On being a helpless ward of the state
Mitt Romney’s comments about the “47 percent” are deplorable and indefensible. Real conservatives don’t write anyone off; they care about helping people get out from under government dependency.
Still. As a couple of others around The Internets have noted, the idea that some people are nothing but helpless wards of the state is not Romney’s own. He borrowed it from Barack Obama:
I think it might be the belief that everybody who accepts something like a tax credit, a guaranteed loan, or any other reasonably direct government assistance is a “helpless ward of the state” that’s getting guys like Romney in trouble. A lot of us believe that 1) the government should provide certain services, 2) it’s okay to use them, 3) statistically, it’s inevitable that some people are going to use more than they contribute at some point in their life, 4) that’s okay, and 5) writing off about half of the country as irresponsible or as a mere “ward of the state” is gross and dehumanizing.
At my office, people sometimes leave cake in the breakroom. You can eat it. You can also leave your own cakes there. Sometimes people are net eaters of cake. I’m probably a net eater. I don’t think this makes me a ward of the office break room.
