Rebuttal to Romney's 47% comment written in 1843

[One of the 99]

"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,'' faultered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

"Business!'' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!''

-- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

[Moonwalk]

1. Rebuttal it is, but not one that Romney would take to heart. He could be visited by...

...300 spirits rather than 3 and he wouldn't learn the lesson Scrooge learns. He'd see his old self in the past and be proud of how he sent that half-blind teacher smashing into doors and cut off that other student's hair; he'd point out how he went to private schools and talk of his plans to bust all the teachers unions and turn education into a voucher system in the present so everyone would get an education just like him.

With Christmas present he'd see Bob Crachit's big family, the one Bob can hardly feed and said, "Good on them for not using contraceptives," he'd hear of Bob's meager wages and say, "Well, that factory he was working at for higher wages was bought out by me, loaded with debt, closed and the jobs shipped overseas. That's business. At least he still has a job."

And when he was told Tim was likely to die without Obamacare, he'd shrug and say, "I can't be bothered with people who expect entitlements from the government rather than taking responsibility for themselves." And in the future, when he saw that he'd passed and no one gave a shit, he'd say, "Doesn't matter; I'm going to Mormon heaven."

And besides, corporations are people, right? That's mankind to Romney.

Scrooge's transformation can't happen if a man hasn't a heart to transform.

[Igel]

2. But there's sort of a whole-part fallacy going on.

And it's a big point with a lot of people, one that mustn't be a point at all as far as others are concerned.

I've known poor people who gave all they could and didn't think it enough, that they were poor Xians.

I've know wealthy people who think that by paying taxes they've done their Xian duty and owe nothing to anybody except to vote the right way, by absentee if they're going to be on vacation abroad at the time. These usually pat themselves on the back and say, "Thank you, Lord, that I am not like these others."