Mitt Romney: A Profile in Political Courage

Few qualities are as valued in political life as courage.  The American people are inspired by courageous leadership and we rally around those who take on the difficult issues and provide solutions. 

Sadly, many leaders in our nation’s capital talk a good game on the major challenges of our time without taking the necessary steps to achieve our desired goals. To put it simply, they suffer from a lack of political courage.  They talk about runaway federal spending, but they do little to stop it.  They realize that our Social Security system is facing a crisis, but they won’t push for real reforms.  They’re fully aware that entitlement spending is unsustainable, but they don’t have the courage to tackle the issue head on. 

Thankfully, courageous political leaders do still exist and none are more impressive than Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.  Time after time, Romney has directly confronted difficult issues and produced stunning results in the process.  

Just look at what he’s done for the economy in Massachusetts.  The commonwealth was facing a $3 billion budget deficit at the time of Romney’s election.  With a tax-hungry Democratic legislature ready to pull the trigger on massive new tax increases, newly-elected Governor Romney looked them squarely in the eye and said “no.”  Under Romney’s watch, Massachusetts would no longer be known as Taxachusetts.  He cut wasteful programs, merged duplicate departments, and turned the $3 billion deficit into a $700 million surplus without raising any taxes. 

But that’s just the beginning. While politicians all over the country talk about the need to provide universal health insurance, Governor Romney actually accomplished it by applying conservative free market principles to the health care system.  This is a landmark achievement that has earned rave reviews from both political parties and health policy experts.  Many governors are now studying the plan to see if can be implemented in their states. 

When the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declared a right to gay marriage, Governor Romney vocally opposed the decision and he has led the movement to enable citizens to reverse the decision via a constitutional amendment.  He also traveled to D.C. to testify in favor of a Federal Marriage Amendment to protect traditional marriage.  Our out-of-touch U.S. Senate failed to pass the amendment. Massachusetts is possibly the most socially liberal state in the entire country and it takes a massive amount of courage to stand up for traditional values in the face of such virulent opposition. 

It also takes courage to veto an emergency contraception bill and to fight an effort to expand embryonic stem cell research and human cloning in a state as rabidly pro-abortion as Massachusetts.  But that’s just another example of Governor Romney’s willingness to take a bold stand.

On the economy, health care, and the pivotal social issues of our time, Governor Romney has not been afraid to meet the challenges head on.  While others cling to the status quo, he has displayed an amazing ability to think outside the box to solve difficult problems.

The next President of the United States will need an abundance of political courage.  It will take courage to defeat the Jihadists and take the necessary steps to keep our country safe from those who wish to harm us.  It will take courage to reign in the out of control level of federal spending.  It will take courage to finally address the issue of illegal immigration. It will take courage to raise the bar on education and to meet the economic and technological challenges posed by an emerging Asia. 

It will take Mitt Romney. 

Interested in learning more about where Mitt stands on the issues?  Click here.

Contact us at nathan@americansformitt.com