During the primaries in 2012, I would admit that Mitt Romney wasn't my pick amongst the Republicans. I was afraid that he would be too far to the left for my liking. I also felt that he was too weak in a nasty political battle. I liked Herman Cain initially, because I was familiar with him and because he was fiscally conservative. Herman worried me though, with his limited experience outside of the economy. I liked the toughness and experience of Newt Gingrich. Newt was instrumental in balancing the budget in the 1990's by standing up to Bill Clinton. His "Contract with America" was political genius. I liked his creativeness and political savvy, but he scared me at the same time. I knew that getting the Christian right to vote for Newt would be difficult, and I really felt that the media was holding back on releasing "dirt" near the end of the election cycle. Ron Paul was a very favorable choice, maybe the best choice in terms of his platform. However, I didn't consider him a candidate that could really win either the Republican primary or in November. I did end up voting for Ron Paul in the primary, because Romney had already essentially wrapped up the nomination. All of my other favorites were gone or falling fast. I voted for Ron Paul to make a statement to the Republican Party that they need to lean farther toward a freedom and fiscal responsibility platform.
In spite of my feelings about Romney then, he was the pick for opposing Barack Obama. When the primaries were over, I started paying a lot more attention to Mitt. I really liked his plans to restore the American economy. He is a venture capitalist. Those are the guys that fund start-ups. He was also involved in buying corporations that were failing and turning them around. That is certainly what the fledgling American economy needed and still needs. Romney was focused on bringing the cost of energy down. That is a strategy of using our exceptional natural resources to make manufacturing quit leaving and possibly start returning to America.
However, more than all that, I found Mitt to be a really decent human being. The stories of things he had done for friends and people in his church were very compelling. Mitt was not a career politician. He wasn't running for president to bring himself personal gain. That was very strongly my belief. I don't believe Mitt was "power hungry" or trying to bring himself another accomplishment. I think he was trying to use his experience and skills to help strengthen the economy of our country. Every bit of information about Mitt in the Republican Convention and in reports I watched showed him as a true "public servant." Comparing Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the two men weren't even in the same league. If you wanted to stop the MessAPolitico in Washington, Mitt was the best choice, hands down.
Barack Obama's advertisements made out Mitt to be an uncaring, greedy, rich guy. Ironically, Mitt Romney was too polite and respectful to go out and hammer the president about his mischaracterizations. During the debates, Romney never took the incidents in Benghazi and used them for political advantage. Of course, the media could have and should have done that work for Mitt Romney, but we all know that the media bias would not let that truth ever be known. Initially, I had thought that Romney didn't stand up for himself because he was weak, but today, I've changed my mind. I think Mitt is a very nice and respectful person. His inner strength stopped him from going off on Barack Obama. Not one ounce of dirt was brought up about the man, and you know that the media would have found the dirt if it existed.
Where do we as conservatives and libertarians go from here? Can we ever win an election again? Can America be saved? I hope so on both accounts. If we lose, America loses. The MessAPolitico depends on the hard working Americans to earn a living and pay taxes. If we lose and fall from our position in the middle and upper socioeconomic classes, how will the US survive?
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