Rinata
Gold Member
- Oct 5, 2009
- 6,790
- 973
- 153
The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior citizens. They are white men with high school degrees. As Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution has noted, the people who have benefited from the entitlements explosion are middle-class workers, more so than the dependent poor.
Romneys comments also reveal that he has lost any sense of the social compact. In 1987, during Ronald Reagans second term, 62 percent of Republicans believed that the government has a responsibility to help those who cant help themselves. Now, according to the Pew Research Center, only 40 percent of Republicans believe that.
The Republican Party, and apparently Mitt Romney, too, has shifted over toward a much more hyperindividualistic and atomistic social view from the Reaganesque language of common citizenship to the libertarian language of makers and takers. Theres no way the country will trust the Republican Party to reform the welfare state if that party doesnt have a basic commitment to provide a safety net for those who suffer for no fault of their own.
The final thing the comment suggests is that Romney knows nothing about ambition and motivation. The formula he sketches is this: People who are forced to make it on their own have drive. People who receive benefits have dependency.
But, of course, no middle-class parent acts as if this is true. Middle-class parents dont deprive their children of benefits so they can learn to struggle on their own. They shower benefits on their children to give them more opportunities so they can play travel sports, go on foreign trips and develop more skills.
People are motivated when they feel competent. They are motivated when they have more opportunities. Ambition is fired by possibility, not by deprivation, as a tour through the worlds poorest regions makes clear.
Sure, there are some government programs that cultivate patterns of dependency in some people. Id put federal disability payments and unemployment insurance in this category. But, as a description of America today, Romneys comment is a country-club fantasy. Its what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have about Romney.
Personally, I think hes a kind, decent man who says stupid things because he is pretending to be something he is not some sort of cartoonish government-hater. But it scarcely matters. Hes running a depressingly inept presidential campaign. Mr. Romney, your entitlement reform ideas are essential, but when will the incompetence stop?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/brooks-thurston-howell-romney.html?_r=3amp;ref=opinion&
Romneys comments also reveal that he has lost any sense of the social compact. In 1987, during Ronald Reagans second term, 62 percent of Republicans believed that the government has a responsibility to help those who cant help themselves. Now, according to the Pew Research Center, only 40 percent of Republicans believe that.
The Republican Party, and apparently Mitt Romney, too, has shifted over toward a much more hyperindividualistic and atomistic social view from the Reaganesque language of common citizenship to the libertarian language of makers and takers. Theres no way the country will trust the Republican Party to reform the welfare state if that party doesnt have a basic commitment to provide a safety net for those who suffer for no fault of their own.
The final thing the comment suggests is that Romney knows nothing about ambition and motivation. The formula he sketches is this: People who are forced to make it on their own have drive. People who receive benefits have dependency.
But, of course, no middle-class parent acts as if this is true. Middle-class parents dont deprive their children of benefits so they can learn to struggle on their own. They shower benefits on their children to give them more opportunities so they can play travel sports, go on foreign trips and develop more skills.
People are motivated when they feel competent. They are motivated when they have more opportunities. Ambition is fired by possibility, not by deprivation, as a tour through the worlds poorest regions makes clear.
Sure, there are some government programs that cultivate patterns of dependency in some people. Id put federal disability payments and unemployment insurance in this category. But, as a description of America today, Romneys comment is a country-club fantasy. Its what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have about Romney.
Personally, I think hes a kind, decent man who says stupid things because he is pretending to be something he is not some sort of cartoonish government-hater. But it scarcely matters. Hes running a depressingly inept presidential campaign. Mr. Romney, your entitlement reform ideas are essential, but when will the incompetence stop?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/brooks-thurston-howell-romney.html?_r=3amp;ref=opinion&
