147%

Many people have pointed out that Mitt Romney’s assertion that 47 percent of people pay no taxes is true but there’s more nuance as far as who makes up that 47 percent. Those numbers include a healthy total of people who do pay payroll taxes (which support entitlement programs), the elderly and people who don’t make enough income to be taxed. I’ve read that the total of 47 percent includes people who owe nothing due to tax breaks and the very wealthy. (I found a helpful article on this at http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/09/who-are-47/56965/ )

So it’s not as if almost half the country is sitting around on the couch eating bon-bons, waiting for the welfare checks to come in and laughing at those suckers who work for a living. These 47 percent do pay, or have paid, something. There is more nuance there and what bothers me is that Romney didn’t acknowledge that in his speech to donors. The fact that older people living on income tax-exempt Social Security comprise part of that 47 percent should be obvious to most of us. I don’t know what’s more disturbing: That Romney actually didn’t know that or that he chose to gloss over it in order to be divisive.

I had already decided to vote for President Obama, despite the fact that I am not entirely thrilled with his first four years, but after Romney’s speech, my 100 percent certainty became 147 percent. I have no patience when anyone who aspires to leadership can make a blanket statement about 150 million people. To do so reveals a limited mind.

I can be as judgmental as any human sometimes but I hesitate to make judgments about such large swaths of people. I understand the impulse to vote for Romney and I would never try to brush off his voters as having one mind. But Romney did. He metaphorically looked 300 million Americans in the eye and told them he knew their mindset: victimhood. That’s an obnoxious, condescending view and it’s not worthy of someone who wants to be a leader.

It kills me to see people who are wealthy complain about their taxes. Sure, they might pay a higher rate than someone with less income but you think they could look around at their nice house and car and vacation souvenirs and think, “I’m doing OK so maybe I should quit moaning.” If Romney thinks there are people in this country who see themselves as victims, he might want to take a closer look because many of those victims are probably his peers with more money than they know what to do with who are still whining because someone else might be getting a welfare check and taking 57 cents of their tax money.

There are important conversations to be had about tax reform in this country but calling people victims or freeloaders isn’t it. The tax system is so complicated that we can’t simply divide people into makers and takers. At times, all of us are both. I might pay school taxes for someone’s child and that person might pay for the road I’m driving on. We pool our resources for the good of the country. It’s the way government has to work and anyone with a lick of sense should understand that.

I complain about not having money like any middle class person, since we’ve had our fair share of having to spend on our house and cars, but I have been trying to look around and be grateful for what I have. We’re doing OK. We’re not living the lifestyles of the rich and famous, but we have jobs, a house, food on the table and an occasional vacation. I’m not going to waste my time being bitter or angry that someone might be getting more for less.

This country would be better off if we all worried about ourselves and not that the guy down the street might be getting a little more than he contributed. Too many people sound like kids at a birthday party, jealous that somebody is getting a bigger piece of cake than he deserves. It’s not a flattering look.