By now you’ve probably heard about Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s comments at a private fundraiser where he said:

There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it — that that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. These are people who pay no income tax. [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.

The first thing I thought after hearing the comments was that Mitt Romney sure acts differently when he’s around big-dollar donors than he does when he’s around regular folk.

The second thing I thought about after hearing the “dependent upon government” part was my father who had health problems that prevented him from working. He ended up receiving Social Security disability and as his minor child I received a monthly payment, too. We were entirely dependent upon the government. Anyone who’s been “dependent upon government” can tell you that those disability payments don’t move you into Mitt Romney’s tax bracket. I remember my father being embarrassed and depressed at not being able to contribute more to our family.

But one thing for sure – my dad never felt he was a victim. Continue reading →