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 Michael Medved

The Opposite of Independence

September 28, 2012 @ 12:34 pm

Our biggest national holiday is the 4th of July-or Independence Day- and it celebrates not just political independence for the nation but personal independence for each of its citizens. Americans should remember that the opposite of independence is dependence-counting on government to provide sustenance and support.

No one wants to live this way, since dependence defeats liberty, and no one should celebrate the sad fact that a third of all Americans now live in a household receiving some form of welfare check from Washington-not even counting Social Security and Medicare. Can Barack Obama take pride in growing poverty and swelling welfare rolls under his leadership, with food stamp recipients doubling?

As Mitt Romney recently declared: "In my presidency, we won't measure progress by how many people get on food stamps, but how many people get off food stamps."

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  • messiah101 wrote...
    Medved
    September 28, 2012 12:07 pm
    Your as Brain Dead as Romney. You insinuate that all people receiving Social Security and medicare are receiving welfare.I paid into SSI for 41 years and I paid medicase also like most other people.You learned nothing from Romneys pissing off the 47%
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  • Rick (4) wrote...
    @messiah101
    September 29, 2012 1:06 pm
    Medved - specifically exempted SS and Medicare, but you attack him on these. You are a nut.
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  • messiah101 wrote...
    Rick(4)
    September 29, 2012 2:27 pm
    No he in no way left out SSI and Medicare,look at the way he phrased his words" NOT EVEN COUNTING Social Security and Medicare" means the same as not including Social Security and Medicare.The word "counting" means the same as adding in Medveds word usage.Your reading comprehension is lacking of course thats what makes you a FAR Righty.Most FAR Rightys don't understand subject matter because of stupidity or just por reading skills
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  • logical open mind wrote...
    messiah-fool re-read Medved and smarten up.
    October 1, 2012 9:20 am
    you misread what his point obviously is. DUH!!!!
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Michael - you are wrong. A LOT of people want to be dependent.
    September 28, 2012 12:13 pm
    So much easier that way. No decisions. And, heck, nobody makes you work like that other dependency condition known as slavery.

    But Mitt is finally getting it right. .. Get people OFF food stamps. .. Get people OFF welfare. .. Get people working to recapture their pride.

    Please, Mitt. Don't forget about thay 47%. .. The goal is to make that percentage a whole lot smaller.

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  • messiah101 wrote...
    Ron P
    September 29, 2012 2:33 pm
    Yep getting a few hundred a month and not needing to make any decisions (except do we have the money to eat once or twice today and can I afford to eat at all with a sick kid who needs some expensive medication) Thats certainly the "EASIER" HIGH LIFE allright
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Messiah - go to your Funk and Wagnalls and look up the word "facetious" and
    September 29, 2012 5:47 pm
    So much for my paragraph 1. ... Now, if you've some comments about my paragraphs 2 & 3 .........

    Your concerns for the poor are admirable. Unfortunately, the progressive solution is its Okay to keep them poor forever, so long as you feed them.

    I would rather no one was poor. The ideal is to bring prosperity to everyone so that no one need make the choices you have noted.

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  • logical open mind wrote...
    mesiah-idiot! the poor get medicaid and free drugs-ask a pharmacists
    October 1, 2012 9:22 am
    fool
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  • Pair o'dimes wrote...
    Depends on what you mean by dependency...
    September 28, 2012 1:29 pm
    So farmers receive price supports, so corporations receive tax breaks, so capital gains are taxed at a lower rate than wages. Until corporate welfare is added to the mix of programs that Romney wants to reduce, it just comes off as class warfare. The wealthy have used their influence to game the system in their favor, and they are every bit as addicted to government handouts as the poor.
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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    You learned nothing from Romneys pissing off the 47%
    September 28, 2012 2:56 pm
    But Romney made happy the 53 percent who will vote for him. 53 to 47 percent may be the final tally of Romney's victory this November!
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  • Drool wrote...
    Ha Ha
    September 28, 2012 3:04 pm
    Not if the election goes anything like the polling.
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Yup, Droll. Call all your friendas back east ant tell them they might as well sleep in election day. its in the bag.
    September 28, 2012 3:53 pm
    won't make a difference here as demos are such a majority. But I think these psych polls will work against Obama.
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  • SeattleD wrote...
    Laughing boy has it wrong on the math
    September 28, 2012 8:26 pm
    Romney said he won't get any votes from the 47% of people that do not pay federal income tax. That leaves 53% of people that do pay federal income tax. But...

    Just because you pay federal income tax doesn't mean you automatically vote for Dumney. In fact, out of that 53% of people that do pay federal income tax, half of them will be voting for Obama.

    Let's see, 47% + 26.5% = 73.5% voting for Obama and only 26.5% voting for Dumney. An Obama landslide.

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  • Pair o'dimes wrote...
    And who is your economics professor AJ? Ayn Rand?
    September 29, 2012 9:53 am
    I apologize for lumping in lower capital gains tax rates with corporate welfare. The beneficial rates accorded capital gains is more like wealthy welfare. Retirees that have income from capital gains are taxed at a much lower rate anyway. Capital gains could occur if a company was showing a profit and hiring people, but they could also occur if the company was outsourcing and off-shoring its work. In the 1980s Ronald Reagan increased the Capital gains tax rate and we saw increased economic activity and job gains. In 2001 George Bush lowered them and we have seen the worst job creation since World War 2. The real economic engine is demand, which occurs when a majority of people in the country have money to spend. There is absolutely no correlation between capital gains tax rates and job creation. AJ, you might want to get an economics education somewhere else.
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  • Forrest wrote...
    Medved says " Americans should remember that the opposite of independence is dependence-counting on government to provide sustenance and support".
    September 29, 2012 4:08 pm
    As in Halliburton Corporation, General Dynamics, General Electric Military Jet Engines Division, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, United Technologies, BAE Systems Inc., Northrop Grumman Corporation, Kellogg, Brown and Root, Colt Defense, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Rock Island Arsenal and hundreds of other corporations in the military industrial complex. We must cut these dependents also if we are to balance the budget. American taxpayers can't afford to be the world police and let American infrastructure dissolve into ruins.
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  • SeattleD wrote...
    Ann is concerned for Dumney's mental health
    September 29, 2012 4:38 pm
    She said if he won the election, "I think my biggest concern obviously would just be for his mental well-being."

    Dumney could be one of those crazy presidents. Thanks for the heads up Ann.

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  • Pair o'dimes wrote...
    Tax rates and economic growth
    September 30, 2012 9:19 am
    A study by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service looked at historical data comparing tax rates and jobs and growth, and concluded there is no correlation. Now, I have been told that there is a difference between correlation and causality, but when there is no historical connection between tax rates and economic growth, how can you claim that raising the capital gains tax rates will stunt job growth? There is just no way to prove it. The republicans hope that if they can just say it often enough it will make it true. Once you eliminate that myth, you have to talk about fundamental fairness. If giving the wealthy a break on their taxes (since most of the wealthy don't make their money working down at Walmart) doesn't create any real economic benefit, then this is no more than welfare for the wealthy.
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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    The Opposite of Independence
    September 30, 2012 10:10 am
    Dependency class= Obamunism!
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