#326 (9/20) - Another Chick-Fil-A Moment; "Index of Dependence on Government Jumps for the Fourth Year in a Row"
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  FYI - 1) Check out the second article posted after this one; 2) Before Election Day, get ahold of a copy from the library of "Obama's America" or see the film "2016" that it's based on. (see trailer at http://www.2016themovie.com/media/)You only THINK you know our President!]
- Sign A Petition To Stop Funding of Radical Islamist Countries > http://aclj.org/radical-islam/stop-funding-middle-east-terrorists

- BE SURE TO BE  REGISTERED TO VOTE. To get details of doing that in your state, go to > http://www.cbn.com/special/register-to-vote/

- For a review of the CRITICAL ISSUES to consider in your voting, please go to > http://www.truthinaction.org/PDF/Final_Voters_Guide.pdf

- Finally, BEGIN PRAYING FOR THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS; Download a free prayer guide at >  http://www.prayerconnect.net/resources/prayer-guides/2012-election-prayer-guide
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- by  Erick Erickson, September 19th, 2012; http://www.redstate.com/2012/09/19/mitt-romneys-remarks-are-another-chick-fil-a-moment/

"...what I think the media misses is that many of the people the media would claim Mitt Romney described as “victims’ weren’t who Mitt Romney was speaking about. And those people intrinsically know it. They may technically fall into the category Mitt Romney described as government dependent victims, but they know he’s not talking about them. He’s talking about the people they also are talking about. "

"But more than that, and this is really what the left and media miss, a fair number of those people in the 47% are not there by choice. They are there by Barack Obama’s economic policies. And they absolutely understand that Barack Obama’s policies got them there. All they need to hear from Mitt Romney is that he really does get it and really will fix the problem, not just manage the decline of the nation as his primary opponents claimed he would."

"That off the cuff, off the record talk was what they needed to hear. Mitt Romney recognizes we have a problem with government dependency, as do a majority of Americans. But more importantly, Mitt Romney will improve the lives of that 47% by growing the private sector, not redistributing pieces of the economic pie."

"Remember folks, if you listen to the media and watch the public opinion polls, gay marriage wins everywhere. But if you actually pay attention to the voters at the polls, it has lost in every state in which it’s been put to a public vote. That issue doesn’t actually animate and motivate enough gay marriage supporters to offset how it motivates actual marriage supporters."

"Mitt Romney’s comments may rile up the left, but I think it’ll rile up a whole lot of people who agree with him. As a bonus, it puts the left and the media in the very awkward position of telling key segments of the population that they’re the victims Romney was talking about when those people don’t view themselves as victims and think a whole lot of people are actually living off the system. You ever try telling someone they aren’t doing as well as they think they are? Good luck with that. It didn’t work convincing people they were better off than they knew, might as well try it! Oh, and in the process, you might as well accuse them "of bitterly clinging to their guns and religion" (phrase used by Obama in 2008 to describe voters in Pennsylvania)."

''One caveat here — Mitt Romney must be prepared to fight on this ground now. He should let Paul Ryan do a lot of the talking. This is Paul Ryan’s turf and there are few, if any, more articulate people on the issue of government dependency."

"One final point as well — this episode epitomizes how the media is an enemy collaborator with Barack Obama’s campaign. When conservatives accurately quoted Barack Obama’s “you didn’t build that” line including the context in which he meant it, the press immediately folded when Obama claimed conservatives were taking him out of context. In Romney’s press conference after the revelation of the tape he said he was speaking off the cuff and maybe was not as articulate as he could have been without a prepared text. Nonetheless, unlike Obama’s 'you didn’t build that' remark, the press demands that we all take Mitt Romney literally in his remarks."

[bold and italics emphasis mine]
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"Index of Dependence on Government Jumps for the Fourth Year in a Row"

- by Patrick Tyrrell, September 18, 2012;  http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/18/index-of-dependence-on-government-jumps-for-the-fourth-year-in-a-row/

[go to web address above for an applicable graph] The leak of a video featuring former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) has sparked debate about government dependency and the number of people in the United States who do not pay federal income tax. [Guess what? With all the uproar, people are failing to understand that what Gov. Romney said was essentially TRUE! Have you heard the mainstream media admit this legacy of the Obama administration? Not! - Stan]

The Heritage Foundation has published the Index of Dependence on Government for the past 10 years, and the Center for Data Analysis offers a preview of next year’s report. The Index tracks government spending on the federal programs that breed government dependency. The Index rises 3.28 percent in next year’s report, for which 2011 is the latest year the underlying data are available. It is adjusted for inflation, so it rises or falls because of spending in real dollars. The updated Index reveals:

•Government dependency jumped 3.28 percent in 2011, with the largest increases in higher education loans and grants and in retirement spending.

•This is the fourth year in a row that the Index has risen, rising 31.73 percent in that time.

•At the same time, nearly half of the U.S. population (48.47 percent) does not pay any federal income taxes.

Today, more people than ever before depend on the federal government for housing, food, income, student aid, or other assistance once considered to be the responsibility of individuals, families, neighborhoods, churches, and other civil society institutions. The United States reached another milestone in 2010: For the first time in history, half the population pays no federal income taxes.

It is the conjunction of these two trends—higher spending on dependence-creating programs, and an ever-shrinking number of taxpayers who pay for these programs—that concerns those interested in the fate of the American form of government.

In last year’s 2012 Index of Dependence on Government, it was reported that 70.5 percent of federal spending goes to dependency creating programs—showing that the often-repeated mantra, “We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem” could not be more true. One need look no further than the results of the 1996 welfare reform that started work requirements for able-bodied people to receive cash welfare payments to see that it is possible for people to become more self-sufficient.

(More data from the upcoming 2013 Index of Dependence on Government will be released next month.)

[bold and italics emphasis mine]