’53 Percenters’: Standing Up for Those Who Don’t ‘Whine’
Seeking to answer a website whose users post testimonials railing against the excesses of Wall Street, a group of conservatives has formed a site of its own to serve as a platform for “[t]hose of us who pay for those of you who whine.”
Drawn up in the style of the “ We Are the 99 Percent” blog on Tumblr, the “ We Are the 53 Percent” blog also features the handwritten stories of Americans who’ve fallen on hard times. But rather than calling out the wrongdoing of those in the board room, the conservative posters focus on the proper choices they’ve made in life.
“The key differentiator between the ’99 Percent’ and the ’53 Percent’ really is this notion of individual responsibility,” one of the website’s creators, Josh Treviño, told ABC News. “It’s this idea that every American, albeit subject to outside forces, is nonetheless accountable for his or her own decisions and own choices.”
Like the “99 percent” site, the “53 percent” blog features photographs of users holding signs they’ve written. But the testimonials promote hard work, stick-to-itiveness and spending within one’s means without incurring debt.
“We have made it by ourselves,” wrote one poster, whose husband saw his business close. “No one owes us anything!”
“What they’re saying is that they’re not victims,” Treviño said.
The rallying cry “We Are The 99 Percent!” has been heard in New York, Washington and other cities where protesters claim to be representing all but the nation’s top one percent of wage earners.
The “53 Percenters” say the liberal-leaning protesters don’t speak for them. The title of their blog is meant to signify the 53 percent of American households that pay federal income tax, as opposed to the 47 percent who have no federal income tax liability at all.
Liberal critics of the 53 percent blog point out that many Americans who don’t pay federal income tax do pay local and state income, property and sales taxes.