US Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney put his foot in it this week – for speaking the truth. He stated that a sizeable proportion of the American electorate can be written off or discounted as possible Republican voters because they rely on government handouts. He was referring to those Americans who, he said, do not pay income tax, who believe that the state’s job is to redistribute wealth and who believe that they are victims. It sounds familiar doesn’t it?

In the USA the Republican Party like the Conservative Party in this country (well traditional Conservatives at any rate) believe that people should be encouraged to stand on their own two feet and should be rewarded for their honest endeavours free of unnecessary interference from the state. Conversely the Democrats like the Labour Party in the UK believe in big government and state control and thus are the favoured parties of those (among others of course) who prefer to claim benefits rather than work for a living.

Perhaps it was a truth that was best unspoken except in the privacy of his own home or at Republican Party HQ but it was still the truth. As long as Romney’s Republicans, and the Conservatives  here,  remember that there are those who genuinely cannot work and who need and deserve our support – people such as the infirm, disabled, elderly and those who through no fault of their own are genuinely  unable to find work then what he said is fine.