By CHARLES BABINGTON
Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Republican Mitt Romney, in describing nearly half of Americans as being docile dependents of the state, and saying it’s a “foreign concept” for government to redistribute income, is outlining a philosophy that’s not only sharply at odds with President Barack Obama’s views. It’s also difficult to square with the facts of how Social Security, Medicare, the tax code and scores of other institutions work.
Romney’s claim that 47 percent of Americans won’t take “personal responsibility,” which he linked to their failure to owe federal income taxes, instantly crystalized his philosophical differences with Obama when the remarks came to light Monday.
Romney, trying to control the message amid widespread criticism, went further on Tuesday. He told Fox News that it’s “an entirely foreign concept” for government to “take from some to give to the others.”