Is Willard really successful?   

What quantifies the meaning of success?  

• To him?  
• To his backers?  
• To us?  

Maybe this DragonWoman train is rolling on a metaphorical line again, but I wonder if this is a discussion long overdue.  

How much money has been spent by the Romney camp during the primaries? How much has been poured into the campaign already, and is still coming in, despite the plethora of political gaffes?  

Look at the comparison of campaigns:  

• Romney vs Paul  
• Romney vs Santorum  
• Romney vs Obama  

He overspent all three to not much political gain. If anything, he had a major GOP assists with his battle against Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich. Not much different then when McCain suddenly pulled ahead and everyone fell in line. The GOP decides who is the best horse to run.  

                                                           Democrats fall in love/ Republicans fall in line  

The big difference between McCain and Romney is the immense amount of capital invested in Romney’s bid for the seat of POTUS. Much of this is due impart from the gift by the Supreme Court, courtesy of Justice Roberts. Now he has a virtual money machine and he is running through it fast, with not much difference in the polls. If anything the gaffes of late has caused the distance in the polls to spread in Obama’s favor. So does all this capital make Romney successful? Does it make his investors successful? Are they even wise investors?  

This is not the small donations gathered via the Intranet, pooling to fund the Obama/ Biden 2008. This is a small group of investors that are invisible to us, but known to the Romney/ Ryan team. What would he owe them if he did win? How would that effect not only the 47% he bellyached about, but the 99%. We know the 1% would get a return on their investment, but would his presidency translate to a successful outcome for our country’s future?  

What is a “successful businessman” to Romney?   

How does he measure success?   

I think it is important to ask, because he wants to transition to President of the United States. The country is not a business. Nor is a corporation a person. Romney by no means ran Bain alone, so what was it he was so good at there? He bought out a business, borrowed against it, bankrupted it, dissolved all contracts (including the ones created for the workers who invested years in the companies… you know, their pension), then turned it into another business. The workers get far less pay, but the investors, the CEO, Bain, and of course, Romney turn a profit. That is success. Business Flipping.   

Business Success = Flipping a business to a greater profit margin for investors  

The workers “willing” to work for less is the measure of “work ethic” to Romney.  

Work Ethic = Conformity  

He translates his success into objects: homes, measured investments in his sons (tax write offs), and of course hoards (errrr… hides) much of his “success” in the Cayman Islands or Switzerland.  

He has gotten all he has wanted, well except for Presidency. To get that would not only out do his father, but would mark him as the first Mormon President. I bet that would make him even a bigger pillar in “the faith”.  

Personal Success = Getting it all  

He would truly have it all right? Wealth, Power, and Prestige……….. Success.  

Isn’t that what George W. Bush wanted, and he sure got it. Not sure he liked the outcome. The country sure didn’t  

“It’s not getting what you want, but wanting what you get” Sheryl Crow  

I always thought of those lyrics in terms of the mountain of things I have to push through in my home to get around. I come from a long line of hoarders.   

What you may have seen on TV is worse. Yes, although I have fought never to watch that show, I see clips and say “OH MY GAWD!” I can’t watch that show, it pisses me off enough when I see the clips.  

For the average person having a bunch of things feels a measure of success or control.......   

.................Perhaps???  

...................................Is that true?  

Well on the level of the real “middle class” it just may be the only way to measure success. Sorry Mitt, but 200 to 250K is not middle class income.   

Back in the 80’s to early 90’s having the latest car, a microwave, name brand clothing, jewelry, large color TV’s, cable, a computer, and a music system were luxuries that defined the middle class. Trust me, coming from a single mother who raised 3 children, we looked up to that level. What separated the middle class from the wealthy was real estate, education, travel, and life style.  

Did lines get blurred?  Did the poor and the middle class dip too much into the 'wealthy toys'?  

You here the noise. How can you say you can't afford to send you child to a private school, when you have cell phones and wide screen TV's? Never mind that these are one time item purchases verses long distance educational expenses. Not even counting the costs of books and supplies.

While in art school, I had to cut corners on projects due to expenses I could not make. My one photography teacher said in front of the class, "If you can't afford to go to school, stay home!"

Seriously....... "Give UP!"?!?!?!?!!??!!? I said "fuck you" under my breath and muddled on.

The big stink back in the 80’s was if you were on welfare and had a microwave, you were somehow scamming the system. I can report from the child of one of those “welfare queens” the microwave and VHS player we had were a “gift” from mom’s aunt. For this, she would, in her free time, go clean and paint for her when asked. Mom’s spare time came after going to school during the week, caring for an autistic son, raising two other children with educational & emotional issues, not to mention a wicked custody battle with a drunken abusive husband. When she got a job, she had to put her autistic son in a group home. Without even a junky used car, she would take two buses every two weekends to visit this son. She still cleaned and painted for aunt Evelyn. Yes that microwave and that VHS player came at a cost. Some “welfare queen”, huh?

Oh yes I was taught a work ethic and to fight on.

But I have to admit to those “entitlements” Romney bellyached about while the fellow “successful” elite sipped on coffee at their 500k per plate luncheon. My brother Chris was essentially “taken in” by the state. Tax payers foot the bill for his education, lodging, and health care. I will tell you he works 3 times a week now in maintenance.

Would you consider that an “entitlement” based on victimization?

Well for me to go into this would be another whole discussion on the causes of autism. No I don’t have a definitive cause. Chris began to walk and talk before he was 18 months. He had the measles vaccination. His temperature spiked (105 deg). He changed. He was diagnosed in 1976 at the age of 4.

I don’t know if vaccinations are the cause of autism, but don’t try and tell me they have NOTHING to do with it. Vaccinations are forced upon infants, before their minds are formed. You could say I have a vested interest in government taking some responsibility in autism.

I can tell you from watching the progress with my brother, that the state’s investment paid off to a degree. Perhaps earlier intervention could have helped. Perhaps, my brother has been part of the investigation into how to work with this developmental disorder. There is no cure. The spread of this disorder has increased. My mom was single when he was diagnosed. Two parent homes probably could not qualify for assistance. Middle class homes don’t qualify for assistance. This disorder bankrupts families. This disorder has been the root of many divorces….

…… or the excuse for divorce. I leave the final decision for this up to the people who face this. I can tell you it is not easy to live with. You rise to occasion or you don’t.

You don’t really fall either; rather you coast.

Coasting is no fun. Should mom have chosen another path? Instead of going back to school and struggling to make her own way, should she have tried to find a sugar daddy? Would he have been our savior or another path of more pain?

No it may not necessarily have been bad for her to have her own life outside of us.

I can report I still live in the same home at the age of 45. She is 66 and has RA. She still is working, putting off retirement year after year. Her health care costs are through the roof. My one brother has been out of work since 2001, and Chris is still autistic and now resides in an adult residence, supported by the state. He is going to be 41 next week. My family still lives on the same street. The street has changed over the last 30 years. Many single mothers. In the 5 block radious, there are over 400 children per a conversation with the police, after mom's car got egged, after nearly every window in our house has been broken in the last 6 years, after mom's car has been shot, after her other car was keyed and fruther assulted, after I got beat down on our porch by a mother who would not listen to us about her son, and after I got shot by two kids at 5 in the morning while I walked to work. At least it was a bb rifle. My arm got wounded.

I sometimes pick up a lottery ticket. That penny in the wishing well.

I want to leave. I am sick of this street. I am sick of the arguments. I am suffocating in a family I was given. I am tied to them. I can’t let them fall. You see the ones who “fall” on the streets. I could not live with that thought.

Because I am the “daughter” of a single mom, I was also “entitled” to assistance with higher education. I can report that it is no “free” ride. No, if your grades slip, you can lose both TAP and PELL. You may not qualify for a loan either. I was not a male child whose daddy was head of the CIA. Nope, I could not “legacy” into Harvard or Yale and “coast” on a ‘C’ average.

But I guess that does not really come “free” either, does it. It does provide for strong roots that can help you “START”.

I can report that my Bachelor degree got me a job a month after graduation as a cashier in the local shopping center. I can report that after 19 years of busting my ass, I am now the senior operator for the computer room at  headquarters of the shopping center. I started at 5 dollars an hour in the store. I now make nearly $19. My degree is in Graphic Design. It is growing dust bunnies on my wall.

What would have happened if I had left home; left them to fend for themselves? Would we have risen to the occasion or fallen? Was the money the taxpayers spent on my education all for not?

As I mentioned I have 2 brothers. I have spoken of my brother’s and my dyslexia in another article. I was able to get past the Reading Lab, and move on to higher education and he did not. Neither one of us ever properly diagnosed. I self diagnosed a while ago. He dropped out of high school and bounced into a job. Labor/construction. Due to the work ethic derived from both our parents (yes “dad” was a hard worker), he had a great work ethic. Labor companies called the temporary job agency asking for him by name. He did not bitch, he went to work and got it done.

But with the work ethic in our family comes anger management issues. Sometimes you work with lazy people, and if you don’t handle it well, you lose. When you don’t have the education to back it up, it is hard to bounce in a bad economy. Did I mention he has been out of work since 2001? Obama was not president then, was he? He stopped being counted in the “unemployed” long before Obama took office, but that was not important to the GOP preachers when Bush was in office.

I report that the taxpayer’s hard work paid off in helping me help my family, but we coast. It would take a serious health issue to take me down. I can report I am diabetic and obese. I grew up on the welfare diet. No not an excuse; the plain honest truth.

Something I failed to mention in the beginning when defining the poor. You cling to what you have.

• Clutter of things, even broken things
• Bad diet
• Family

These are the measures of wealth in a poor family.  Changing your lifestyle is hard.

Does this make me a failure? Truthfully there are times I feel it.

I can report I have depression. I have had it for 30+ years. I struggle with the talking faces on TV talk shows, calling this a mental disease. I suppose it is and, sometimes I play that Matchbox 20 song just so I can laugh at it.

I can report that feeling failure does not help the down cycle. I don’t want to take drugs. I work out. It does help. I am game to changing my diet. The struggle would be keeping it a separate diet from the “family”. Having the energy to “take better care of myself” after dealing with them is tough.

I self-medicate on music, FaceBook friends, and FarmVille. I heard Betty White say Facebook is a waste of time. Truthfully it does suck away sometime, but there have been moments when that person I hardly know, living on the other side of the world posts something that just makes me grin.

I have been away from Newsvine, but politics has been strong even on FB. I have a number of "friends" just as fustraited with this election.

The dive into my personal life was not a request of a violinist playing "cry me a river".

I find much of my lifes failures a success because I never did give up. I am a decent person who says what she means and means what she says. If I change my mind, there is usually a good reason and I don't hold back why.

I don't see that with Willard Mitt Romney. The one issue he presses hardest in his campaign is that he is a successful businessman. I beg to differ. I think he is ruthless. That may make him successfull at building a fortune for his family, his fortress. But the bricks in that fortress was built on the bodies of the workers who were thrown asside; not left behind.

That fortress was built on the ruin of our country's economy.

Romney doesn't have the balls to even admit it. He takes pride in the success, but not the responsibility for the cost of his success in the wake of so many lives destroyed.

We had that president for 8 years. The one who could not take responsibility. Look what he left us to overcome.