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http://robertreich.org/
Romneyism
Saturday, November 3, 2012
By now, in these last
remaining days before the election of 2012, we have learned enough about
the beliefs of the Republican presidential candidate to see them as a
worldview all its own – a kind of creed that explains Mitt Romney. Those
who say he has no principles are selling him short.
Despite its contradictions and ellipses, Romneyism
has an internal coherence. It is different from conservatism, because it
does not intend to conserve or protect any particular institutions or
values. It is also distinct from Republicanism, in that it is not rooted in traditional small-town American values, nationalism, or states’ rights.
The ten guiding principles of Romneyism are:
1. Corporations are the basic units of society.
Corporations are people, and the overriding purpose of an economy is to
maximize corporate profits. When profits are maximized, the economy
grows fastest. This growth benefits everyone in the form greater output,
better products and services, and higher share prices.
2. Workers are a means to the goal of maximizing
corporate profits. If workers do not contribute to that goal, they
should be fired. If they cannot then find other work that helps maximize
profits in another company, their wages must be too high, and they must
therefore accept steadily lower wages until they find a job.
3. All factors of production – capital, physical
plant and equipment, workers – are fungible and should be treated the
same. Any that fail to deliver high competitive returns should be
replaced or discarded. This keeps an economy efficient. Fairness is and
should be irrelevant.
4. Pollution, unsafe products, unsafe working
conditions, financial fraud, and other negative side effects of the
pursuit of profits are the price society pays for profit-driven growth.
They should not be used as excuses to constrain the pursuit of profits
through regulation.
5. Individual worth depends on net worth — how much
money one has made, and the value of the assets that money has been
invested in. Any person with enough intelligence and ambition can make a
fortune. Failure to do so is sign of moral and intellectual
inferiority.
6. People who fail in the economy should not be
coddled. They should not receive food stamps, Medicaid, or any other
form of social subsidy. Coddling leads to a weaker society and a weaker
economy.
7. Taxes are inherently bad because they constrain
profit-making. It is the right and responsibility of individuals and
corporations to exploit every tax loophole they (and their tax
attorneys) can find in order to pay the lowest taxes possible.
8. Politics is a game whose only purpose is to win.
Any means used to win the game is legitimate even if it involves lying
and cheating, as long as it gains more supporters than it loses.
9. Democracy is dangerous because it is forever
vulnerable to the votes of a majority intent on capturing the wealth of
the successful minority, on whom the economy depends. The rich must
therefore do whatever is necessary to prevent the majority from
exercising its will, including spending large sums of money on lobbyists
and political campaigns. The most virtuous among the rich will go a
step further and run for president.
10. The three most important aspects of life are
family, religion, and money. Patriotism is a matter of guarding our
economy from unfair traders and undocumented immigrants, rather than
joining together for the common good. We owe nothing to one another as
citizens of the same society.
On Tuesday we’ll decide whether these should be the guiding principles of America.
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