By Mitt Romney
Special to the Observer
“Hope” and “change” were the watchwords we heard repeatedly from Barack Obama back when he was a presidential candidate campaigning here in the Carolinas. Three years into his presidency, he hasn’t delivered much in the way of hope. But we’ve seen a lot of change.
The change has come in the size and shape and reach of Washington. Obama promised to fix our broken system. Instead, he has grown it massively.
We have thousands of new regulations, many of them job-killers. We have hundreds of billions in new federal spending. The government workforce has grown by tens of thousands of new workers. The national debt now totals a stratospheric $15 trillion. We have a brand new and enormously expensive entitlement program known as Obamacare.
With government swelling at a rapid pace, the private sector, unsurprisingly, has stagnated. Nearly 24 million Americans are out of work, struggling to find full-time work, or no longer even looking. In North Carolina, unemployment is an appalling 10 percent. In South Carolina it’s 9.9 percent. As I’ve traveled the South and traveled the country, I’ve heard story after story of heartbreak, of homes lost, of retirement plans replaced by jobs at minimum wage, of dreams shattered.
If we are going to undo the damage, this year’s election is critical. The destiny of our country is at stake. We can choose to live in the Entitlement Society that Barack Obama has been constructing, a society built around dependence on government. Or we can return to the merit-based Opportunity Society built by our Founding Fathers.
The drafters of the Declaration of Independence wrote that the Creator endowed us with unalienable rights, among them, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In America, we would be free to plot our own course. Ours would be the land of opportunity, where people achieve their dreams through hard work, education and daring.
Nearly two-and-a-half centuries of American history demonstrate the brilliance of our founding principles. America has produced pioneers and inventors of distinction in every field. We have excelled in science and industry. We have built an Opportunity Society that is prosperous and free and strong.
Barack Obama has taken us on a detour away from our founding philosophy. He has mismanaged our economy, weakened our military, and apologized for America around the world. In October, I spoke at The Citadel, where patriotism is a passion. The spirit of sacrifice I found there, the love of our country and everything we stand for, only reinforces my belief that we need change in Washington, D.C., and change in the White House. I want America to be respected around the world. I want to return America to the path of greatness and I know how to bring us where we need to go.
I’ve spent most of my life in the private sector. I’m not a career politician. I know how misguided government policies can choke off investment and kill jobs. I also know how government can get out of the way to foster economic growth.
My administration will make America the best place in the world for entrepreneurs, inventors and job creators. I’ll lower and simplify taxes, especially for middle-income Americans. I will repeal every unnecessary Obama-era regulation that kills jobs or hurts economic growth. I will fight the union bosses who build their power at the expense of the very workers they purport to represent.
I’ll open up new markets for American goods. I’ll press to exploit fully our abundant energy resources. I will cut and cap spending, and lead us toward a balanced budget. And I will repeal Obamacare. On my first day as president, I will direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to grant waivers from Obamacare to all 50 states.
Let’s not be under any illusions that change of the sort I am proposing will be easy. Obama, the Democratic machine, and the entrenched interests behind them are going to fight to retain their power and their privileges at every step of the way. We need to fight back. Fortunately, we have a simple tool at hand: It’s called the truth. And the truth is that President Obama has failed, and his vision for America is wrong. Reversing that failure, and correcting our course, is what the election of 2012 is all about.
The question I can't seem to answer about Mitt is, does this railing against ObamaCare represent an acknowledgement of a mistake with his similar Massechsetts plan, or saying what the people want to hear so he can get elected?
ReplyDeleteLet me state from the start that I am an independent. Not a "Lib Leftie" of "Rabid Rightwinger." Nor am I an Occupier or Libertarian. I am smart and read a lot, and need a bit more exercise, though who doesn't?! Anyways...
ReplyDeleteDon't we deserve better than this type of Mitt Romney political spin CRAP?!! Frankly, as the country my father chose to serve in the military and I hope to serve as a citizen, I REALLY expect better from the candidates. Mitt, your article is full of lies and half truth, served with the faux sincerity of someone seeking power. And for some reason, you, Newt, and Ricky S. seem to think no one here in SC has the intelligence to question you, or look beyond the spew of FUD you all think will win our hearts. I don't doubt you were a talented businessman. Do you think because I choose to live in SC that my acumen falters? STICK WITH THE TRUTH!!! Sprinkle in YOUR ideas on how to make things better, and acknowledge that providing health care to children is a good thing, that perhaps protecting consumers is a GOOD THING, and that keep jobs in SC and the US may not be 100% the cheapest thing, but IS the Ethical and Patriotic thing, that not allowing companies to completely screw up the environment is a long term good thing!!
At least Ron Paul sticks to his guns and does not flip flop like the rest of you, pandering to the whims of the most vocal, correct or not. Too bad he is a bit "cuckoo for cocoa puffs" in ideology. You guys don't seem to understand that people like him because he is authentic, not because he is necessarily ideologically correct. Can we find someone who IS authentic, smart, and willing to not pander to the extreme?? To acknowledge that the other side does not necessarily eat babies and sacrifice goats in their evilness? Man, I got four kids, and I have to explain to them that in this whole US, you are the best choices we can come up with?
sigh...
Looks like I will be voting for Obama again this year. He has not accomplished everything needed. The economy he inherited from those terrible years of the prior president has not recovered, but can we say it is all on him? Man, the Congress just stands there, hands in their pockets (or the pocket of any lobbyist with the scratch to get in the game) and fiddles the time away while Rome burns. At least he is a family man, and did not have anything that would allow the press to ask a "despicable question" (How did Newt claim the moral high ground?!! You would have thought John King cheated with his former wife and not the other way around, and Newt gets to call the press despicable? WTH?"
Yep, start calling me "Socialist" or "Liberal" or whatever. Reality is, I just want the country back on track and my friends who have been out of work to get a decent paying job, and to go to church and enjoy my wife and kids.Just truly sick of this bile and misinformation.
(I know there is probably a mispelling sprinkled in here and there. If you bring it up in a post, thanks in advance for teh correction. If you don't bring it up, thanks for the understanding that mispelling a word does not invalidate an idea. :-)