What do John Boehner's tears really show?

I watched last Sunday's 60 Minutes with usual interest. In particular, this time, I was interested to see what John Boehner would be like in an in-depth interview. I knew that Boehner could become emotional, but I was unprepared, as was Leslie Stahl, for how frequently he became emotional and what he became emotional about. As a man who is also extremely emotional, I found it somewhat refreshing that Boehner could allow himself to be so emotional without being ashamed. But I also found myself paying attention to what seemed to be making him emotional. He teared up when he talked about himself and reaching the "American Dream," and he expressed not being able to be around kids at schools because he wants the same for them like he has achieved, but he did not say how he wanted to help other people achieve the same thing. The implication was that the goal is on future stories of individual "rags to riches," but less on feeling someone else's pain by giving them (through equitable tax revenue) what they can't get for themselves individually, one of the functions of any government, federal or state. Joy Behar of "The View" said it best, "He cries only when he talks about how sad his life was... He had to sweep floors, he was a janitor, and yet he has very little empathy for people who are in that position now."

It was also mentioned in the 60 Minutes piece that Boehner is a former Democrat. What changed his mind and caused him to become a Republican was seeing his earnings taxed by the federal government in a way that I'm sure he deemed excessive. What was not mentioned, and is rarely mentioned in any newspiece about taxation, is what in particular Boehner objected to his money (in the form of taxes) being put toward. This is always a necessary (and overlooked) question. It isn't complete to object to something without knowing specifically what it is that's objectionable. Simply objecting to raising taxes in general is not specific enough. We need to know what  the revenue obtained by the tax increase(s) would actually pay for before objecting.

This is a prime example of what I often feel to be one fundamental difference between people: a difference between selflessness and selfishness; and politically, between the Democrats and the Republicans. Democrats tend to empathetically remember what it was like not to have wealth and support programs that assist people. Republicans tend to forget what it was like to have little wealth and want to keep their hard-earned wealth for themselves. Republicans therefore support less government involvement and interference, and more individual success and gain. In "my view," however, it's the simply difference between being selfless and selfish.

Article about The View:

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/12/13/barbara-walters-rips-john-boehner-this-guy-has-an-emotional-pr/

60 Minutes newspiece:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7143552n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel