GOP Think Poor Americans Not Entitled to Food

From the Huffington Post:

It's also a rather extreme stand, and one contravened by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to assert that people are not entitled to, say, "food." According to the United Nations treaty, to which the United States is a signatory, "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."

According to the Tax Policy Center, in 2011, 46 percent of households paid no federal income taxes. (According to Harry Reid, Mitt Romney has been among them in the past.) About half simply didn't make enough money to pay income tax. The other 38 million households are exempted from paying by a variety of specific tax deductions. Nearly half of that latter group, 44 percent, were the elderly eligible for tax breaks. Another 30.4 percent were exempted by credits for children and the working poor -- breaks long championed by conservatives, most recently President George W. Bush.

Aside from the income tax issue, there are millions of Americans who use federal aid but don't see themselves as "dependent" on government. The active-duty soldiers and veterans who spent $100 million on military bases over the last year are just one example.

The perception that Romney's remarks showed a man out of touch with reality was worsened by the location of the closed-door fundraiser shown in the video: the private home of private equity manager Marc Leder. According to the New York Post, Leder once hosted a party at the Hamptons where "guests cavorted nude in the pool and performed sex acts, scantily dressed Russians danced on platforms and men twirled lit torches to a booming techno beat." A person with knowledge of Leder's parties confirmed the gist of them to The Huffington Post.

"Romney’s comment is a country-club fantasy," opined conservative columnist David Brooks of The New York Times. "It’s what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have about Romney."

New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait dubbed Romney a "sneering plutocrat" whose comments "disqualify his claim to the presidency." For TPM's Josh Marshall, it was a "fine distillation of the most rancid version of the libertarian conservative worldview." It was "absolutely devastating," Politico's Ben White concluded.

The mainstream media's most respected arbiters piled on. It was his "darkest hour as a candidate," said the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza.

Class Warfare and I'm Offended

Mostly, I've worked all my life. At 14, I worked in the summer, and I haven't stopped since. I'm not killing myself, but I am a typical American. I work at least 40 hours a week. When it comes to work, I have done the right thing my entire life.

I vote Democratic. I pay taxes. I pay income taxes. I am not jealous of those who pay no income taxes and live a modest life, but I am terribly offended by the comments made by Mitt Romney suggesting that I am a freeloader. Any look into the numbers shows that the elderly are least likely to pay any income taxes. Overwhelmingly, they vote Republican.

Mr. Romney would make far more than me if he sat in his pajamas for the next 5 years and smoked a pipe on his balcony. In this case, he would pay no payroll taxes. I would not think of him as a freeloader. I would also not think of him as a "maker."

If Mitt Romney had ever been a regular guy, he would understand this. Though he thinks I am lazy, I am not angry at him. Though he suggests I am a moocher, I am not upset. Though he says I feel entitled, I know he does not know any better. He is truly out of touch.

No one knows what goes on beneath the surface of our thinking. Today's GOP seems to agree with Mr. Romney's point of view. Whether this view is malicious or not, I cannot say. Clearly, however, they do not know what they are talking about. Considering the fact that 9 of the 10 states with the fewest income tax payers are Red States proves that this view does not hurt them.

On the other hand, the press that the GOP calls biased -- the liberal press -- they get it. They are educated. FOX does not count of course; their real journalists are embedded among the Republican proxies who double dip for network and campaign. FOX doesn't count.

Mr. Romney has made another error. He should give thanks that his opponent is so blindly despised by so many. It's Mitt's only chance. In a world with so little actual justice, Mr. Romney may even come back and win.

I can't say I know what's inside the hearts of the GOP, but I now know clearly what they mean when they talk about class warfare.