At a closed fundraiser earlier this year, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney shared some of his personal opinions-opinions that he himself thinks will alienate voters.
In a video leaked earlier this week by the investigative website Mother Jones, who didn’t release date of the fundraiser nor the filmer of the video, Romney said 47 percent of the people will vote for the president no matter what. (According to Mother Jones, the recording device was inadvertently turned off between these two segments.)
He says that these are people 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.”
According to him, these people also “pay no income tax.”
Let me point out now that while his percentage is true, the real amount of Americans who dodge taxes is much smaller. According to the Tax Policy Center, about two-thirds (28.3 percent) paid federal payroll taxes in 2011, taxes similar to income taxes. Also, 10.3 percent were elderly, and 6.9 percent were non-elderly but had an annual income of less than $20,000. This leaves less than 1 percent of Americans dodging taxes.
And here’s the kicker.
Romney said, “My job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
Really? I know he was talking to a bunch of millionaires who probably don’t care all that much about the poor and disenfranchised, but he couldn’t even pretend to care about his fellow citizens. These people account for almost half of the the population of the country he wants to rule for four years, and he says his job “is not to worry about those people”?
If Romney is elected, and I hope to the contrary, let us hope that he doesn’t leave 47 percent of Americans behind to suffer on their own.
So let’s not let this happen. For the sake of you and your fellow Americans vote for Obama this November. And if you aren’t yet 18, make sure your parents, relatives and friends know who will help lead all Americans to a better tomorrow.