With the release of "The Video" [that's what I'm calling it] it seems everyone is running around trying to put their own take on what impact it will have on the election. As I see it, it will hurt Mitt Romney, but I still think it'll come down to the debates in October. What I found interesting wasn't so much the response from the Left, which was expected and predictable, but rather the response from the Right, or at least the moderate Right. As far as the far Right goes, Mitt Romney finally made his bones. I'll get around to that in a future piece.
But getting back to the moderate conservatives, or as I like to call them, the sane ones, I was thinking about who would be a good choice for this month's feature. David Frum was noticeably MIA on the whole thing, which was good because he's had enough free space on this blog. And then I read David Brooks' piece in The New York Times, which nailed it for me.
Keep in mind, I'm not agreeing with Brooks' underlying premise, just the criticism he has of Romney, which is refreshingly candid. It's gratifying to know that reasonable people on both sides of the political aisle can agree on what was clearly a crossing of a line.
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.
But getting back to the moderate conservatives, or as I like to call them, the sane ones, I was thinking about who would be a good choice for this month's feature. David Frum was noticeably MIA on the whole thing, which was good because he's had enough free space on this blog. And then I read David Brooks' piece in The New York Times, which nailed it for me.
Keep in mind, I'm not agreeing with Brooks' underlying premise, just the criticism he has of Romney, which is refreshingly candid. It's gratifying to know that reasonable people on both sides of the political aisle can agree on what was clearly a crossing of a line.
Thurston Howell Romney
By DAVID BROOKS
In 1980, about 30 percent of Americans received some form of
government benefits. Today, as Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise
Institute has pointed out, about 49 percent do.
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.
But these are not the sensible arguments that Mitt Romney
made at a fund-raiser earlier this year. Romney, who criticizes President Obama
for dividing the nation, divided the nation into two groups: the makers and the
moochers. Forty-seven percent of the country, he said, are people “who are dependent
upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a
responsibility to take care of them, who believe they are entitled to health
care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”
This comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that
he really doesn’t 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 doesn’t 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 doesn’t know much about the political
culture. Americans haven’t 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.
Romney’s comments also reveal that he has lost any sense of
the social compact. In 1987, during Ronald Reagan’s second term, 62 percent of
Republicans believed that the government has a responsibility to help those who
can’t 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. There’s no way the country will trust the
Republican Party to reform the welfare state if that party doesn’t have a basic
commitment to provide a safety net for those who suffer for no fault of their
own.
The final thing the comment suggests is that Romney knows
nothing about ambition and motivation. The formula he sketches is this: People
who are forced to make it on their own have drive. People who receive benefits
have dependency.
But, of course, no middle-class parent acts as if this is
true. Middle-class parents don’t deprive their children of benefits so they can
learn to struggle on their own. They shower benefits on their children to give
them more opportunities — so they can play travel sports, go on foreign trips
and develop more skills.
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 world’s poorest regions makes clear.
Sure, there are some government programs that cultivate
patterns of dependency in some people. I’d put federal disability payments and
unemployment insurance in this category. But, as a description of America
today, Romney’s comment is a country-club fantasy. It’s what self-satisfied
millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have
about Romney.
Personally, I think he’s 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. He’s running a
depressingly inept presidential campaign. Mr. Romney, your entitlement reform
ideas are essential, but when will the incompetence stop?
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/brooks-thurston-howell-romney.html?_r=1&ref=davidbrooks
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