To those of you who believe the Republican Party will save you from the evil mechanizations of the Democrats…sorry. It ain’t going to happen in November 2012. And that’s even if their poster-boy Mitt Romney steals the show. Why? Well, Missouri Tenth has made it pretty darn clear in the past, but we’ll say it once more: The Executive Branch of the Fed is wildly out-of-control (see Federal Government Made Simple to see how it has grown over the years), and the people of the States have pretty much come to accept what’s become a King-like ruler over them.

Now, because the President has become such a terrifyingly powerful agency, with so many Americans grumbling (but not doing anything) about the lack of choice for their supreme leader, we thought we’d take a moment to share our thoughts on why you should expect business as usual from our two saviors of the union: Money-bags Mitt and Overlord Obama. But you already know what to expect from Obama, so let’s focus on Romney – an individual many “conservatives” believe might just be the guy to turn things around.

State of Republican Party

But first, let’s review the state of the Republican Party in general, by taking a look at the article entitled GOP stands down on social issues, focuses on jobs, by Laurie Kellman of the Associated Press. In it, she writes, “Republicans stung by culture wars that dominated the nation’s political discourse this year are standing down on social issues…” Kellman notes that while the GOP plays around with abortion and family issues with little serious intentions to do anything about it, House Speaker John Boehner reminds folks that he’s focused on jobs – and not much else. As for someone in our own backyard, Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri was quoted as saying “I truly believe that those things will shake out in a more positive way if we can just deal with the issues that we really need to deal with, on the economy and fiscal side, and shame on us if we don’t do it.”

So it should really come as no surprise that Establishment Republicans have, for the most part, settled on yet another fat-cat businessman with just enough “religion” to hopefully dupe Americans into voting for him. Let’s proceed, shall we?

Romney Bio

Mitt Romney was born in Detroit on March 12, 1947, and was married to his wife, Ann in 1969. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1971, and went on to found the investment firm of Bain Capital in 1984 – which under Romney’s leadership would go on to launch or rebuild hundreds of companies. In 1999, Romney served as President and CEO of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, and in 2002 was elected Governor of Massachusetts. Wikipedia notes that in 1966, Romney spent 30 months in France as a Mormon mission, and later served as a Mormon Ward Bishop (highest priesthood office in the Latter Day Saint movement) and Stake President through his involvement with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Mitt Romney and his wife Ann have five children and sixteen grandchildren. For more on Mitt Romney, see his campaign website.

Doing god’s work: Mormon wealth and power

One thing that’s particularly interesting about Romney, is his prominent relationship with the growing numbers of wealthy Mormons in the United States. As ABC news wrote in Mitt Romney sent millions to Mormon Church, Mitt Romney as private equity giant (with Bain Capital) “carved his church a slice of several of its most lucrative business deals, securities records show, providing it with millions of dollars worth of stock in some of Bain Capital’s most well-known holdings.”

So knowing this, could we expect Romney as President to provide special attention to his flock of fellow Mormons? Perhaps we should let the man answer this himself. At a speech, entitled “Faith in America”, delivered at the Bush Presidential Library on Dec 6, 2006, Romney stated, “I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers–I will be true to them and to my beliefs.” Additionally, in America by Heart, (Sarah Palin, p 184-185) Romney spoke openly of “how my faith would inform my presidency, if elected.”

But, while Romney speaks of his faith informing his presidency, let’s be real. The $4,750,294 in campaign contributions from big business – with maybe a few who his investment company helped out – will likely do plenty of talking too. So will Romney be listening to the rest of the nation, or will he be playing favorites instead?

Make war, not love!

Sure, Americans seem to preach about peace – but since every President in recent memory has embarked on costly wars, do we really care if Romney makes it clear that he’d do the same? For example, in the 2007 Republican primary debate on Univision, Romney stated, “We need a Latin American policy that frees Cuba and that eliminates a threat of people like Hugo Chavez”. At the 2008 Republican debate at Reagan Library, he said, “Putin is overseeing a repressive regime, and “it’s very troubling.” And at the 2011 GOP Google debate in Orlando, FL, he stated, “It is unacceptable for Iran to become a nuclear nation.”

But let’s not stop there. In regards to North Korean leader Kim Jong il’s death, Romney stated in the Foreign Policy Magazine of Dec 19, 2011 that, “His death represents an opportunity for America to work with our friends to turn North Korea off the treacherous course it is on and ensure security in the region.” And when asked at the 2007 GOP debate at Saint Anselm College if Romney would authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons should Iran have a nuclear bomb, he replied with “You don’t take options off the table…there is a war going on, and we need a broad response to make sure that these people have a different vision.”

And to make sure all options stay on the table, Romney stated in a 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida (Jan 24, 2009) that, “I’m recommending that we add 100,000 active-duty personnel to our military. We’re right now at about 1.5 million. Take that up to about 1.6 million.” As for paying for such costly military expenditures, Romney writes in “No Apology” (p 30-32) that to “ensure that America remains safe and maintains its role as a defender of freedom, we also need to increase our defense spending to at least 4% of our GDP per year, including substantial and increasing support for missile defense.”

Yep. All because Mr. Romney believes that a strong America meddling and policing the world is the way of the future for our people. “I will insist on a military so powerful that no one would ever think of challenging it.” (Prebuttal to 2012 State of the Union speech , Jan 24, 2012) But he doesn’t stop there, because in referencing a period of terrible national tragedy, in which massive amounts of Americans were killed, civil liberties smashed, and great portions of our nation left in desolation, Romney stated that, “Some of our great leaders — look at Abraham Lincoln, was not a military expert, but turned out to be one of the best in the history of this country.” 2008 Republican debate at Reagan Library in Simi Valley , Jan 30, 2008

Romney squishing those pesky Civil Liberties

When asked by the Boston Globe’s questionnaire on Executive Power (Dec 20, 2007) if the president has Constitutional power to conduct surveillance without judicial warrants or federal statues, Romney replied with, “Intelligence and surveillance have proven to be some of the most effective national security tools we have to protect our nation. Our most basic civil liberty is the right to be kept alive and the President should not hesitate to use every legal tool at his disposal to keep America safe.” So does this mean that under Romney, we likely won’t see the Federal Government giving up it’s TSA strip searches, NDAA indefinite detention provisions, or Patriot Act citizen surveillance? Blast it – the American people foiled again!

In the 2007 GOP YouTube debate in St. Petersburg, Florida, Romney eluded to the notion that in torture, anything could go…as long as it isn’t talked about. “I do not believe that as a presidential candidate, it is wise for us to describe precisely what techniques we will use in interrogating people.”

No Limited Government Here

Oh yeah, and let’s not forget how Romney, like every good Republican, talks the talk of limiting government. But let’s not play patty-cake here. Real Republicans have never really had the guts, or the drive, to do much about it. Still, could Mitt Romney somehow be different? In his book, “No Apology”, on pages 198-199, Romney believes that because minority students have an alarming drop-out rate – despite free Government education – the solution is utilizing even more Government to fix it. “The “achievement gap” has been lamented for decades but distressingly little has been done to combat it.” Says Romney. “About half of African American and Hispanic American students drop out before receiving a high-school degree. The result is that we are virtually assuring the creation of permanent underclass. It is an inexplicable human tragedy when millions of American children barely attain a third-world education in a nation that offers all its citizens access to free public schooling. Our current failure to educate our minority populations is the foremost civil-rights issue of our generation.”

As for another limited government issue, involving a costly, tax-payer funded drug war against folks who use marijuana for medicinal purposes, the April 20, 2011 edition of Mother Jones magazine had this to say,In his most recent book, No Apology, he (Romney) attributes the legalization movement to “the passion and zeal of those members of the pleasure-seeking generation that never grew up.”

And we haven’t even discussed how Romney plans, via a Fox News Debate on Jan 16, 2012, to reduce the topic income tax from 35% to 25%. But remember all that war-mongering above? He can’t change the world without the taxes from home. And we know what Thomas Jefferson thinks about that!

Social Security? Yeah, Romney likes it. Through a 2011 GOP Tea Party Debate in Tampa FL (Sep 12, 2011) he says, “I think that Social Security is an essential program and we should change the way we’re funding it.” But, he then flip-flops on the topic of Socialism” by saying in a CNN 2012 GOP primary debate (Jan 26, 2012) that, “This is not just an average election. This is a time where we’re going to decide whether America will remain the great hope of the 21st century, whether this will be an American century, or, instead, whether we’ll continue to go down a path to become more and more like Europe, a social welfare state. That’s where we’re headed.”

Conclusion

Despair not, gentle reader. Sure the choices for president aren’t great, but the time is now for you to speak up. It’s your right to ensure that Government works for us, and not the other way around. We don’t need to throw our votes away on Party hacks like Romney and Obama, who really don’t give a tinker’s darn about you and your community. But that’s okay. Seriously. Don’t spend time crying or belly-aching. Instead man-up and join me in peacefully demanding that our President cease pretending to be our King, and that our Federal Government serves us best through butting out of our lives. Vote vigorously and often through local and state elections, and for real hope and promise through State Sovereignty and the Nullification of unconstitutional Federal actions and laws.

For more information on Mitt Romney, please see: On the Issues: Every Political Leader on Every Issue.

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