Mitt Romney The Republican Everyman

I think it's time we took a look at Governor Romney the presumptive Republican favorite, in a light which is he doesn't care for, but portends some truths. Romney likes to go around the country and play the everyman. He pretends he's unemployed, tells his audiences how he has feared the pink slip many times in his life, that he understands the middle class of America. In this self made reality, he tries desperately to connect to regular people. However, his actions speak louder than his words, and no one else can see the reality HE is talking about.

Again, I not out to impugn anyones success, but lets face facts, if you come from money the chance that you will lose that status is incredibly weak. Mitt Romney comes from money, his father was very successful in the auto industry, and a former Governor of Michigan. Romney is the product of private boarding schools, and an Ivy League education. Upon college graduation he "got a job" (was handed a job) at Bain Capital, and his first home was purchased by his father. I think it is fair to say that this man has never worked a hard day in his life. He's never worked in construction, farming or agriculture, manufacturing, as an educator, first responder, or served in the military.

Today he has a net worth of roughly $250 Million dollars. Most of his money does not come from work, but things like tax shelters, dividends, and capital gains. The majority of these based in the Cayman Islands. he freely admits paying only 15% in taxes on these profits which make him anywhere from $9 to $30 Million dollars a year. Most middle class working Americans who make a minute fraction of that, pay around 32% in taxes. Romney will be the first to tell you "this is the way our tax system is set up." He will also tell you with regard to his income that "I get money for speaking fees, but not very much." He made $375,000 in speaking fees last year, not very much indeed. None of what I have mentioned is illegal, or suspect in its acquisition. It is a very clear view into what is known today as the 1%. In defense of his "living" he likes to throw around the term "The politics of envy", that the system is what it is, do not blame him. "I will not apologize for my success!" I suppose being born with a silver spoon in your mouth could be viewed as success, but I'm not sure mainstream Americans are buying that.

If you make $10 Thousand dollar bets like it's pocket change, and profess wanting to help the middle class housing situation, while proclaiming the housing crisis should collapse, so more people can rent their homes. If you advocate letting the American auto industry fail, and that it should not be bailed out by the government. Then look back to 1991 when Bain & Co. took a $10 Million dollar government bail-out which eventually made him millions. If you accuse the President of crony capitalism, while your biggest Super-Pac contributors are tied to companies like AIG, as well as, some of the biggest Wall Street offenders who only survive today because of a massive taxpayer funded government bailout. While none of which have been prosecuted, and who today are reaping record profits and bonuses. Then your credibility suffers as a result. I'm not sure, but I don't think most Americans enjoy a shoe shine on the tarmac, before they hop on their private planes? If this is how you live, and you balk at releasing your tax returns, I have a problem? If you have made millions over the years as a corporate raider who's destroyed peoples lives, so you and your company could turn a profit, I have a problem? If your tax policy for people who make $20 Thousand dollars a year or less, increases their taxes 60%, I have a problem? If your tax policy for those who make $1 Million dollars or more a year, cuts their taxes by 15%, I have a problem? If you think this kind of policy should be discussed in "quiet rooms" away from the public eye, right again, I have a problem?

Mitt Romney wants us all to embrace him as the everyman, yet nothing could be further from the truth. At a time when income inequality, and the divide between the Mitt Romney's of the world, and the rest of us, is growing exponentially, take a moment to see the real Mitt Romney. A very rich man in the 1%, supported by big money interests in the 1%, to promote public policies that favor the 1%, and be the nominee of a Republican party that vows to protects those interests. So don't be fooled, the next time you hear Romney invoke the poor, the working people, the middle class, recognize he hasn't got a clue what he's talking about. The only everyman people see in Romney is the one who shows every position on every issue, and only God knows how many that is.