14 June, 2011

My Romney Conversion

I have a whole list of things I wanted to blog about this week. This wasn’t one of them, but my Twitter feed today makes it necessary.

People who have followed my writings on this blog and elsewhere over the years know my feelings about former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA). I am on record in several places, as recently as April, saying that he will never receive my vote. In fact, I have said that if he’s the nominee that I would stay home, vote third party, or even vote for President Barack Obama (D-USA). Yes, I dislike Romney that much.

I had three basic reasons for this:

  1. I don’t trust him, and I believe strongly in the phrase “better the devil you know”. That tweet appeared in my Twitter timeline today, and was the one that probably pushed me over the edge into writing this post.
  2. I’ve voted in every single Presidential election since 1988, and every single candidate I’ve voted for has been to the left of me. Some very far to the left of me. I’m pretty conservative, but there are issues that I’m more centrist. It’s amazing to me that I never get a chance to vote for a candidate who represents my views. Romney is another in that mold, and I’m frankly tired of voting for candidates like him. After 2008, I vowed that I’d never do it again.
  3. While I admire many things about President George W. Bush (R-USA), I feel that his brand of big government conservatism nearly destroyed the Republican party. I am fearful that another President like Bush would complete that destruction. We may end up with a third party, and a “40 year rule” by the Democrats. Since I believe that Democrat rule will destroy the country as we know it, anything that destroys the Republican party, also destroys the country.

With me so far? Have I traveled too far off the deep end yet?

Good.

Now let me explain why I’ve changed my mind.

Yes, I am willing to break my 2008 vow.

I still believe that a Romney Presidency may destroy the Republican Party. I still believe that the destruction of the Republican party will likely  lead to Democrat rule and hence the destruction of the country as we know it within 30 years.

Notice the bold words “may” and “will likely” in the paragraph above. That’s part of it, but here’s the clincher.

I truly believe that if Obama is re-elected, the U.S.A. as we know it will cease to exist within 4 years. Perhaps I’m going a little over the top, but I don’t think so. I am certain that 2016 will be too late to undo the damage he’s doing to this country. Or at least to undo it in my lifetime.

So, I will vote for Romney if he’s the Republican nominee. Now, he won’t get my vote in the primary. Of the declared and rumored candidates who have a legitimate shot at the GOP nomination, he’s probably my last choice. And I don’t believe that GOP control of the House or even the Senate is enough to stop Obama from creating his warped view of what America should be. If this was 1996, and it was a choice between Romney and someone like former President Bill Clinton (D-USA), I might stick with my vow. But that’s not the choice. The choice is between the United States of America and the United Socialist States of America.

That’s an easy choice for me to make. If Romney is the nominee, I go into the voting booth next November and I pull the lever for him, and I won’t feel bad about it at all.

No comments:

Post a Comment