There sure are some misinformed people out there.

I'm willing to bet that these people are just as confused and scared about what's going to happen in the future as we all are. They may not be on the same page as the rest of us, but at least they are out there doing what they think is right.

And when we get pumped up and passionate about things, we say stupid things as well.

So I give them a pass. I'll put Romney's feet to the fire instead.

I think one of the core issues in these discussions is simply overlooked,
i am in the 47% of Americans Mr Romney thinks are lazy bums and that
mooch off the system, i work over 40 hrs per week and do not collect
any type of assistance other than a meager few hundred dollars on
my tax return, and you know what? keep it, i dont want that return if the
price is to punish those that paid into SS all their lives so they might
have a retirement of some sort.

now the meat and potatoes here, i do not live above my means, i own
my car out right, carry affordable insurance thanks to state farm that
halved my stupidly high insurance bill, my long term girlfriend and i
share a house with her widowed father to make things easier on all
of us. now the issue i spoke of, medical care costs, some people say
insurance is the way to go, but on an income like mine there are simply
no options that come even close to being affordable.

why is healthcare so expensive? i do not understand that, i get that there
are costs involved obviously, but why are 2 Tylenol 10$ at the ER? there
is no good answer to that really and i know it as if i were the ER i would
simply buy it from a local store, save theirself tons of money.....

here is where things get frustrating as regards to Romney, i have seen
a couple of vids where he claims us low income mooches get free
health care at the ER, now any low income mooch worth his or her
salt out there immediately see that he is so far disconnected from
reality he thinks the ER gives free health care to people like me....

well let me clear this up if there is any doubt, IT IS NOT FREE, as a
legal citizen i cannot get free care, they will get their money one way
or another, if you dont pay for a certain amount of time then they will
eventually simply garnish your wages until they do get their money
plus interest and the company they hire adds fees and interest etc etc.

now back to the point, if my income is no where near enough to afford
health care at its cost or the insurance to pay for it then i have no hope
of ever having true healthcare, i have been lucky as its been years
since ive had to visit a hospital so i have no debts from that but many
of the people in my boat do and are repaying them via wage garnishment.

i have no problem paying my way in this world, but when my job is
considered menial and the pay reflects that then im told im still a
mooch because i dont make enough money to pay for things that
those of us who make 3x or 4x what i do per year can barely afford
then well i have to say Mr Romney is not in touch with the real problems
we have.

i have worked hard at every job ive ever held, but what do i have to look
forward to in old age? paying social security all my life so someone like
Romney can call me a moocher and steal money i rightfully earned and
gave to them in good faith so that i could one day retire? how bout this instead
allow me to opt out of SS and just set that money back to save it myself.
at the very least then i dont have to listen to condescending morons who think
they are better than i am because the judge someones worth by their
bank account instead of their labor contribution.

while i think its grand he envisions a world where everyone makes 50k+ per
year, which by the way is like 4x more than i make, and they are still getting
food stamps and medicaid and medicare all at the same time that is a
blatant lie, most of us who get a return tax check only get a couple to a few
hundred dollars back at most and its not enough to pay for anything truly
useful such as medical bill which can be 4k+ for just one ER visit if anything
major or a 1 night stay is required.

so to summarize, im a bad person and i dont deserve to eat, have retirement
of any kind or healthcare and oh by the way their still gonna take my SS money
and then tell me its not mine anyway..... you know i used to think these
older folks who voted for repubs simply because they have been lied to
and misled in the modern world were ok but this is getting scary. they
have to wake up to these things.....

and just so everyone knows no i don't think Obama is anything special,
less dangerous than Romney maybe but that's about all.

I've seen plenty of people here on ATS (where we're supposed to be MORE informed than the average citizen, NOT less!) say that he's right. But they qualify it by saying that he didn't mean the elderly. He wasn't talking about military members. He didn't mean people who actually NEED assistance... .

Then - Who the freak did he mean? The 1% who take advantage of the system? Which includes ROMNEY himself? Yes, Romney is one of the people who take advantage of the tax structure and refuses to pay taxes on a large chunk of his money. He stores it away and "donates" it to himself, so he doesn't have to pay his fair share of taxes, instead of contributing his fair share to the country that supported him to become as wealthy as he is. Forget "paying it forward", he's not even willing to pay it back! Instead, he squanders it all for himself. And people make excuses for this selfish behavior?

I don't understand how people can make excuses for Romney and what he has said - what he obviously believes - about half the country. I have actually given up trying to comprehend the mindset that makes it OK to be so ignorant. Trying to figure out why many of the 47% still support him messes with my brain.

It amazes me how many people are living in denial. Really he says those polls don’t matter.

I would say 99% of these people never thought of supporting Romney during the primaries now they are stuck trying to polish a turd.

You point out what’s wrong with Romney and it’s always the same. B-b-b-b-but Obama did yada yada.

They can’t even defend the guy.

I'll simply reiterate a quote from Benjamin Franklin that is both most visionary and absolutely accurate:

"Once the people realize that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the Republic."

Politicans have illegally used "benefits" as a means of "buying" votes. For the bottom 50% it comes in the form of subsidies and hand-outs. For the upper 50% it comes in the form of tax benefits and/or business subsidies.

If you want to correct this problem, there is only one solution. Ban private money in elections. Lay a level playing field whereas each candidate receives and equal amount of federal funds to use in their campaigns. Reset the tax code to flat tax system based on sales tax and pardon taxes against food and medical. Reset SS to reflect payouts that are directly proportionate to individual contributions and do not let Congress touch those funds. Draw a hard line on disability - what qualifies versus what does not - and hold everyone accountable. Unemployment, food stamps etc... are for a limited time - period!

The reason politicans refuse to do these difficult things is because it eliminates their ability to "buy" votes with tax dollars. The majority of us in the middle would wildly support these initiatives as it is US who pay for the bulk of them.

It is high time to flush the left/right paradigm down the drain and tighten up controls on this system. Our federal government was never supposed to operate this way. I fully expect the politicians to abide by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and allow for a full redress of grievances by the people or even a complete change of government as it no longer serves the people.

The are OUR rights. We have given the federal government its power and it is high time for us to remind them of this.

I don't support Romney....

but I can't say I disagree with him; I can see it with my own eyes.

47% is a little high though, 25% is realistic...