July 4th always used to be a day when I felt proud of our country. It used to be the day when I thought of the America where a young person of quite humble background could grow up to be a leader of industry or government. Obviously that is still true to some extent. One of the best examples ever is Barack Obama. From humble beginnings, he takes his talent and works his way to become president of the United States. This is a story we as Americans should all revel in. Yet half of America seems to hate Obama for no logical or intelligent reason.

On the other side of the race for president is a multi-millionaire, a son of wealth whose habits and lifestyle are the very epitome of what most Americans claim they dislike in people. When you go to summarize the Mitt Romney life, it is just about the total antithesis to the American experience. His life and the perks he gets can be used as a prime example of what many of us believe are the very root causes of America’s problems today.

Born to money, never experiencing any hard times, never having to cut back to make a house payment, never having to get his hands dirty or having to kiss a boss’s rear end to keep a job he just hated to keep food on the table.

Mitt Romney has no concept of what an average American goes through on a day to day basis. And while things have slowly gotten much worse on all fronts for the average American, Romney and his ilk have used all their leverage to drastically tilt the playing field in favor of the wealthy. This doesn’t include small business folks, who have been burned by government policies that favor the corporate elite also.

Romney is the epitome of the rich capitalist who drains resources from the country in a scorched earth method to enrich mostly themselves. If businesses are destroyed or jobs eliminated or sent overseas, that is just part of the process. Lives destroyed? Just part of the process. Cities ruined? Part of the process. School systems left in ruin? Not his problem.

But what about the millions made? Surely they don’t want to pay taxes on it do they? Why some of those taxes may end up helping out those whose jobs they have destroyed. That won’t teach them to stand on their own two feet now, will it? So they buy politicians and hire legions of lobbyists to change the laws. Pretty soon, the richest of the rich who have sent millions of jobs away are paying taxes at a lower rate than almost all other Americans.

But why even pay that paltry amount? Why not hide your money in tax free accounts in foreign countries. They don’t get anything but taxes if they keep their money in the United States. Hide it in the Caymans, in Switzerland and who knows where else, Abu Dhabi maybe? With the laws being what they are, no one will ever know.

Of all the sleaziness of Mitt Romney, this last thing is the one that bothers me most. The guy can’t even keep his money in this country! It is like the United States is not good enough for him. We may never know how much money he has, because there is no way we can force him to reveal what is hidden overseas. We also have no idea if any of his money is invested in products or countries that might some day be in conflict with the United States. If he is President, where will he put his loyalty, his money or his countrymen? His past indicates that his money would win.

Putting it all together, Romney has come to where he is by destroying parts of America and picking the greenbacks off the bones. He has destroyed businesses and jobs and the lives of those who had those businesses and jobs. In the process, cities and school systems and other public entities have suffered. Billions have been removed from the public coffers through these losses and the avoidance of taxes. And then for a final insult, Romney and his ilk hide their billions in overseas accounts letting us know that we are never to know just what their holdings are.

When you think about the problems our country has at this point, one can easily point at the Mitt Romney’s as the problem. Public coffers have been emptied as jobs are lost, properties devalued and the richest avoid taxes. Infrastructure can’t be fixed because government entities are broke. Jobs are going overseas as the rich drive down wages. Schools are bled dry, students are getting a less than stellar education as Republican governors push to privatize education run by companies with people like Mitt at the helm. Higher education becomes unaffordable for most as the rich squeeze high interest rates out of poor students. We continue to waste our treasury on wars of choice in far off lands that only make money for some corporation while draining moneys needed for schools and roads.

Any realistic attempt to deal with global warming disappears as oil and coal barons buy politicians to stop any progress toward renewable energies.

Folks, many generations will pay for the policies that the Mitt Romneys of the world have imposed on us. Why would anyone vote for the man who personifies the reasons for our current problems

By the way, we have had two other businessmen presidents – Herbert Hoover and George W. Bush. From what I have heard they were the worst and second worst presidents ever.