{"id":1853,"date":"2012-09-20T18:21:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T18:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/09\/romneys-truth-and-those-people-the-dependent-victims-of-government-assistance.html"},"modified":"2012-09-20T18:21:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T18:21:00","slug":"romneys-truth-and-those-people-the-dependent-victims-of-government-assistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/09\/romneys-truth-and-those-people-the-dependent-victims-of-government-assistance.html","title":{"rendered":"Romney\u2019s Truth and Those People: The Dependent Victims of Government Assistance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/a><\/div>\n

by Andre E. Johnson<\/a>
R3 Editor
*Updated<\/p>\n

As expected, there has been much talk about Mitt Romney\u2019s inelegant but candid remarks about \u201cthose people.\u201d Those people he referred to were the 47% of people he claimed did not pay any income tax. As Mother Jones<\/a> reported, Romney went on to say that, \u201cthose people\u201d were \u201cdependent on government; believe \u201cthat they are victims\u201d and who also believe that government \u201chas a responsibility to care for them.\u201d He suggested that these people were going to vote for the president \u201cno matter what,\u201d because he would never be able to \u201cconvince them they should take personal responsibility over their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some believed that Romney would have to take back his statement or at least back off it a little because it seemed so damaging. Political pundits suggested that Romney could not win by writing off 47% of the electorate. Many said that he criticized many of his voters and by calling them \u201cdependent\u201d and \u201cvictims,\u201d he assured that many would not vote for him. However, when I first heard Romney\u2019s \u201ctruth,\u201d not only was I not surprised, but more importantly, in discussing the matter with a friend, I said that Romney would not back down from these comments. Matter of fact, I suggested that he would double down on the attacks and it will became a theme of the campaign.<\/p>\n

I figured Romney would continue this line of thought because frankly, we do not talk about the poor well in this country because we have a racialized view of the poor. While Romney did not mention \u201cthe poor\u201d or \u201crace,\u201d in his comments, words such as \u201cdependent,\u201d \u201cvictim,\u201d and anyone lacking \u201cpersonal responsibility\u201d are always associated with the poor black and brown folks who somehow get over on the government. Even Saturday Night Live recently parodied this sentiment.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Moreover, since poverty and \u201cthose people\u201d are associated with this problem of dependency, it allows people who do not want to be associated with \u201cthose people\u201d to disregard Romney\u2019s critique\u2014one that he aimed squarely at them. There are many in the 47% who celebrate Romney\u2019s \u201ctruth\u201d and argue that he is correct in his beliefs. They will say that government is too big and too many people are victims and dependent on the government but will not stop long enough to consider that Romney is talking about them as well. While many try to get away and not associate with those \u201cdependent\u201d \u201cvictims\u201d of government assistance, many of those same 47%<\/a> do not realize that Romney lumps them in together.<\/p>\n

It would be nice if the 47% could stand together and proudly claim their solidarity with each other; the gainfully employed and the unemployed, the students, and the elderly, the veteran and the businessperson, the rich and the poor, and say with one voice, \u201cwe reject your labels.\u201d It would be nice if all faith traditions, who have a mandate to treat the poor and the least of these with honor and respect would stand together and claim solidarity with the 47%. However, that probably will not happen as people try to disassociate themselves from those dependent victims, claiming that Romney is not \u201cspeaking about me.\u201d It is exactly what Romney wants and that is why we will continue to see this on the campaign trail. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor*Updated As expected, there has been much talk about Mitt Romney\u2019s inelegant but candid remarks about \u201cthose people.\u201d Those people he referred to were the 47% of people he claimed did not pay any income tax. As Mother Jones reported, Romney went on to say that, \u201cthose people\u201d were \u201cdependent on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRomney\u2019s Truth and Those People: The Dependent Victims of Government Assistance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Andre E. 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