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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

A Mom's Worries



I’m a mom. I worry.  Things I worry about the most: my children.

What legacy will our nation leave for them?

First, they will inherit the $16,000,000,000,000 debt.  The rate of our nation’s debt is NOT sustainable!  This is not the inheritance I had in mind for my kids. Mitt Romney will cut that debt and work towards a balanced budget.

Healthcare for my kids under Obamacare would look very different. It would consist of a board of 15 advisors (we don’t know who they are, and we don’t know what they will propose) who will run medicine more like a fast food restaurant menu—a list of things done in the same way for everyone, based on “evidence” of what’s generally good, not based on individual need.  This inevitably leads to rationing or prohibitive access to medical resources deemed “not worth the expense.” What happens then is the middle class won’t tolerate being told how to spend their money on treatment or what treatment they can or can’t receive, and they will seek care outside the government reach. This will NOT create more equity in healthcare delivery, but rather it will create a multi-tier system. The affluent will pay more to get better quality service, and they will not be going to municipal hospitals (for a great article on the subject, see “Cheesecake Factory Medicine” in August 28, 2012 WSJ).  I have experienced this multiple times while living in foreign countries—government-controlled health system was never the first choice for those who could afford private care.  For those who could not, they suffered through inconsistent, inefficient, less effective care.
Mitt Romney will work to repeal Obamacare and put the states in charge of their own healthcare reform.

I want my kids to go to college and chase their dreams.  Not only has the cost of college risen 25% under Obama, but the Census bureau and US Dept of Labor say that 53.6% of bachelor degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed.  I love my kids, but I don’t necessarily want them living in my basement forever because they can’t find jobs or create their own in an economy that doesn’t encourage entrepreneurship and small businesses.
Mitt Romney’s reforms will not only improve access and applicability to education, but improve the overall economy, growing businesses and opportunities for all. 

I grew up with a great love for our country.  I always believed it was a great blessing to live here and enjoy the abundant freedoms and opportunities here.  I knew the United States was special and was a place where people came to make their dreams come true.  I always felt we were the greatest nation on earth.  I want that same vision for my children.  I want them to inherit the same patriotism I developed as a child and grow the same love for the US that I have.
Mitt Romney understands America’s greatness and what it takes to maintain our strengths and liberties.  He will do all he can to be sure we pass down a lasting legacy of  peace, gratitude, and American greatness our children can depend on.  
Mitt Romney as President will help put mothers’ minds at ease.  I want that, and I’m pretty sure my husband and children would appreciate that, too.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Oval Office or Principal's Office--A New Low



Seriously, where is his mother? First it’s the snarky, rude sarcasm; then the swearing; but now the disgusting campaign ad comparing voting for the first time to sex for the first time. Really?  

This campaign tactic only ridicules all those who have respect for the sanctity of sex.  It doesn’t somehow empower women by mocking virginity, but belittles them. And he has two young daughters!

Well, if you don’t have a sterling record and reputation to stand on, I guess it’s the old high school trick--you resort to being nasty to try getting popular.  This is his legacy.

And speaking of high school tricks, any high-schooler can tell you that the excuse, “but you didn’t give me enough time,” doesn’t work. 

So, rudeness, cussing, disrespect and disgustion (my own word) are his strategy.  And he has the gall to ask for “a little more time”? For more of the same? 

Is Obama running for student body president or President of the United States? 

Let’s send him back to the principal’s office and put someone respectful, dignified, and genuine into the oval office.  Let’s put Mitt Romney into the office of President of the United States of America.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Bayonets and Bad Behavior

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I know the real reason some people say Pres. Obama won the debate the other night—it’s because he finished the night without getting put in a time out.

I fully expected to see Obama’s mother come storming out on the stage afterwards, grab her son by the arm, put him over her knee, and give him a good, sound spanking for his rude, disrespectful sass.  And I don’t even believe in spanking!

It’s like I tell my kids, what you say and how you say it says more about you than anything else.  And sarcasm speaks volumes about a person. So when Obama said, “Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets,” even my young children watching recognized that as being “mean” and “rude.”  I think they expected me to somehow take away his allowance as a consequence.  If only I could.

I’m sure Obama has heard by now that actually every Marine recruit is required to be proficient in the use of a bayonet.  And that there were horse-mounted US commandos that helped topple the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The office of the President of the United States is the most highly regarded office in the world.  It should only be held by someone with integrity, honor, and respect (among other things).  We teach our children about George Washington, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln and set them up as sterling examples for our kids to follow.  We teach them the great things these leaders did and said.  Things like:

“Let us dare to speak and write, that we may be neither led nor driven blindfolded to irretrievable destruction.”    --John Adams

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”    --Thomas Jefferson

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”    --Abraham Lincoln.

Sadly, what will my kids remember from President Obama? His snarky remark about the bayonets and horses (and that he didn’t have to apologize for talking like that to someone).

It’s time for a great leader in the White House.  It’s time to put in someone who not only will function as an excellent president, but will behave in a presidential manner, and who will represent us in a way befitting this great nation.  It’s time for our children to have a president they can look up to and emulate.

It’s time for Mitt Romney.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Blinking on the Middle East



I can still remember when I was a young girl, my family would gather for prayer every day, and in those prayers we would ask for the protection and release of the hostages in Iran.

I wasn’t old enough to understand what had happened at the embassy in Iran, or why the Americans were being held there.  But to a little girl, 444 days seemed like a life time.  I still remember the day the hostages were released.

Now, all these years later, once again, one of our American diplomatic missions was stormed, the US consulate in Benghazi. Only this time, no hostages were taken. Four US citizens were murdered.  We pray now for the families of those who were lost.

When the hostages were taken in Iran, President Carter faced criticism for his seemingly hesitant reaction.  This weakened the US in Iran.  Many believe Carter’s blinking cost him the presidential election against Ronald Reagan.

We are still finding out details regarding the security lapses, the misjudgments, the implications of the tragedy in Benghazi.  How did a nation that had just assisted in overthrowing Libya’s Gaddafi suffer such an attack on their consulate? Who did it? What is the appropriate response? And when? 

Will the hesitant reaction of the US administration weaken the US in the Middle East? We have yet to see if Obama’s reaction will cost him the election. 

But one thing is for certain—if Mitt Romney is president, we can count on swift, strong, and certain response to such situations. And, more importantly, we can count on an increase in our military strength and presence, especially when requested, avoiding such tragedies in the first place. 

Romney understands the importance of America’s strength on the world stage. He will assure that we are the strongest nation, and he will not apologize for it.  He will act in such ways as to not only defend that position, but to maintain our status as the greatest nation on earth.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Peter Gabriel and the American Condition

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Last week my husband took me to a Peter Gabriel concert.  It was great.  It was fun. It was loud.  It was rocking. It made me feel young, except when I’d see people putting on their reading glasses to see which seat their tickets said, and when part way through the concert I thought, “Wow—I wonder how late it will be when Peter finally gets to sleep? Poor guy.”

Now, you may be wondering what Peter Gabriel has to do with voting for Mitt Romney.  Well, one of the crowd favorites was a song called “Don’t Give Up.”  I have always liked that song, but it meant a bit more to me now, and here’s why:

My teenage son come home from school totally despondent last week.  When we sat down to talk about what was wrong, I was surprised by his response:

“I’m really worried about our country and my future.  The way it looks, people are going to be voting for a president whose actions are going to have a huge impact on me, and I have no say in it! Now I may never be able to do the things I’ve always wanted and hoped for.”

He was sincerely concerned.

I’m pretty sure that when I was his age, I worried more about the next dance, or next test, or possibly the Cold War, and probably the latest Duran Duran hit (I totally just dated myself).  But I was pretty confident about my future and about our nation always being the greatest nation in the world.

I wasn’t quite certain how to respond to my son.  I didn’t really know how to make him feel better, how to not give up on the older generations or on America.

Well, Mitt Romney did a pretty good job of taking care of that for me.  My son was watching that same night when Romney knocked the presidential debate out of the park. 

In one night, Mitt restored my son’s hope in the nation, and in his own future.  Through Mitt’s resolution, ideas, confidence, and knowledge, my son recognized that there are still great leaders out there who will do all they can to keep America the strongest and brightest nation in this world.  Mitt lifted my son’s hopes on a very personal level.  And lifted mine too. I fully believe he will once again reassure us all tonight, too, because of his ideas, his leadership, and his belief in America's greatness.

That is the kind of person we need leading this country—one we can believe in, who can encourage us, and is an example of the kind of person our kids can look to and hook their own hopes and dreams.  One who inspires us not to give up, because we know he never will until he has done everything humanly possible to secure our personal liberties and our nation’s place as the greatest on earth.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Pork and Bean Cupcakes



My husband recently taught a class to a group of boys about how things may appear to be a certain way, but when you see what they’re really made up of, you find out they aren’t as great as they seem.

To illustrate this he made tasty looking cupcakes with yummy frosting on top. But when the boys bit into them, they found them filled with mushy pork and beans.

People have been discussing why it was Obama did such a bad job in the debate last week and have come up with all sorts of explanations and excuses.  But the bottom line for me is that  he had a bad time because he has had a bad presidency.

Sure, give him a pre-written speech about things he can spin to look positive with no one to argue his position, and President Obama does fine.  Let him talk about his feelings on how he deserves more time with no one to argue his position, and President Obama does fine.  Let him describe the good things he has always hoped to do with no one to argue his position, and he does fine.

On the outside, President Obama looks fine, presents himself nicely, and speaks well.  He appears to be a good frosted cupcake.  But when you look inside his presidency, you just get pork and beans.

If the president had done a great job with the deficit, he could have debated it well.  If he had done a great job with employment, he could have debated it well.  If he had great ideas for how to turn the nation around, he could have debated them well.  The fact is, he did not do well, because he didn’t have a strong leg to stand on to begin with.

And Obama’s campaign has been one of not reminding people of all the great things he has done for America, but rather trying to convince people that Romney wouldn’t be a good choice.  Romney clearly put that nonsense to rest.

The debate was just one more opportunity for America to see that with Romney we know we are getting great ideas, great experience, and great leadership.  We won’t have to wonder if  his presidency would look good from the outside, but on the inside find only mushy pork and beans.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Choose the Right


 
Yesterday was my favorite church day, the day all of our primary children, ages 3-11, put on their annual program.  Nearly 100 children walked mostly-reverently through the chapel up to the stand and choir seats in the front.  There they sang songs, and each said something brief about what they had been learning this year in their Sunday classes.  Their theme this year was “Choose the Right.”  As the kids sang and talked about making good choices and following Jesus, I was so moved by their sweet spirits and their budding desires to do what is right. To choose to do what they believe they should. To choose to follow the path they have been taught will lead them to the greatest happiness.  They were celebrating not only the concept to “Choose the Right,” but also the “Right to Choose.”

What a blessing we have living in a country founded on basic, God-given rights. Our freedoms are bountiful.  I had to laugh a little last week when I saw that an Iranian news agency picked up a story from The Onion with the headline: “Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama.” 

First, I thought it was interesting that people out there in the world actually find that plausible.  But, while we know The Onion is just a newspaper for entertainment and farce, I can understand how people in certain other countries may not know that, or even believe that such a thing would be possible. 

Political satire is lost on much of the world, simply because such a notion as mocking or criticizing government leaders or policy carries such severe consequences. 

Our freedom of speech is something many of us take for granted.  Even simple blogs, such as this, could get writers in deep trouble.  Speaking our minds, expressing our beliefs, gathering together to discuss them—all freedoms that not all of the world enjoys.

How grateful we should be for the rights afforded us simply by being Americans in this great country.  We cannot take these for granted.  Our nation fought a hard, bloody fight to gain its freedom.  But loss of freedom comes in  a much more subtle way. More government control, less personal choice. More government intervention, less individual responsibility.

Ronald Reagan said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. “

Now more than ever we must be vigilant in guarding our freedoms, our god-given rights.  We must elect leaders who understand this and will fight for us.  Leaders who will select judges who will uphold our rights. Leaders who will help preserve our “Right to Choose” so we can “Choose the Right.”  Leaders like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.