"You Want the Truth? You Can't Handle the Truth!!!"

That line from A Few Good Men was all I could think of when I was watching the line taken out of context from Mitt Romney's statement at a private fund-raiser.

“[M]y job is, is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

If you read the whole speech or see the entire video, it's clear that he's not talking about how he would represent citizens as President were he to be elected--as the mainstream media would have you believe--but that he's only referring to the goal of his campaign. Here's the larger context:

“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,” the former Massachusetts governor can be heard saying.

“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,” he continued, adding “so our message of low taxes doesn’t connect.”

“[M]y job is, is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

As you can see, he's clearly talking about whom he can sway in terms of voting, and his point is a valid one...and his tone matter of fact and honest.

It's a tough political reality, and it's been summarized in this quote which may or may not be correctly attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler, Professor of Universal History, and Greek and Roman Antiquities, in the University of Edinburgh in the late 18th and early 19th centuries:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."

It's a frightening perspective on the future, which may be closer than we think.

The truth is, the Democrats are known for dangling entitlements. It may seem that Obama was just dealt a bad hand and has bungled with his policies. But has he? Or is it more strategic? With the above quote in mind, are the Dems encouraging more dependency on entitlements? Pandering to women and the elderly with promised healthcare handouts (really ladies, are you so silly that your votes can be bought with $10/month birth control pills?) and clearly targeting elderly minorities with radio ads for food stamps, because a 100% increase in food stamp usage since Obama took office is surely not large enough. Ask any cashier from any store that accepts them whether food stamps are abused. And what about free cell phones, to which you and I contribute every month when we pay our own cell phone bills? 

No, it's not pretty, but Romney's right. Obama's actively buying votes with entitlement programs, and those folks aren't likely to jump voluntarily off the fast-moving gravy train. Romney doesn't need to spend his campaign time and dollars there. Call it what you want, but I call it pragmatic. 

Move along, Mr. Romney, speak some common sense to independents who are still on the fence, and maintain your integrity by not back-peddling when liberals start flapping their hands in horror when you state the truth. I've seen you stick to your guns several times, and your stock has risen with me each time. Truth is still truth, even when those who are determined to edit tape selectively to spin a story against you become apoplectic when they hear it.

And as an added bonus, I'll share with you one of my favorite rants from Neal Boortz. If you have any questions about what poor really is in America, let's let The High Priest of the Church of the Painful Truth set you strait as he discusses "Hysteria Over The 'Risk' Of Being Poor."