Mitt Romney offered a partial snapshot of his vast personal fortune late Monday, disclosing income of $21.7 million in 2010 and $20.9 million last year — virtually all of it profits, dividends or interest from investments.

(HT: Washington Post)

It’s not just official – it’s officially official. Mitt Romney isn’t just bad. Mitt Romney is E-VIL! You see, according to Pravda on The Potomac, Mitt Romney doesn’t get income the same way normal Americans do. His is entirely derived from dividends and such while poor, humble schlubs such as little, old moi rely on those bi-weekly paychecks.

He even gives more to charity than he pays in taxes. He gives almost as much to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ($4.2M) as he does to the IRS ($6.2M). The apostasy of the man! This definitely means he isn’t like the Average American.™ However; I’m no fan of liberal agitprop. I don’t think everyone should be forced into some common mold in order to be good presidential material.

For starters, Mitt Romney actually reports and pays taxes on his Caribbean investments. If this were Charlie Rangel’s tax return, you wouldn’t even know what was in The Caymans until the Congressional Ethics Committees convened.

So Mitt got something in the neighborhood of 8% on his capital. He didn’t even have to break a sweat to self-enrich. He like Jimmy Page or Stephen King can pretty much live off the royalties of things he did earlier in his life. The new American Gospel is to hate the man. As Barack Obama all but announced in his speech in Kansas last year: Prometheus had it coming!

Romney is successful. We have an entire OWS Movement convinced that you can’t spell success without S-A-T-A-N. (I’ll have to go check a dictionary and get back to you on that). To Speaker Gingrich, President Obama, and to anyone else slugging Mitt Romney for living off of royalties instead of paycheck-to-paycheck, I have one message. Stop doing this if you like the idea of Americans attempting to succeed.

If you think a guy who plans his life and finances with a little more acumen than a typical Kardashian Sister is the epitome of E-VIL, then don’t be too shocked if the Good Ol’ US of A goes another 1000 days without a properly legislated Federal Budget. We as a nation may not deserve to have a properly legislated budget, a decent Armed Forces, a vibrant culture, or a thriving technological base if we hate success. Our political leadership will accurately mirror the results of our moral values as a nation.

And success is cool with that. If you hate it, it shrugs and walks away; far away. If you go through life hating success (like I was once stupid enough to do in my youth) it won’t burden your life with its oppressive presence. It hangs with people who appreciate it, work for it and never forget how hard it is to attain.

Do I want a President who can relate to The Average American™? Not necessarily. It doesn’t guaruntee fair or decent governance. Sometimes people don’t eat very well when they are governed by someone who is too much of a man of the people. It was American Fascist Huey Long who said “Every man a king, but no one wears a crown.”

In conclusion, I’d rather not see Mitt Romney win the GOP Nomination. I have fulsomely critiqued the man (here, here, here, and here). He ranks only above Ron Paul in my personal estimate of who should be the GOP nominee this year. But all of that being caveat; his ability to manage his life and his fortune well enough to cruise comfortably on an 8% return and still give heavily to his church is a reason to vote FOR Mitt Romney, not against. People criticizing his wealth and personal success are criticizing a legitimate vehicle of American aspiration and renewal.