Mitt Romney’s privileged background reveals itself again. In Romney’s World, only the wealthy should run for President. One shouldn’t need that public salary.
We can surely all agree that it’s tacky to need a salary.
Where did Romney get such ideas? From his rich daddy, of course.
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Talking Points Memo reports that former presidential candidate George Romney gave his son Mitt some advice about running for office: make sure you’re set for cash.
“I happened to see my dad run for governor when he was 54 years old,†Romney said. “He had good advice to me. He said never get involved in politics if you have to win election to pay a mortgage. If you find yourself in a position when you can serve, you ought to have a responsibility to do so if you think you can make a difference, and don’t get involved in politics when your kids are still young because it may turn their heads.â€
I hope you’re not getting the idea that you can’t serve your country if you need the money or that you need to make a killing destroying other people’s businesses so that you can be free to run for office. David Axelrod said of Mitt Romney today, “He is not a job creator, he is a corporate raider.â€
But Romney made money for himself and his family. He is a “winner.†The fact that he did it by depriving other Americans of their livelihood is a bonus. This is entitlement as envisioned by Republicans.
If you are good enough at turning off your conscience and compassion so as to enable you to become a corporate raider and live high on the hog — so high that you don’t need a job and you can claim you are “unemployed†as you fly around visiting your various house — then you can run for office.
If you don’t find this comforting, you may wish to avoid 2012 all together. After all, this is your Republican front-runner for president; someone who surely has never wondered for a moment if he could pay for his wife’s healthcare, let alone pay his mortgages.
He has not created jobs, he has killed them. And yet, he is revered for being a “businessman.” Let this serve as a warning to you, for we have a “businessman” in office in Michigan as well. Rick Synder ran as a “moderate” who was good at business, and we see indeed that he does view government as a business that he owns and runs. If he doesn’t like who you elected or how you voted, he simply revokes the power of your vote. If you are not serving the business, you are disposable and worse, will be forced to serve it with higher taxes on you so that the friends of the business can prosper.
At times like this, it’s helpful to remember why we have government in the first place.
Perhaps Romney is taking a stab at the posse of ticky tacky nouveau riche Republicans who’ve made running for President their personal path to wealth. Running for president is, after all, the Republican Party version of job creation for the individual. And when you’re born to the manor, you naturally have certain ideas about who should be allowed in the club and who should not.
Don’t you just want to have a beer with this guy?
The lessons here are that readers would be wise to go outside of the Republican Party for their civics and history lessons, and if you’re looking for someone you can relate to, it’s probably not Willard Romney.
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