Romney’s Wrong! Partly…

Photo: Creative Commons/Gage Skidmore

Do the 47% who pay no federal income taxes believe they are victims? Do they believe the government is responsible for taking care of them, giving them health care and food and housing? No. At least, not all of them. I know this because I was one of them in 2010. The Making Work Pay Tax Credit wiped out all my income tax liability that year. Other years I paid a very small amount in income taxes, but I never felt like a victim.

Romney’s comment wasn’t smart. But let’s not overlook the truth in it. When the government takes responsibility for feeding and housing the poor, those poor people lose some of their political freedom.

Picture a father entering the voting booth, knowing that he needs food stamps to provide for his children. What if he fears his family will be on the street without welfare? What about the grandma who needs Medicare to pay for the surgery that will keep her alive?

Are these people free to vote their conscience on social issues and foreign policy? Are they free to vote for the politician with the best plan for our country as a whole? Or do they feel obligated to vote for the politician who promises to maintain the program on which they depend?

I am not arguing against all welfare programs. I do urge caution. Every time the government steps in to take care of one more thing, we lose some freedom. Our forefathers pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to win freedom for us. Are we just as dedicated to preserving it?

Are you better off than you were 4 years ago? Wrong question!

Republicans like to ask this question. I’d like to tell them, “It doesn’t matter.” Are we really so selfish that we’ll vote for a president based on how our individual lives are going? If I’m unemployed, will I vote against President Obama because he hasn’t fixed my life?

The real question should be, “Is our country better off than it was 4 years ago?” With our national debt topping $16 trillion, I believe the answer is no.

I hope you have noticed by now that I am an equal-opportunity criticizer. I disagree with some of President George W. Bush’s policies. The debt increased $4.9 trillion during his 8 years in office.

The debt has increased $5.3 trillion during President Obama’s 4 years in office. Whose fault is this? Is the debt still driven by Bush’s policies? What effect have Obama’s policies had?

Those are questions we must answer. It takes research to find the truth. Are we patriotic enough to hunt for answers? Will we face the truth when we find it? Stay tuned as I pursue this truth quest.

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My facts about the debt are from a chart at "The Exploding National Debt: Who's Responsible?"

Paul Ryan may not have lied, but did he deliberately mislead?

Paul Ryan did not technically lie about GM's SUV factory in Janesville. The statements he made were factually accurate. But there’s a difference between correct facts and true honesty. Paul Ryan’s speech seemed awfully misleading.

That disappointed me. I had respected him. Would he really twist the truth? I needed to figure that out. I read the details about the GM plant.  I read the entire speech that candidate Obama gave at Janesville in 2008.

Did Obama promise to keep the plant open? Didn’t he realize it would be closed before he took office? Did Paul Ryan take one sentence out of context to make a sleazy point?

Obama did not promise to keep the plant open. After honoring the plant’s nearly century-long history, he admitted it shut down temporarily during the Depression. He acknowledged how many times they changed what they manufactured to meet changing demand.

He described how Manitowoc, WI, lost a factory but gained two green energy companies that cut their unemployment in half.  He complimented the GM workers on how many hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles they were producing. Then came the all-important comments to which Paul Ryan referred.

And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years. The question is not whether a clean energy economy is in our future, it’s where it will thrive. I want it to thrive right here in the United States of America; right here in Wisconsin; and that’s the future I’ll fight for as your President. 

My energy plan will invest $150 billion over ten years to establish a green energy sector that will create up to 5 million new jobs over the next two decades – jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced. We’ll also provide funding to help manufacturers convert to green technology and help workers learn the skills they need for these jobs.

Candidate Obama implied that with the government’s help, they could transform the plant into a factory that produced something more energy efficient than SUVs. He did not specifically promise this. He did not break his promise. But the people of Janesville were rightly disappointed when the factory stood empty for Obama’s full first term as president. And Paul Ryan was not being dishonest when he mentioned their disappointment in his speech.