Tagg’s biography is littered with similar stories—short cuts he couldn’t have taken without his last name, obstacles that melted away before he was even aware of them. And yet, thanks to the Romney myth, he and his family believe that most of what he has achieved comes from old-fashioned industriousness, not older-fashioned status and wealth.

This points to one of my personal main problems with Mitt Romney. Romney acts like that annoying rich person that everybody knows: the one who has a received a first-class education and unmatched opportunities but somehow refuses to recognize them. Even from my own lower-middle class background I realize and am thankful for all of the advantages that my parents have provided me. It never fails to surprise me how a certain brand of rich person thinks he is some kind of superman, born in a vacuum devoid of his parents’ wealth and support. This systematic misrecognition of one’s own privilege in favor of a narrative of complete self-sufficiency has always annoyed me to no end.

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