Current Events vs. Founding Documents

Extraordinary Gifts For Votes

Posted by Mark Musselman on Jan. 22, 2013

10th amendment, Constitution

Entry 175

Current Event

According to The Los Angeles Times; November 15, 2012

Romney attributes loss to 'gifts' Obama gave minorities

Mitt Romney said Wednesday that his loss to President Obama was due in large part to his rival's strategy of giving "gifts" during his first term to three groups that were pivotal in the results of last week's election: African Americans, Latinos and young voters.

"The Obama campaign was following the old playbook of giving a lot of stuff to groups that they hoped they could get to vote for them and be motivated to go out to the polls, specifically the African American community, the Hispanic community and young people," Romney told hundreds of donors during a telephone town hall Wednesday. "In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups."

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According to The Los Angeles Times; November 18, 2012

Republicans abandoning Romney over 'gifts' remark

Mitt Romney, who just two weeks ago was the Republican Party’s standard-bearer, seen by many as the all-but-elected president of the United States, has turned into a punching bag for fellow Republicans looking to distance themselves from his controversial “gifts” remark.

 “What the president’s campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote,” Romney said during a call with campaign donors Wednesday.

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Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has seemingly been on a campaign to refute Romney’s remark, once again reiterated his opposition on “Fox News Sunday.”

“We as a Republican Party have to campaign for every single vote. If we want people to like us, we have to like them first. And you don’t start to like people by insulting them and saying their votes were bought. We are an aspirational party,” Jindal said.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker echoed Jindal’s remarks, and offered the recent success of Republican governors as an example for the party as a whole.

 “We have to show that we are serious about reaching out and helping everyone, not just a group here, not just a group there,” Walker said, “but everyone in the country, live their piece of the American dream. And I think that starts with our governors as great messengers.”

Former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who made several memorable comments of his own on the campaign trail, deemed Romney’s remark “nuts.”

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According to U S Debt Clock . org

VS

The President vs. The Constitution

Founding Document

The US Constitution, Amendment 10

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

We the People:

Mr. Romney obviously wanted the votes of all ethnic and age groups, but he wasn’t willing to pay for them using the national treasury.  Was he wrong?  Student loan subsidies, unemployment, social security, and cell phones are among a long list of extraordinary and unconstitutional gifts the federal government provides for votes.   In a quote often attributed to 18^th Century Scottish professor, writer, and lawyer Alexander Fraser Tytler: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy."