<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; ">From Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120919,0,2408537.column" style="font-size: 12pt; ">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120919,0,2408537.column</a></div><div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br></div><div style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-size: 16px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; "><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; ">"...what emerges from Romney's frank appeal to his contributors may be that these numbers [most non-income tax payers are young,
retired, or disabled] don't matter to him or his followers. It's the <em>narrative</em> that's in play, and it's an old one. Its theme is "the undeserving poor."</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; ">As the late A.J. Liebling, the great press critic for the New Yorker, described the credo, "the poor are poor because of their sins and whatever they get is too good for them." The Romney corollary is that the rich are rich because of their personal virtues and whatever they get they earned as "job creators."</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; ">Romney's interpretation of his own figures is that those who don't pay federal income taxes not only don't
deserve government succor but are beyond the reach of his powers of moral suasion: "I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility."</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; ">Whether he believes that or is just telling his audience what he thinks it wants to hear, it's a dramatic departure from the concept of government that was established during the Great Depression and embedded as tradition during the eight decades since. In his speech, Romney derided those who felt themselves "entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you-name-it." During the New Deal era,<a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PEPLT005656" title="Franklin Delano Roosevelt" href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/franklin-delano-roosevelt-PEPLT005656.topic" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-decoration: none;
">Franklin Roosevelt</a> made short work of that mind-set.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; ">"For people who want to keep themselves free from starvation, keep a roof over their heads, lead decent lives, have proper educational standards, those are the concerns of government," Roosevelt said. "And another thing … is the protection of the life and the liberty of the individual against elements in the community that seek to enrich and advance themselves at the expense of their fellow citizens."</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; ">To Romney, that's an outmoded paradigm. But if he wants to make the case, he owes it to all American voters to base his
argument on all the facts."</div><div style="font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; "><br></span></div><div style="font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; ">It's a variation on the meme started by Reagan, the "Cadillac-driving welfare queen", government wants to take your money and give it to the lazy and undeserving.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Ron Force</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: transparent; ">Moscow Idaho USA</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,
'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; line-height: 20px; "><br></div></div></div></body></html>