Mitt Romney has been the perpetual front-runner since... forever. Other candidates are judged not only on whether they can beat Obama, but also on whether they can beat Romney. Currently, despite commanding a luxurious lead over the rest of the field overall, he has come under fire for both his time at Bain Capital and the fact that he has hidden millions in off-shore accounts in the Cayman Islands. At a time when Americans just want to get back to work, his private sector experience shows resounding success at firing people. When Americans are looking for fairness, he gets away with paying only 15% of his income in taxes. But let's look at the issues.
#1: The Economy: His tax plans are interesting. On the individual level, he insists that America become fairer, while giving only those who make below $200,000 any kind of actual tax break. Perhaps this gives us a look inside of his ideology. Why keep the Status Quo in the area of taxes for those who make more than $200,000? Is it fair that they pay more taxes? Why punish those who can do the most good for the economy?
On the corporate tax level, he proposes reducing it to 25%. Where did he get this number? While it is below some of the more established world economies, it is at the same level or above countries considered "emerging markets." Is this really going to help us compete worldwide? Why not reduce it to some other round number like... 0%?
He has much more to say on the economy, in fact, one can get an e-book copy of his entire plan from his website. However, his tax stance was too good to pass up.
#2: Immigration: It is troubling that his campaign website does not include any links on the issue of immigration. Apparently making our borders secure is not one of his top priorities.
#3: National Security: This may be the area in which Romney gets the most support from the conservative Republicans. It is also, incidentally, one of the main areas that he is diametrically opposed to Ron Paul. Basically, he wants to bring defense back as the main sacred cow of the federal government, with enforced spending of at least 4% of GDP. In addition, he wants to dramatically increase the rate at which new ships are being built for the Navy from nine to fifteen per year. Interestingly, he is strong ballistic missile defense. This is not a main issue with most other Washingtonians, given that, though ballistic missiles have existed for about 50 years, the results of such defense initiatives thereof are still highly erratic, regardless of what you thought you knew about SDI.
Also, he supports continuing the military's role on the world stage as a "global force for good." This means more projection of power in the Pacific, to counter China, and more robust support of allies such as Israel, which means taking a strong anti-Iran stance.
#4: The Constitution: Given the strong influence of the Tea Party very recently in the GOP, one would think that Romney would have some things to say about the Constitution, at least a rebuke of some governmental policies as being unconstitutional. Yet he supports the NDAA, which gives the government the power to indefinitely arrest and detain perceived terrorists. He states in the video above that members of Al-Qaeda, whether or not they are citizens, do not have the right to due process. However, he does not give his definition of a terrorist, nor does he explain his rationale behind arbitrarily denying some US citizens the right to due process, upon which our government was founded. This is a signal of an obvious lack of respect for our nations founding document.
In conclusion, Mitt Romney is a great American. He has done much to further good business initiatives that have strengthened our economy. However, his politics are centrist. While this may earn him a wider voting base, it abandons the core of his own party. While his national security policies are strong, everything else does little to inspire voters looking for a candidate who embraces the Constitution and conservatism.
