In attempting to justify the Romnoid interpretation of Obama's "you didn't build it" speech, a wingnut on the National Journal blog started off thusly:
What need is there to point out that someone made the roads and bridges?
I don't think that anyone who didn't build them was claiming to have done so....
...therefore...
this was about a world view that individuals can only be successful through government benevolence.
...
The remainder was boilerplate GOP talking points including the 49% of the public pays no income taxes crap, then ended with ...
Clearly, WE ARE NOT building this together.
About half of us are! And you and Obama want to spit on us and tell us we aren't paying enough?
My response to this below the squiggle that government had nothing to do with building ...
Republicans love to promote the rugged individualist myth, and the claim that government spending is anathema to freedom. They scream about requiring businesses and successful and wealthy businessmen to pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than those in the middle class and poor. They love to pretend that the money their businesses have made is purely the result of their hard work and brilliant ideas, and that for the government to take part of their income in taxes is the equivalent of theft. But without the infrastructure those taxes produce and maintain, these folks would have no business opportunity. With no roads or bridges they would have no way to get their supplies or distribute their wares.
You ask what need there is to point out that someone built the roads and bridges. And I WILL agree that this should be mind-numbingly obvious, but apparently you right wingers believe that these things were magically provided by the infrastructure fairy and therefore do not need to actually be paid for. Your answer for everything is to privatize and cut spending. But all that privatization does is raise costs and provide opportunities for cronyism - something the Republicans have perfected. Meanwhile, our population is growing, much of our infrastructure is in disrepair, and Republicans are unable to do anything about it other than whine. Why? Because they have all signed pledges to a 12 year old boy's ideal to not raise taxes. This was how old Grover Norquist was when he formulated his anti-tax ideology. That's right, America's growth is being held hostage by a 12 year old.
No wonder Mitt Romney's campaign does childish things, blowing vuvuzelas and bubbles to disrupt press conferences, driving his campaign bus around and around a venue hosting an Obama event honking its horn the whole time - these are the actions of a juvenile, trying to appeal to the juvenile minds of the GOP base. It's very easy to act like a selfish little boy and not want to share, but sharing is what makes society work. America has never been stronger than we were back when the marginal tax rate was 70% on high incomes. We had a vibrant middle class and a man could support his family with a factory job. Now the financial wizards like Willard Mitt have sold off our industry to China and hollowed out the American economy, all while paying less than a 15% tax rate. Doesn't it kind of annoy you that multi-multi millionaire Mitt pays a lower tax rate on his millions than you? Does this seem appropriate?
And BTW - that statistic regarding federal income taxes is misleading. Most people pay federal taxes. Only the very poor pay no net federal taxes due to the earned income tax credit. Most people pay FICA taxes. Meanwhile, the top 400 families in the US own more wealth than the bottom 50%. That's not just obscene, it is criminal. The percentage of income and wealth flowing to the very top has increased dramatically over the past three decades. What entitles these ultra-rich to more and more of the economic pie? And don't tell me how hard Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian "work" for their money. Most of the ultra-rich haven't worked in years, if ever. CEOs used to make 40 times the average worker, now they make 400 times the average worker. What makes them so much more valuable than they were 30 years ago? The deck has been carefully stacked by the haves to the enormous detriment of the have nots, and now people like you are screaming for more ... from the have nots.