Why I'm Voting For Mitt Romney

I recently posted concerning President Obama's record the last four years and why I won't vote for him. However, my vote for president this year won't be just a vote against President Obama, but will be a vote for Mitt Romney.  He was not my first choice during the primaries.  However, since then I've read many articles about his life and his family as well as about his plans of where he wants to lead our country in the next four years.  I've actually come to be very impressed by what I've found.  While there are many reasons why I think Mitt Romney would make a great president, I'd like to give you five reasons why I'm voting for Mitt Romney next Tuesday:

1. Mitt Romney is a proven business leader-Gov. Romney has been a leader all of his adult life.  This extremely smart man has both a law degree and an MBA, both from Harvard.  He  began his business career at Bain & Co., then spun it off into a phenomenally successful start up company named Bain Capital, which has been an investor in or acquired such business as Staples, Sports Authority, Dominoes Pizza, and Sealy Corp.  While Bain Capital thrived under Mitt's leadership, Bain & Co. went into a financial tailspin until they asked Mitt to come back and save the parent company.  He went back to Bain & Co. for two years, taking a salary of $1 while he worked to put his former employer back on a sound financial footing, which he succeeded in doing.  In 1999, Mitt took on the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, which at that time was $379 million short of its revenue goals.  While salvaging the Olympics and making it successful, he returned his $1.4 million salary and additionally contributed $1 million of his own money to the Olympics!   In contrast to Mitt Romney's experience in both the private and public sectors, Barack Obama had zero experience in managing anything before he ran for president-not even a lemonade stand!  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_career_of_Mitt_Romney)
2. Mitt Romney has executive experience in the public sector and knows how to reach across the aisle- Mitt become a successful governor of Massachussetts, taking the state from a $1.2 billion deficit to $600 million surplus. He worked with an overwhelmingly Democratic legislature to cut spending by $1.6 billion and to reform the state's  health care system.  Also, during his tenure as governor, his state's unemployment rate dropped from 5.6% to 4.7%. (http://www.mittromney.com/learn/mitt)
3. Mitt Romney is not afraid to address the fiscal and economic crises our nation is facing-The U.S. is facing the daunting problems of staggering debt and an insolvent Medicare program as well as an extremely sluggish economy.  Governor Romney has detailed plans to on how to tackle these issues. (http://www.mittromney.com/JobsPlan)  In contrast, Barack Obama's can't even propose a serious budget.  Under his leadership, the Democratic-led Senate has not passed a budget in over 3 years!  Perhaps even more amazingly, the president proposed a budget earlier this year that was defeated 99-0!  He couldn't even get one member of his own party to vote for it!  (http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/may/16/obama-budget-defeated-99-0-senate/ http://bit.ly/RBR4tV)  Obama's  plan to "soak the rich" will not even begin to bring in the revenue needed to bring us back from the fiscal cliff we are on, and the excessive regulations, including "Obamacare" and "Dodd-Frank" that he has put in place are actually putting a huge damper on our economy, not allowing us to achieve more than meager growth at best. 
4. Mitt Romney shares my values-Why would a Christian guy like myself vote for a Mormon candidate?   Well, if I were voting for a church position, I wouldn't vote for Mitt Romney.  I don't believe Mormon theology and it is questionable at best whether they should be considered followers of Christ, as they reject many of the tenets of traditional Christianity.  However, when it comes to voting for president, I have to choose the candidate that most closely holds my values.  There is no doubt that Mitt Romney holds for traditional family values in a way that our current president simply does not.  Although he once considered himself pro-choice, he has been pro-life since his days as governor of Massachussetts.  He has stated that he would appoint Supreme Court justices in the mold of Scalia and Thomas.  He defends the sanctity of marriage and promises to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court.   In contrast, Barack Obama has been by far the most pro-abortion president in the history of our country.  And he has promoted same-sex marriage, undermining the traditional view of marriage as one man-one woman which virtually all societies have embraced for millenia.  (http://www.mittromney.com/issues/values)
5. Mitt Romney is a good man-Much has been made by Democrats about Mitt Romney's tax rate, as if it is unpatriotic to try to pay as few taxes as possible.  (Who do you know who wants to pay more taxes than they absolutely have to?).  However, the main reason that the Romney's tax rate is so low is because they give an enormous amount to charity.  In 2011, his charitable contributions totaled 29% of his income.  (http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/21/tax-records-romney-donated-29-percent-of-income-to-charity-in-2011/ http://bit.ly/VkEuFI ) Concerning his character, many who know Mitt Romney have testified that he is a very caring individual, not only giving enormous amounts of his money but his time as well to others.  One story that Gov. Romney has not used much in this campaign really reveals a lot about his character.   The story is told in detail here and it's worth reading: (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/pressed-for-anecdote-romney-recounts-tale-of-missing-girl/) .  In short, one of his partners at Bain Capital had a daughter who went missing after a party. Out of concern for her welfare,  Mitt essentially shut down the company for several days while they combed the streets of New York City, eventually finding the young girl.

 The decision that we make this coming Tuesday will affect each of us in America for the rest of our lives. I honestly believe the future of our country hangs in the balance.   I would encourage you to be prayerful about your decision on who to vote for.  I've tried to look at the facts, not at the spin, and I've tried to share those facts with others.  We have a choice of what kind of nation we want to be.   Next Tuesday, I'm praying we make the right choice!


Want to read more?  Here's links to some of my more popular posts:
Lincoln & Obama-Two Views of Welfare
TR on Lincoln-The Great Statesman
A Christmas Story-Put It On My Account
Reflections On 30 Years of Marriage-Part 1