"This is an impressive crowd: the haves, and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite; I call you my base."
-- George W. Bush
Mitt Romney has no intention of ever being another Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Not just because Roosevelt was one of the greatest presidents ever - which Romney never will be.
And not just because Roosevelt understood that government should be a vehicle for ensuring that the ideals espoused by the Founding Fathers actually be realized - which Romney doesn't believe.
And not just because Roosevelt enacted liberal policies that benefited millions and millions of working-class Americans - which Romney would never do.
And not just because Roosevelt was beloved by those millions for his generosity of spirit and his compassion - which Romney could never possibly be.
And not just because Roosevelt actually served in the U.S. military and led this country through the most titanic armed conflict the world has ever known - both of which are beyond Romney's wildest imaginings.
No, even though all of those are reasons that Mitt Romney will never be another Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the main reason that Willard Mitt Romney has no intention of EVER being another Franklin Delano Roosevelt is that Willard Mitt Romney has no intention of ever earning the epithet,
"traitor to his class."
Which is why Mitt Romney can NEVER release his tax returns.
It's part of the Thurston Howell Code of Silence, the omertà of the 0.001%.
See, once Mitt releases those tax returns, the cat will be out of the bag. Once he releases those tax returns, Mitt will instantly become the Occupy Candidate, the guy who finally succeeded - succeeded better than any encampments, succeeded better than any protests, succeeded better than any pepper-spraying viral YouTube - in getting the vast, clueless majority of the American people to pay attention to the reality of income inequality in this country -
Game over, man!!
No longer will there be any doubt about who is getting screwed, and by whom.
It will be crystal clear that Romney and his super-rich ilk are using every trick in the book to create $100 million IRAs.
Legally.
And that's the problem: because once the American people see, in black and white and repeated endlessly on the 24-hour news channels and splashed across the major media, the evidence that
the laws of the United States allow people like George Bush's base to do this
- while average schlubs like themselves have to work their asses off for the privilege of paying a higher tax rate than People Like Mitt Romney - they will not be happy.
And to all of Mitt's super-rich rightwing friends whose entire existence is predicated on gathering as much money as possible for themselves and giving away as little of it as possible to others, for pulling back the curtain on this PERFECTLY LEGAL monstrosity, Mitt's release of his tax returns will rightly be seen as the ultimate act of betrayal, a violation of the code of omertà that may very well threaten the continued existence of this thing of ours.
He could become the Joe Valachi of the 1%.
And I'm guessing that, even considering his treatment of Seamus, Mitt likes Rafalca's head just where it is.