I've been enjoying the whole Bain Capital / unreleased taxes / Mitt Romney Lulzfest far too much over the last few days. But something sort of dinged in my head today, when I read once again that the speculation is he has not paid taxes in twelve years.
Mitt has no stake in America.
Paying your taxes is investing in the country. It's paying to keep the roads paved, the schools open, and stop people from dying in the street. Basically, taxes are what keeps us from descending back into feudalism.
But Mitt has no stake in America. If he's skated through by paying the bare minimum, or worse, nothing at all, then he hasn't made that investment. He hasn't put his career on the line to run for president - he already "retired" (retroactively) sometime between 1999-2002. He has barely spent any of his own vast fortune in this race thus far, instead relying on his golfing buddies and their PACs to pay the bills. They're not investing in America either, they're gambling on Mitt.
But Mitt has no stake in America. He's the "outsourcing master" - he's brilliant at taking American jobs and companies and investing in other countries to maximize profit. That's great for Mitt, but not so great for the local jobs and companies.
Would we ever consider electing a CEO of a company who has no personal investments in that company? At least Obama's primary investment vehicles are T-Bonds - the federal equivalent of stocks and shares - and he has the paperwork to prove it.
Mitt has no stake in America. Since he won't release his tax returns for the fear of what lies within, it means he has not invested in the country yet because it isn't profitable enough. I don't want to elect a president to have the US make money. Government is just fine when it's break even. I want to elect a president that wants to invest in the future, invest in the people, invest in the country itself.
I want a CEO who has a stake in America - who has a lot to lose if this country stumbles.
If America fails, Mitt has his millions to fall back on. The rest of us don't have that luxury.