On Mitt Romney’s Inhumanity

After winning the Florida Primary, Mitt Romney wanted America to know — he’s “not concerned about the very poor.”

Erick Erickson, the CNN pundit and proprietor of Red State wrote that Romney’s line “played straight into the liberal caricature that Republicans don’t have hearts.”

That’s not how it is, though. It’s not that Republicans, especially the free market/libertarian-fueled Republicanism that’s taken root in the last twenty or thirty years, lacks heart. It’s that Republicanism lacks humanity.

The reason Romney says he’s “not concerned” about the poor? They “have a safety net there.”

But there’s a problem with that, one that Jonathan Chait and Matt Yglesias both point out — Romney’s budget plan would shred the very social safety net that Romney says supports the poor.

Romney’s cuts to Medicare “would threaten beneficiaries’ access to care.” His Social Security cuts would “leave poor elderly and disabled people far below the poverty line.” Romney “would throw 10 million low-income people off the benefit rolls” for the Food Stamp program. Romney “would leave 34 million people uninsured who would have gained coverage under health reform.”

I’m reminded of something Gandhi said: “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” Romney would have this nation turn its back on the weak.

No, it’s not heart that today’s Republican party lacks. It’s basic humanity they lack. They may look like humans, but like a Nexus-6 Android, they’re not authentic human beings. 🙁