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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThurston Howell Romney by David Brooks
In 1960, government transfers to individuals totaled $24 billion. By 2010, that total was 100 times as large. Even after adjusting for inflation, entitlement transfers to individuals have grown by more than 700 percent over the last 50 years. This spending surge, Eberstadt notes, has increased faster under Republican administrations than Democratic ones.
There are sensible conclusions to be drawn from these facts. You could say that the entitlement state is growing at an unsustainable rate and will bankrupt the country. You could also say that America is spending way too much on health care for the elderly and way too little on young families and investments in the future.
This comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that he really doesnt know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare?
It suggests that Romney doesnt know much about the culture of America. Yes, the entitlement state has expanded, but America remains one of the hardest-working nations on earth. Americans work longer hours than just about anyone else. Americans believe in work more than almost any other people. Ninety-two percent say that hard work is the key to success, according to a 2009 Pew Research Survey.
It says that Romney doesnt know much about the political culture. Americans havent become childlike worshipers of big government. On the contrary, trust in government has declined. The number of people who think government spending promotes social mobility has fallen.
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.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/brooks-thurston-howell-romney.html?_r=1&smid=tw-share&_rmoc.semityn.www
smackd
(216 posts)napkinz
(17,199 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,322 posts)judging by that excerpt. If you've lost the NYT's resident "reasonable conservative" since you're too right wing, you've no chance of getting independents.
malaise
(269,063 posts)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.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)how an incident that even friggin David Brooks, a consumate Republican apologist, sees as damaging can be viewed as no big deal anyone.
eShirl
(18,494 posts)"Wake me up in November."
City Lights
(25,171 posts)malaise
(269,063 posts)JHB
(37,161 posts)More positioning for a Romney loss.
Blue Yorker
(436 posts)Damn. Good one.
jsr
(7,712 posts)Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)P.S.- RIP Don, you were all right in my book.
Jennicut
(25,415 posts)When David Brooks is writing this about you, you truly are an idiot.
pampango
(24,692 posts)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.
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.
... 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.
Most of us would disagree with Brooks' opinion of the 'real' romney, but he is right that is 'scarcely matters whether he is a "cartoonish government-hater" or 'real-world' country club teabagger. Either way he is not qualified to be president.
malaise
(269,063 posts)You've got to be joking.
Rmoney believes in Democracy for the Few - ask Parenti.
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)Transplanted Gilligan's brain in Mr. Howell's head?