A Tale of Two Percentages
First, there was the 99%, a site dedicated to the people out there who are struggling with a myriad of problems and are asking/protesting simply for a deal that isn’t so rotten.
Then there was the 53%, created by Erick Erickson of Red State and CNN, signifying the lament of conservatives and the 53% of Americans who, cursed with the absolutely terrible luck of not being poor, fall into an income classification subject to the federal income tax.
And now comes the unbelievably sad yet still hilarious “No, you’re actually the 47%”, dedicated to refuting many of the self-proclaimed 53%’s claims that they are part of this elite group of taxpayers.
About the 53%, though… The thing most noticeable about the site isn’t necessarily the fact that many of the people posting misunderstood “people who pay federal income taxes” for “people who vote for conservative Republicans”, but rather how many bad cases of What’s The Matter With Kansas Syndrome there are on display. To summarize, the stories are primarily heartbreaking tales of hardship and illness and what-have-you that, for some reason, these people think they’ve overcome with nothing but hard work and perseverance. For example:
The person holding this sign has a father who works 72 hours a week of manual labor and is dying of thyroid cancer; she goes on to say that this is The American Dream.
Listen, I don’t know how bad things were in Croatia in 1971, and it’s a great thing that this family was able to come to America as immigrants and reap the benefits of a rich society and a well-maintained educational system, but working 72 hours of manual labor a week while dying of cancer is not The American Dream. That is sad and unfortunate. I’m not this man and I don’t know him, obviously, but I can say with a high level of confidence that most people who are dying would rather not go back to work. I’m perfectly alright with people like this man not working any longer and collecting assistance checks from the federal government.
Another:
Again, incredibly sad. This person lost the use of one of her arms and was unable to work until she learned a different trade, one that didn’t require two arms. But this is why we have a social safety net in the first place! So that when horrible things happen to people, they don’t lose one-hundred percent of their purchasing power. Why would this person ever want to vote for a candidate belonging to a party dedicated to dismantling the very welfare state that probably saved her life?
Another:
Her father is a public sector employee, her mother works at a nursing home in which there are probably many residents that are only able to afford being there because of Medicare, and she wants to be a public sector employee when she grows up. That doesn’t matter, though; people need to stop smokin’ dope and living off the dole.
There’s plenty more masochism and sadness on display in all the other entries. That aside, the tales of “the 53%” and “the 99%” are strikingly similar, with the only asymmetry being the endings of the letters; one side ends with “things suck, I’d enjoy some assistance” and the other ends with “things suck, but I’m fine with remaining miserable.” The point is: sure, life is hard and unfair, but it can be less hard and less unfair. All you have to do is stop voting against your best interests. Also, doing so doesn’t make you a weak or bad person, it makes you smart.
