As a child I remember my parents taking me to the
circus. One of my favorite parts of the
circus was the high wire and trapeze acts.
The danger involved with these performances gets our adrenalin
going. To mitigate the danger involved
with these acts, the performers often use a safety net so that if they fall
they will not be injured or killed and can then get back up and continue their
performance.
Life is like a high wire or trapeze act and comes with certain
risks and danger. To protect those who
fall due to the circumstances of life, our country has developed a safety
net. We have unemployment for those who
lose their job, food stamps so they can feed their families and disability for
those disabled. Like the safety net for
a circus act, these programs assist those who fall victim to economic downturns
or other circumstances of life that put them in danger but they were not intended
to last forever.
We now have people who fell into the safety net and decided
to stay there. They have had children
who have never known anything other than living dependent on some form of
government handout. In 1996, Republicans
in the House and Senate voted for and President Clinton signed legislation that
changed the welfare program into a workfare program requiring individuals to
look for work in order to continue receiving government checks. The workfare program resulted in nearly 3
million families moving out of dependency on a government check and moving into
self-sufficiency. (1)
A You Tube video recently surfaced where Mitt Romney is seen
saying that there are 47% of the population that will vote for more government
handouts and higher taxes on the rich.
Opponents of Romney have used this to try to prove their accusations
that Romney and Republicans do not care for the poor and disadvantaged. However, we found out later that part of the
video is missing so we cannot be sure of the context of Romney’s comments. (2)
To determine the context of Romney’s remarks we must look at
other comments and actions of Mitt Romney.
In Mitt Romney’s recently released tax returns, we see that he had
income of $13,696,951 and paid taxes of $1,935,708. Mitt and Ann Romney also gave $4,020,772 to
charity. We can tell a lot about someone
from what we see on his or her tax return.
Romney’s tax return shows me that he is wealthy but it also shows
someone who pays his taxes and is very charitable. Based on what I see in the Romney’s tax
return, I conclude that Mitt Romney was not calling for the elimination of the
governmental safety net in his comments on the 47% but was expressing his
desire to see people in the safety net come out of it.
The government’s safety net not intended to be a
hammock. We need a thriving economy
where people can find work and we need to educate second and third generations,
raised in the safety net, that there is a better way to live. People free to pursue their individual dreams
and goals built the United States.
Unfortunately, for many, they have fallen prey to politicians with an
agenda of creating a permanent dependency class. It is time for us to break this cycle and
empower these individuals to break free of dependency and begin pursuing their
own dreams. This is the most charitable
and compassionate thing we can do for these people.
1. Capara, Collette. How Welfare’s Work
Requirements Make a Difference in Lives. blog.heritage.org. [Online] The
Heritage Foundation, July 30, 2012. [Cited: September 22, 2012.] http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/30/how-welfares-work-requirements-make-a-difference-in-lives/.
2. Morrissey, Ed.
“Complete” video of Romney missing 1-2 minutes of remarks on the 47%. hotair.com.
[Online] Hot Air, September 19, 2012. [Cited: September 22, 2012.]
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/09/19/complete-video-of-romney-missing-1-2-minutes-of-remarks-on-the-47/.
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