Mitt Romney, 3 mths ago: “While I was Governor, 85% of the people on a form of welfare assistance in my state had no work requirement and I wanted to increase the work requirement and I said even if you had a child 2 years of age you need to go to work. It will cost the state more providing that daycare, but I want the individuals to have the dignity of work.”
(via The Daily Show with Jon Stewart)
I’m missing the idea behind what’s wrong with “dignity of work”. Is it wrong that the state should expect people to work to receive benefits. They’ll even pay for daycare. Hell I’ll pay for Ohio/Columbus to provide day care. Raise my taxes another dollar or two sure. If it gives single parents the opportunity to work, build experience, a resume, and provide a better life for them and their kid(s), then I’ll pay for it. It allows people the dignity to work and provide for themselves. There is no dignity in being entirely reliant upon the government. I like working for myself because I come home, pay my bills, and feel good about it. Single mothers (and fathers) should have that opportunity as well. Mitt Romney is totally right on this.
Here’s a summary on WP and the clip on Jon Stewart - starting 2:10. There’s nothing wrong with work, but the issues are:
- Ann Romney’s experience as a housewife born to wealth and privilege is completely different from that of working mothers.
- Ann Romney chose to stay at home. The working poor don’t have that choice, partly because her husband forced them to work and forced them to let the government raise their babies.
- The statements coming from the Romney campaign are contradictory, which makes listening to this guy pointless. It makes more sense to look at who’s funding his campaign to understand what he’s up to (so far it’s big banks, big oil and big pharma), but we won’t know most of it because of Super PACs.
