Why I Am Voting for Mitt Romney

Earlier this year, I would have told you that I was voting against Barack Obama because I didn’t expect to have a candidate I could vote for.

Four years ago, America faced a choice that would decide whether the country would continue on or embrace change while in the middle of a crisis. When the latter was decided on, many voters assumed that change for change’s sake was a great thing. However, many did not understand anything about Obama because much of his past was buried deeply by the main stream news media. As a result, change did come and things got far worse.

Change for change’s sake is a teenager’s concept of improving life. The results of four years of President Barack Obama has resulted in things listed in this post by anonymous blogger Zombie. Please read them since they include a great deal that you will never hear from the national media.

It is fascinating that the media trumpet a false 7.8% unemployment rate (California was omitted and they only survey those still looking for work) as a great improvement and evidence that Obama has turned the economy around. So when it went up to 7.9% for the latest report, it was spun as being positive. Meanwhile, average wages are down, which is a bigger predictor of economic health in my book.

The failure to create any kind of recovery from the recession that hit in 2008 would be damning if it were a Republican in the White House. In reality, if it had been a Republican sitting there we would be in much better financial shape than what has actually happened. Even a weak one like McCain would have done better.

We desperately need someone with economic expertise and experience to turn things around. I can think of nobody better qualified than Mitt Romney to do that. His experience at Bain Capitol, saving the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and balancing the budget in far left Massachusetts show that he can accomplish what he says he can. For Democrats, the last one is something they should really pay attention to. Romney did that with a Democratic Party dominated legislature, which is an amazing feat.

It is well known that the Clinton campaign in 1992 had an internal rallying cry of “It’s the economy, stupid” to keep them focused on how to win the election. The Obama campaign has run from the economy at every turn, using class warfare and hot button social issues to wage a relentlessly ugly, angry, and juvenile campaign. There is no hope, only promises for further change involving an increasingly large government interfering in every aspect of daily life.

Barack Obama simply does not understand economics, numbers, or the American worker. It is a side of life he has never really experienced since he has lived a life of wealth since he was sent to life with his grandparents as a child. His is a world of abstract theories, high concepts, and the fantasies of utopia.

But Romney was born to wealth with a silver spoon in his mouth! That’s the argument based on class warfare that is bandied about.

This is a man who turned down his inheritance so that he could prove himself. Romney did not do that to spite his father or rebel against him. Instead, he desired to be his own man, which speaks greatly to his character. So when his wife Ann speaks of the difficulties of being young and married without money while going to college, she isn’t making up a story to connect with people. It actually happened.

I could go on at length about Mitt Romney’s accomplishments, but it is worthy of a large biography already. So I’ll just mention that he graduated both Harvard Law and Business Schools at the same time, helped found an investment company that specializes in saving already bankrupt companies with a success rate of 80%, cleaned up an incredibly corrupt and over budgeted Olympics, and governed a radically Democrat state as a Republican governor successfully.

These are the least of his achievements, in my eyes.

His real achievements have come in an area only touched on slightly and that is what he has done for others. Forget abstract spreading the wealth around or paid community organizing, I’m talking about real charity and service. You may have heard about him shutting down Bain to search for the 14 year old daughter of a friend or collecting relief supplies for hurricane Sandy victims. This is normal behavior for Mitt.

Being a Mormon convert gives me an insight into what drives Romney and that is the desire to serve others. Too many good deeds done by him will never be heard about because they were not done to gain accolades. They were done to help people in need and done quietly. Humility is something we are taught alongside serving others by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Yet there is a specific thing that informs Romney above all others, I believe. There is no more difficult calling (unpaid job) in the Church than being called as a bishop over a congregation. Having worked alongside men who have held that position, I have seen what they have to deal with. There are calls in the wee hours of the morning, the divorces, the tragic deaths, financial crises, and any other kind of horrible thing you can imagine that happens to people. All of that has to be dealt with by a bishop.

Ask a former or current Mormon bishop what the most difficult of all things to deal with is and he will always answer with welfare. It is a gut and soul wrenching thing to deal with people who don’t have food on the table or are about to be evicted. Often it means personal visits to their homes and always means getting to know them personally. This is welfare in the trenches, not something viewed from a lofty summit.

Being face to face with the reality of suffering and seeing entire families struggle changes a person. In the Church, we call it a “softening of the heart” which is part of becoming more Christ like. I can safely say the Mitt Romney has had to personally face more poor people and actively help them than Barack Obama ever has or ever will.

The man genuinely cares about people.

I’ll be upfront and say that I have had, and still do have, issues with some of Romney’s politics since I am much more conservative than he. The biggest example would be RomneyCare turned into a financial disaster in Masachusetts. While he invokes the spirit of Federalism and the states being used as laboratories, I remain a great skeptic there.

In fact, early this year in an email to local Republican leaders, I expressed the sentiment that we would have to hold our noses when voting for the next president. I was not a fan of Mitt’s and preferred Herman Cain greatly, but am used to not getting my chosen candidate nominated.

But somewhere along the line, probably between the Republican National Convention and the first debate, I realized my feelings on the matter were changing. I was not alone from what I read on blogs and talkbacks. The more I saw of Mitt Romney the person vs. the politician, the more I liked the man. More importantly, he impressed me, which is very hard to do.

No, it wasn’t him choosing Paul Ryan that did it for me. It was a huge clue to how serious Romney is about fixing the financial woes of the nation, so it did help. Disclaimer: I’m not a Ryan fan and have harbored suspicions about the sincerity of his conversion to fiscal conservatism. Yes, I am hard to please.

What got my attention was just how competent Mitt was and is. The American people finally got a chance to see that without the selective editing of the media when the debates finally arrived. Seeing Romney and Obama on the same stage did provide the stark contrast expected, but in an unexpected way. One appeared poised, knowledgeable, earnest, and presidential. The other looked like a none too bright and mean spirited career politician.

Which is why Mitt Romney will win the election. He showed the American public he is not just qualified for the job, but ready for it. My prediction is that the victory will be by at least 5% of the popular vote and over 300 electoral votes. The potential for a landslide is there given how many people regret voting for Obama in 2008.

I find myself in the strange position of writing I am voting for Mitt Romney and not against Barack Obama. It is not because he is winning – nobody should vote based on being on the winning side. It is because I think he will make a good president and possibly a great one. If we want a future for this country, please vote for Romney. I do not think you will regret it.