when they are among equals and in a setting expected to guarantee that it would not be repeated outside the four walls. It was a private fund raiser where the prospective donors where wealthy, very wealthy. [Who Was at Romney's "47 Percent" Fundraiser?].



The video is more important for the audio - listen and full import of his message is better grasped. Oddly enough one might guess that this comment (he made other ones of interest too) was leaked by an attendee. It is obvious that the video was surreptitiously made, apparently from underneath a table. And it was leaked to Mother Jones, not a main stream media outlet.

Apparently Romney believes that the 47% had no income because they paid no federal income taxes. In their article the Guardian UK details who makes up the 47% and why many of these people don't pay federal income taxes. See too David Brooks article in the New York Times on Romney's statement. Also consider the Economist chart on who falls within the 47%.

Yes - there is approximately 47% [46.4%] of Americans that don't pay federal income taxes. But Romney Republicans want you to believe that these are mostly lazy, irresponsible Democrats who will vote for Obama because he pays out entitlements to these undeserving citizens.

Needless to say - if you are not working you don't pay federal income taxes. But there are some of the better off that don't pay federal income taxes. And arguably, there are those high income earners who pay federal income tax at a very low rate. The name of the game is to pay as little as possible.

And who are some of these undeserving entitlement recipients? They are the homeless, the jobless, the underemployed, the low income, the poverty stricken, the elderly, the retired, the sick, the infirmed, the disabled, . . . [the list goes on].  Somehow they have become lazy, irresponsible and mindless Democrats.

Following Romney's logic one would think that Republicans have never occupied the White House. And, it is not too difficult to extend Romney's logic to establish that income should be a factor for voter eligibility.

David Brooks sees Romney as "a kind, decent man who says stupid things because he is pretending to be something he is not — some sort of cartoonish government-hater." It is difficult to reconcile decency and stupidity and pretender.

A decent person, who happens to be well-educated, doesn't put principals and ethics aside to pretend he is something he is not for the sake of raising money. No - these were honest statement of his beliefs that he recognizes are not politically correct to utter in public - they might give people the right idea about him.

Republicans like Romney seem destined to take the right-wing path of Republican politics. They are selfish, compassionless, self righteous, ideologues bent on shedding what they view as the 'weak and irresponsible' from the planet. And not unsurprisingly - these are people who will tell you about their deep religious convictions. Sadly they are Christians in name only.