The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

While due to the two conventions and the ensuing bounce for President Barack Obama we haven't heard a great deal about Mitt Romney's tax returns, I still hear from many conservatives the words, "Why do you care about them?" I've also heard, "Obama just wants to punish success" or "Obama's a socialist". I've even heard Romney's tax returns being compared to Obama's birth certificate. All I'll say about those claims is Obama has shown his birth certificate (multiple times), members of the socialist party have laughed at the notion that the president is at all like them and it'd make absolutely no sense for a presidential nominee in a capitalist society want to "punish" success. With that out of the way, I don't understand what the big deal is for Romney to release such information and for some conservatives to understand why many liberals and moderates want to see his returns. His father voluntarily relea...

I wrote a blog about this yesterday, but upon reading some other comments on the matter, felt the need to write another.  I read several comments from conservatives which read something like this, "When Christianity/The Bible gets haters, where were these same liberals to defend them? They say they believe in tolerance, but not if they don't agree with it..." I am a self-described liberal. I think what many conservatives lose sight of in these types of arguments is that they seriously believe the rich, white men (white straight men), the church/Christianity are all under attack. This is what many of them believe. They truly feel that these individuals'/groups' rights are slowly being trampled upon. As a liberal, I can say that I believe in the rights of white men (white straight men - I happen to be one), of rich folk, of Christians/Christian churches. I believe all of these groups of people and organizations deserve equal rights under the law/Constitution....

Upon reading about Mitt Romney receiving almost $375,000 in speaking fees in 2010-2011 and saying it "wasn't that much," many people, Democrats especially, pointed to that gaffe as a prime example of Romney not being in touch with the layperson. I read a few articles pertaining to this and some member comments below the writing. When a conservative chimed in, his or her words generally sounded like this - "Romney is just a success. Why do liberals want to punish success? This jealousy astounds me." I find this funny, yet sad, because the majority of people who utter such things aren't very well off themselves. However, they firmly believe in the American dream and if you work hard enough, you will be rewarded like Mitt Romney. However, this isn't always the case. Some people are born into wealth. Others catch a lucky break. Some have great connections. Others do work very hard for what they earn. In any case, it's ridiculous to claim that Democra...