Well, I guess we know exactly how Mitt Romney feels about a lot of his fellow Americans. Romney has judged us and found us wanting. If I was going to pick a word to describe Romney's feeling about us, that word would be "contempt." Mitt Romney has let us know about his contempt for 47 percent of Americans. He doesn't want us in his America.
He says we're dependent on the government, that we look to the government to take care of us. Look at me. I'm one of them. In retirement, I'm more or less dependent on Social Security. In Romney's judgment, people like me aren't taking responsibility for our own lives; we're letting government take responsibility for us. Let's face it; we're just not good enough for good old Mitt.
If I had known back then that I would ultimately let Romney down this way, I might have prevented my employers from taking that first Social Security money out of my paycheck. I could have said, "No, no, you can't take that money. I don't want Mitt Romney to be disappointed in me when I'm old and retired and I ask for that money back. That will be money from the government."
According to Romney, that Social Security check is tainted money; it's "Obama money"; it's money that makes it clear that I'm not taking responsibility for my own life; it puts me in the same class as the moochers and the welfare queens he says are voting for Obama.
And look here. Here's another way I'm failing Romney. I'm dependent on Medicare for my medical coverage. Once again, I'm dependent on the government.
Of course, my dependence may have to do with the fact that, after three different go-rounds with cancer, there isn't a private, for-profit insurance company that would sell me any kind of medical insurance at all. Romney and Ryan talk about vouchers. Is there a million dollar voucher? Maybe someone would sell me a policy if I could give them a million up front.
Mitt Romney feels he deserves to judge me and the rest of us. And, in his own mind, Mitt is way ahead in that favorite internal mental game of the rich and powerful; he's thinking to himself: "I'm a better man than you are."
It never seems to occur to these people, like Romney and George W. Bush, that with their wealthy and politically powerful fathers, they started with a big advantage: little things like a family fortune, Harvard Law School - born rich, brought up rich, and (have you noticed?) doing their best to keep that advantage.
You might want to do your own personal inventory to make sure that you're OK in Romney's view. Are you completely free of the taint of government money? It's difficult. Getting older? Headed for Social Security? How about the mortgage interest deduction on your federal taxes? Are you a beneficiary of that tax break? Mitt would say it's a hand-out from the government.
Romney doesn't deserve our vote. He has contempt for us. Talk about entitlement, Romney believes that he is entitled to be president. I don't. I think he deserves a nice long vacation. Maybe he could go visit his money in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands. Let's vote to give Romney a holiday in the Caymans after this tough campaign.
L. P. McGovern
Williamstown
