Class warfare and the 47 percent

I was going to write about Mitt Romney’s “China cheaters” ad that’s been all over my TV all week, but then this happened.

Yesterday, Mother Jones posted online a snippet of a video shot secretly at a Romney fundraiser back in May. They’ve since posted the entire thing, but it was the initial excerpt that got people all riled up, myself included. Here’s what Romney said:

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.”

There’s so much to refute here that it’s hard to know where to begin. Let’s start with my annoyance that once again Romney is conflating two things that have little to do with one another either because he doesn’t understand them or he does, and just hopes that you and I don’t. It’s true that nearly half of Americans don’t write a check to the IRS each year, and it’s probably true that half of Americans get some form of assistance from the government. But these aren’t the same people, and they sure as hell aren’t all Obama voters.

First, the tax thing. It’s a well-worn right-wing talking point that 47 percent of Americans “don’t pay taxes,” usually presented in such a way to make whoever’s hearing it feel outraged because he or she is a hard-working American and those 47 percent are probably sitting at home playing X-box and lighting their cigars with your tax dollars. The problem is that the hardworking American who’s hearing about the 47 percent – and the person who’s telling them – are both likely part of it.

Let’s throw it to the AP:

“Forty-six percent of the country's households -- some 76 million -- paid no federal income taxes last year, according to a study by the Tax Policy Center.

While it's true most of those families are poor, the numbers include many others who got tax breaks because they are old, have children in college or didn't owe taxes on interest from state and local bonds. And of those who didn't write checks to the IRS, six in 10 still paid Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, and more than that paid federal excise taxes on items such as gasoline, alcohol and cigarettes, said Roberton Williams, who analyzes taxes at the center.”

Now, Romney quoting the easily refuted tax thing is ignorant and/or deliberately misinformative . Romney pulling out the “people who get government money are lazy and entitled” thing is just offensive.

You know who gets government money? My dad, a Vietnam vet who’s on 100 disability from the VA from that time 40 years ago when Uncle Sam sent him to jungle to get shot four times. My grandfather, who gets the Social Security benefits he paid into his entire working career. Me, who got through college thanks to the low-interest, government-backed student loans that I’m now paying back. Anyone who got a small-business loan to help “build that.”

Oh, I know, I know. Romney wasn’t talking about us. He meant the bad ones, the ones who abuse the system. The mythical welfare queens driving Cadillacs and managing to use their food stamps on liquor, even though that’s illegal.

Except that he didn’t do that. He said this: everyone who doesn’t pay income taxes only survives because they live off the government, and everyone who gets a dime from the government is also a free-loader who doesn’t pay into the system. And they’re all automatic Obama voters because we’re terrified that a President Romney will make us actually get off the couch and wash ourselves.

The fact that none of this is true doesn’t seem to bother Romney, which I guess is just par for the course at this point. He’s shown himself to be concerned less with fact and more with how lies make his supporters feel: superior to those of us that think a progressive tax rate has worked pretty well, actually.

Here’s a thought… what about the other 47 percent? So to speak – I’ve no idea what the actual percentage is of people who would vote for Mickey Mouse if he were running against Barack Obama, but they’re out there. They’d do so despite demonstrated evidence that our economy grew faster when the tax rate on the highest earners was higher than it is now; or that our country is a better place now that we require kids to go to school instead of to factories; or that 21^st century Democrats really do have no interest in taking their guns. Why isn’t Romney tsk-tsking about the rationality of those voters? Why isn’t he publicly worried about fraud in federal welfare programs like subsidies for oil companies, or tax loopholes that allow a retired investment banker earning millions a year to pay a lower income tax rate than I do?

It’s okay. We already know why Romney’s not talking about those things. It’s because you talk about what’s important to you, and I guess if you’re Mitt Romney, you just make up the rest.