A Nation of Takers

So now the battle lines are drawn. Mitt Romney either by design or faux pas stumbled onto the truth. This election is about one thing…do we stand for our own well being as individuals, or are we dependents wrapped in the arms of a government nanny state.

When I was small, that was a theoretical question. Of course we believe in American individualism and exceptionalism. People were ashamed to take government assistance. Not anymore. These are government statistics. In the late 1980’s, 37% of American households had one member dependent on government largesse. In 2004 that figure had been bumped up to 44%. In 2011 it is at 47%, and climbing.  When Bill Clinton was president, 17 million Americans were on food stamps.  Today it is 47 million.

What is interesting is that not one of the Obama slobbering media outlets said Romney was wrong. They said it was a political gaffe to say it. Really? Romney was right. Those folks who become more and more dependent on the government will not move away from it or vote for someone who says they should. It becomes too comfortable. That doesn’t mean the government should abandon these folks. It means the role of the government is to get those folks a pay check rather than a government check.

The facts are stunning. More people went on Social Security Disability last month than found jobs. The work force participation rate, those looking for jobs, is at an all time low.  Unemployment among America’s young is 35%. Cradle to grave government largesse is not compassion.  That is the new slavery.

It is government do-gooders that have killed the middle class in this country. It is government do-gooders that have stopped construction projects for spiders. It is government do-gooders that have shut down the coal industry because of academic theories of global warming. It is government do-gooders that have given America the 2nd highest corporate tax rate in the world. It is government do-gooders that are preventing America’s energy independence. It is government do-gooders that have encouraged the destruction of the nuclear family. It is government do-gooders that have moved American jobs off shore because of bad fiscal, monetary, regulatory, and social policies…and that is a non-partisan statement.

And what is more disturbing is the number of Americans that pay NO federal income tax. You think it’s funny? It’s not. 47% of the American work force pays no federal income tax, and actually gets money back if the government goes into “tax rebate” mode. 90% of all taxes are paid by the top 1/3 of wage earners, and most of that is paid by the members of the notorious 1%, and Obama gets up there and says they aren’t paying their fair share? Bull!! YOU CANNOT TAX AND REGULATE YOUR WAY INTO PROPSERITY.

Everybody should pay something, from General Electric which paid no taxes last year, down to those who are making minimum wage…that way everybody has some skin in the game, and when tax policy is discussed in our political discourse, everybody will pay attention. And no…payroll taxes are NOT taxes. That is Social Security. If you don’t want to pay the “payroll tax”…get rid of Social Security.

The cold hard fact is the party is over. Barack Obama has decided that rather than create wealth through work and free enterprise, the solution is to print money. There is no free money. That approach has never worked anywhere in the world or anytime in history. He is a thief with a stolen credit card. When the proverbial you know what hits the fan…and it will…this country will learn some very hard lessons. The country will learn we can’t be a nation of takers. We have to be a nation of makers. But then it might be too late.