Political Propoganda

So this is a little out of line of my normal topics of discussion, but it's been on my mind a lot lately. Excuse me while I pull out my soapbox and climb on....

Now then. With the recent state of affairs of our nation, I feel a tremendous obligation to be aware of the political processes that are in currently in motion. Though I have never been a tremendously political person, I have been following the primary races for Presidential nominees very closely. For two reasons... one, because I feel like our nation is desperately in need of a leader who will step up and take this country by the horns, so to speak, and really make some changes. And two, because I don't want to take advantage of the fact that there is a Mormon running for President and vote for that reason alone. Religion has never been a political qualifier for me in the past, and I didn't want it to inadvertently be a qualifier this time, simply because a man that shares my own faith is in the running. So, I have researched. I have watched the debates, and read websites and studied the issues. I have researched all the candidates. I have decided religion isn't a qualifier, but integrity and decency and logic and wisdom are. For those reasons, and not just because he is a Mormon, I have absolutely decided that I am going to vote for Mitt Romney. Here's why:

(okay, I know it's a lot. You don't have to read my research if you don't want to... but please do your own, if you haven't already!)

On why he is running:

"I've only been in politics four years, not long enough to become badly infected. I'm in this race because I have experience through having been in the private sector and then having run the Olympics and being a father and a husband, I've experienced what it takes to bring America back on track. I heard from a friend in New York who said what concerns me about America today is that politics has become a profession, not a duty. And for me this is not my profession. It is my duty. And I'm in this to get America right for my kids and my grand kids and that is precisely what I'll do."

On immigration:

"I was at the San Diego border and met with our Border Patrol agents. They told me that more than a half of those that try and come across those fences are able to do so. They said there's no way to stop them at the border, unless you close down the magnets. And the magnets are sanctuary cities and having employers sign people up that have come here illegally to do work here. You have to end sanctuary cities. You have to cut back on federal funding to cities that continue to call themselves sanctuary cities and welcome people in, as New York has done. And you have to say to employers that hire people illegally, 'That's also going to be sanctioned.' This is the way we're going to have to finally end it. And the other key point is this, which is having amnesty and saying to individuals, as the mayor has said, if you come here and you're willing to work here and pay taxes, we'll sign you up. That's not the right message. We've got to enforce the law, welcoming legal immigration but ending illegal immigration."

On government spending:

"Government is simply too big. State government is too big. The federal government is too big. It's spending too much. There's a lot we can do with efficiency and duplication. There's even more we can do by just simply cutting back on the scale of our government."

On our kids:

"I'd like to see us clean up the water in which our kids are swimming. I'd like to keep pornography from coming up on their computers. I'd like to keep drugs off the streets. I'd like to see less violence and sex on TV and in video games and in movies. And if we get serious about this, we can actually do a great deal to clean up the water in which our kids and our grand kids are swimming."

On health care:

"My plan would allow people to purchase private insurance, not government insurance. No government-managed health care and no increase in taxes."

"But we say let's rely on personal responsibility. Help people buy their own private insurance. Get our citizens insured, not with a government takeover, not with new taxes needed, but instead with a free market based system that gets all of our citizens in the system. No more free rides."

"Conservative principles have the answers for health care. I think I'm going to be able to demonstrate to you today the conservative principles of personal responsibility and free market dynamics and choice and personal care – these kinds of elements allow us to reform health care in such a way that we can solve the problems that America faces in health care without having a government takeover, without having socialized medicine with all its drawbacks and all its weaknesses."

So there you have it. Just as I wanted to make sure that I did not vote for Romney only because he's Mormon, I hope that others will not not vote for him for that same reason. Many say that America will never elect a man that isn't of a mainstream faith... is America not better than that? Can America not see past religious differences and vote based on the issues that will actually be pertinent to a presidency? I hope so. No matter who wins... I hope that Americans vote for the right reasons, and not because of blind prejudice.

Okay. I'm done. And I'm putting my soapbox away now. I promise tomorrow I'll write about something totally frivolous and unimportant.