Written by Thomas Magstadt   

About Willard Romney's bootlegged video: his comment that 47% of the population consists of self-pitying slackards looking for government handouts and thinking of themselves as "victims" of the system by any reasonable standard disqualifies him for the presidency. He was describing the part of the population that does the least desirable work for the lowest wages, gets the least in return for taxes they pay (and they DO pay taxes), and provides most of the enlistees for the armed forces. (Note: None of the five Romney boys has served a single day in the military.)

One obvious question is, What's the matter with Romney? How could he possibly say such a thing? Answer: He believes it's true. How could that be? Simple. He has NEVER had to worry about a paycheck in his life, has no idea what it would be like to do scut work for minimum wage or take the bus or suffer the indignities of boot camp (Willard didn't serve in the military either, you see). So the fact is, when Romney references the 47% he really doesn't have a CLUE what he's talking about. He has no life experience in or with the middle class and is not naturally gifted when it comes to empathy or, uh uh, social theory.

The other not-so-obvious question is, What's the matter with a country where the middle class is being squeezed ever harder while the rich get richer and roughly half of the real "victims" either don't notice, don't care, or spring to the defense of the rip-off artists and robber barons who oppose raising taxes while they gorge themselves on tax credits, oil depletion allowances, and government contracts? Seriously, what will it take to make the scales fall from the eyes of the millions of "victims" who will vote Republican next month despite all the evidence that this Republican party has forsaken them?

It's like we are sliding back into the future, becoming a kind of modern-day medieval society where indentured servitude is the norm and the serfs are forever grateful for any scraps that fall off the lord's table.