The Horsey set, Mitt Romney and attitudes

For several years I had horses, and I hung out with horse people.  I had one, and then two horses, but my first was special to me.  She was like a cantankerous old lady.  She would try to take a bite out of your side when you tightened the girth on the saddle, but you could put a young and inexperienced rider on her back and she would take care of them.

There were all different sorts of riders in my circle.  There were people like me who just enjoyed the feelings of freedom and connection when riding a horse through the woods, trotting on a switchback trail.  There were the endurance riders, who would enter the Tevis Cup every year, a 100 mile race though the mountains.  The were those who were into 3 day events, dressage and jumping.  There were those into roping and rodeo type riding.  It was an eclectic group of people with one common interest, horses.

Now most of these people were middle or lower middle class.  They had to struggle to maintain their hobby, it is not cheap.  And most of these people were pretty conservative.  The group tended towards white and a little redneck.  Although I have not been in touch with them in years, it would not surprise me if most of them intend to vote for Mitt Romney.

There was a subset of these people who had a different attitude towards horses than most of us did.  To them a horse is sporting goods, a piece of equipment and nothing more. they were not in the majority, but they were present in the group.  And it is this attitude that this whole rambling post is about.

Mitt Romney does not hate you.  He does not even think of you as a 'you'.  To the Romneys, you and I are tools.  We are not people, we are votes, and we are units of labor and we are consumers of product.  We are no more important than the rusted hammer in an old toolbox in your garage.

He seeks power the way he seeks return on investment.  Does not matter how he gets it, does not matter what he does with it.  It is about having it, because he is entitled to it.

No matter how they try to disguise it, not matter what language they use, if you look beneath all that they stand for, this is the philosophy of the American right wing.  This is not the philosophy of the old line conservatives, Barry Goldwater is probably turning over in his grave at the though of what has become of his Grand Old Party.  But that is what you have today.

It is really very simple.  Are you a human being or are you a tool?

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