An Open Letter to Romney and His Ilk - by TPO

To: Mitt Romney, Aspiring Presidential Hopeful
From: The Patient Ox, a Middle Class Nobody
Date: February 4, 2012


Subject: Safety Nets and Soaring Balloons


Dear Mr. Romney:

I have been following your quadrennial political campaigns for quite some time now. They are indeed something of an insolvable puzzle to me. Why, sir, why are you running? Obviously, it is not for the money or the glamor. You definitely don't need the former, and you will still be the same awkward guy with the latter. Leaving these matters aside, however, my main concern is what you say, your utterances, and the vacuousness of your whole persona. In particular, I would like to examine, analyze, and question your stance on America's poor, America's wealthy, and America's middle class.

In your latest mindless statement you said, "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling."

First of all, I'm not even sure you know the exact number or population percentage of either the poor or the middle class. You don't even know if you have a tight enough safety net to catch the poor or the middle class who are fast approaching poverty.

Secondly, you say the very rich are doing fine. Then why are you and the rest of your greedy ilk clamoring and calling for more and permanent tax breaks for the One Percent? And, incidentally, I suspect that your number may be even less than what we keep getting told. I wouldn't be surprised if you comprise 0.5% of the population. You are, however, right not to worry about the very rich. They are being swept higher and higher by a sturdy and soaring balloon. I sure would love to fly in their beautiful, their beautiful balloon! [Is that envy or just good old American greed, à la Gordon Gekko?]

Thirdly, just to be Newt-like (i.e. nihilistic), if you believe that you have an accurate picture of the State of Americans, then you should realize that there is hardly any remedy for our ills from your side of the camp. You only believe in making the rich richer. The poor have "safety nets" that you had no part in building. And the unlucky middle class will have to wait for crumbs from you (i.e the trickle-down baloney!)

Fourthly, and lastly, aren't you the guy who loves to "be able to fire" those who don't give you the goods or services you want. That is typical of what we expect a CEO of a corporation to say. Incidentally, Cargill corporation recently laid off 2000 employees because of two consecutive declines in quarterly profits after more than a year of steady earnings increases. Not enough bonus for the CEO, maybe? You probably will empathize with the corporation now, won't you? Not the 2000 middle class people that got laid off.

I am not amazed that the greedy old people [GOP] party has picked you for a standard bearer. They deserve you, not Ron Paul who is infinitely more disciplined, principled, thoughtful, caring and altogether worthy candidate.

But, Mr. Romney, I still wish you best of luck because at least you are a better [more decent?!] person than the Gingrich monster.

Sincerely,

The Patient Ox