I chose Romney early on and have stayed firmly with that decision. At this point in the election, the overall picture is different, and it is now between McCain and Romney. To vote for Ron Paul or the Huckster at this point is basically handing the nomination to McCain, who will likely win unless Romney can siphon off a sizeable number of Huckabee, Paul and Giuliani supporters.
The more I find out about McCain, the more he simply scares me. He has run a less than honorable campaign (one example is his recent, untruthful, personal attacks on Romney), he has a record of being vindictive, mean, and bad-tempered, and the overall impression I have is of someone I wouldn't trust as commander in chief. He also has a record of pandering to the liberal causes and teaming up with them over pet projects, such as the McCain-Feingold finance reform fiasco, which seems to be universally despised, and many other issues which have gone against the grain of the Republican party.
For someone who supports Ron Paul, I would recommend voting for Romney at this point, partly because Romney fits Ron Paul's views much more closely than McCain in the following areas:
1) Economy - Romney is much more conservative than McCain in this area. Romney is for non-governmental interference in the economy, though not to the extent of Paul, at least much more so than McCain. He is for cutting back government spending in all the non-essential areas, and is not beholden to the special interest groups, which is not true for McCain. One of Romney's points is that he loves to veto "pork barrel" spending bills. He has a record of doing this in Massachussetts, where the state went from a large deficit to a large surplus budget under his administration. Romney is also much better in this regard than Bush has been.
2) Foreign relations: Though Romney is definitely not the isolationist that Ron Paul is, I firmly believe that he would be far more diplomatic than McCain, based on what I see are the vast differences in personal temperament between Romney and McCain. I trust Romney that he would be careful and thoughtful in his dealings with foreign nations, and also Romney is an extremely intelligent man, and I trust that he would surround himself with a solid group of very capable and intelligent people for his advisors. With McCain, I worry that he would surround himself with "yes men" who would tend to not "rock the boat" with McCain. Romney has a solid reputation in the business world of surrounding himself with people who question his decisions and give him differing points of view. He knows that he needs to see the whole picture from all sides before making a good, intelligent, well-informed decision.
3) States rights vs federal "mandates". An example of this is Romney's views on Roe vs. Wade. He is for repealing Roe vs. Wade and then letting the states decide individually if they want legal abortion. Same sex marriage is an exception to this rule as I state later in this post.
Romney also is a man of excellent character. You don't get to be an LDS Stake President and Bishop without that. Also I base this on his overall reputation, such as his solid family relationships (married for 38 years with 5 loyal sons who are all actively supporting him in his candidacy). I think it is very important to have a president who is a man of such integrity, and when you add his apparent high intelligence and leadership abilities, I think you have a man of rare abilities to lead the nation. I'm not saying he's perfect, but he's pretty well qualified in my book.
Since some of you are Ron Paul supporters, I take it that you are not happy about the whole Iraq situation. Here is my opinion on that:
I don't know if it was the right thing or not to invade Iraq 5 years ago. This can be argued strongly either way persuasively. But what I am certain of is that if we were to pull out now completely, it would be a grave mistake, especially now that things are finally coming to fruition there, with regards to things getting under control enough for the Iraqis to take control in the near future, gradually of course. I am convinced that it is extremely important to see it through. I also like Romney's approach to the whole Islamic jihadism angle. His plan is to work with friendly Islamic nations to help them modernize and gradually do away with the madrassas and other places where radical Wahhabism is taught, basically the places where terrorists go to school. In other words, get to the source of the problem rather than hacking at the branches. I also am convinced that with his "brains" and his ability to put together a crack team of advisors, his approach would be very methodical and would result in a plan which I could trust in. His level headedness would also make him much less likely than McCain to lash out in anger at another nation and endanger opportunities to influence other nations in a positive way.
Another thing I like about Romney is his attitude towards morality, something us LDS church members can appreciate. A good example of this is that he is the only candidate who is for a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage. I am convinced that this is the ONLY way to insure that one state doesn't "force" other states to accept their "gay" marriages. If we don't get a president who will push for this amendment, we will sooner or later have to put up with legalized same sex marriages in all states, and the resulting inestimable damage to traditional marriage and families. He would also be a great example to other nations of a man of integrity who could be trusted to make wise and well-informed decisions, and who would want America to also have a good reputation with other nations. I think this is very important also because I strongly feel that one of the big reasons we are hated so much by some Islamic people is the impression that Americans are immoral and perverted culturally, based partly on the trash that passes for entertainment (movies, porn, etc) that our nation spews forth. Romney could help in that regard by showing that there are good, moral people in the high echelons of our goverment who really are trying to change things for the better, and who also show that people of good morals can coexist with those of not-so-good morals in a free society.
One last argument for Ron Paul supporters to back Romney right now: Ron Paul really has zero chance. Would you rather see McCain or Romney president? I also feel strongly that Romney would have a better chance of beating the Democrat nominee in November, than McCain would. Romney has been much more gracious and respectful of McCain than the Democrats and main stream media will be once McCain's pitted against them. They will find much more to attack McCain with (including the points I brought up about McCain earlier in this post) which will really play to the democrats and MSM advantage. They know that Romney would be much harder for the democrat to beat, and that is also why the press is so much more biased against Romney right now than any other candidate. With Huckabee, the democrats would REALLY have a "field day".
One other comment: Regarding Huckabee, I am completely disgusted with this guy. He has shamelessly used his religion as a "tool" to help him get elected, and he has only succeeded in possibly spoiling Romney's chances and handing the election to McCain. If McCain chooses him as his VP running mate, I will NOT vote for them, period. I will probably vote 3rd party (Ron Paul?). If Romney had used religion in the shameless way that Huckabee has to gain votes, he would have gotten TONS of flack and would have lost his chances at the drop of a hat.
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7 comments:
Thank you for your post. You're right, I would much prefer Romney to McCain, and unless anyone needs anymore convincing that McCain is not the right guy, just look at the what happened recently in California. Our governator, Benedict Arnold Schwarzenegger, is backing McCain! If I ever was going to vote more McCain, that just destroyed any possibility whatsoever.
You also make a good point about the polls. Right now McCain is way ahead of Romney in the head to head democrat vs Rep polls, but polls really are not very accurate with that much time in between, after all, Gulliani was the front runner just a month or two ago. It's a tough choice, I guess the question for me is: Is voting for Ron Paul worth taking a greater chance of having McCain as the nominee? It's a tough question. You don't see a politician like Ron Paul very often, and I agree completely with almost all of what he says, it's changes that America desperately need. Although he does have 0% chance of winning, he has gotten a lot more support that anyone would have dreamed. I do wonder about how much a vote for him would support the cause of restoring the constitution, and furthering the cause of what he stands for.
Perhaps I am being too idealistic though, about Ron Paul. To be honest, I doubt America will ever support a true constitutionalist. Once a certain amount of reliance is placed in government, or once government grows to a certain size, it seems almost impossible to go back. America is probably far beyond the point of no return. Romney would be the best to "make the most of what we have".
Delemma is still not resolved, but there is more to think about. Again, that you for your post.
Something that extreme conservatives are always knocking McCain for, and which you knocked McCain for, is being willing to work with Democrats.
Although I also do not support McCain, I have always been impressed with his ability and willingness to work with Democrats to try and actually get something done. Despite the unpopularity of many of these projects, at least he made the effort. If members of the Republican and Democratic parties aren't willing to negotiate and reach across the aisle then nothing will continue to get done in Washington.
Dislike him for his policies, but don't knock the guy for trying to reach middle ground.
Also, Hyrum, I truly admire Ron Paul. During Republican debates he is the only one who strikes me as authentic and honest. He believes what he says and says what he believes. I love that about him.
Well, I'm not necessarily knocking McCain for trying to reach a middle ground with democrats on some issues. That in itself can be a good thing, if the points of compromise are well-chosen. What I am knocking him for are many of his choices of things to compromise on, but mainly on his whole attitude and demeanor in dealing with people who disagree with or criticize him. He has a record of being bad-tempered and losing his cool with other members of congress (shouting & using 4 letter words, etc.) If you really look at the way Romney criticizes his opponents vs how both McCain and the Huckster criticize Romney, he doesn't attack them personally, but just attacks some their policies. Both McCain and the Huckster have attacked Romney personally, accusing him of being dishonest, etc. I get uncomfortable with any criticizing between candidates, but I think it is fair to point out differences in policies. Even with Romney though, sometimes he has also gotten a bit nit-picky with regards to criticizing some fine points of some position of an opponent, but I still think he has treated his opponents with much more "class" than they have to him. But with Romney as with any candidate, they do better when they tout their own policies instead of dwelling on the shortcomings of policies of others, though it is fair to point out honest differences.
Regarding Ron Paul, he sounds good in every way to me, except that I think he is dead wrong in wanting to pull out of Iraq right away, before we have a chance to get things stable there first. If we don't, it will just become a nightmare for us as well as for the whole Middle East. If it wasn't for that, I could support him. However, until the general populace is educated on the importance returning to the fundamentals outlined in the Constitution, I don't think candidates like him will have any chance of getting elected. I also feel strongly that the more wicked society becomes, the more problems there will be in general, not just in the economy but across the whole spectrum of our culture. No matter how well the government is structured, if people are dishonest, it won't work. I think a president like Romney (& possibly Ron Paul, though I don't know much about him personally), who is an excellent role model, can help in some ways to steer our country's moral standards in the right direction. Needless to say we don't need any more poor role models like Bill Clinton.
Now that McCain is the Republican's choice i guess this is a moot point but Ron Paul has impeccable character. Two examples...
1. He refused to send his kids to public universities because he disagrees with the federal subsidization of secondary education.
2. He refuses to accept his lucrative congressional pension because of his belief that a congressman should not be a full time job but more of a volunteer position.
He also always votes against any unconstitutional bill no matter how unpopular it might be because he took an oath to defend the constitution. Not many people, myself included will both disagree with a subsidy and not take advantage of it at the same time.
The difference between a politician and a statesmen is that instead of attacking opponents they discuss policy, Ron Paul is no politician.
(note that the deleted comment was an accidental repeat)
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