I Have Fought a Good Fight

I was so impressed with Mitt Romney's gracious speech last night.  It reflected the honor he upheld throughout the campaign. He kept his vision for America at the forefront of his all he did.  He never asked for anyone's vote for any reason other than that they, too, wanted the same great things for our country as he did. 

Because of that, I believe he broke religious barriers--just over four years ago, his Mormon religion seemed to be an insurmountable reason for many not to be able to support his candidacy.  This election has shown that now many Americans can not only accept Mormon candidates, but can look beyond one's religious beliefs to see their political beliefs, as well.  I think he can be proud of the amazing race he ran.  I think he can say, like Paul:

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."  (2 Tim. 4:7)

Keep Calm and Carry On

The father of our nation, George Washington, was one of the greatest leaders ever to live.  He led through the most difficult part of our nation's history.  But, as David McCullough said in his book 1776, "Washington never forgot what was at stake and he never gave up. Again and again, in letters to Congress and to his officers, and in his general orders, he had called for perseverance – for 'perseverence and spirit,' for 'patience and perseverance,' for 'unremitting courage and perseverance.' . . . Without Washington’s leadership and unrelenting perseverance, the revolution almost certainly would have failed."

This unrelenting drive for freedom formed the spirit of our great nation. We are a people who face challenges with fortitude and difficulties with determination.  We persevere.  Because we too know what's at stake--the liberty and peace of our great country.

Our nation is only as strong as its individuals.  So, as individuals, we now persevere. We now continue to pray for strength and guidance and protection. We pray for the United States of America, still the greatest nation on earth.

It's Time to Change!

This is it!
I think the Brady Bunch pretty much summed up this day with a song:

"When it's time to change, then its time to change
Don't fight the tide, come along for the ride, don't you see
When it's time to change, you've got to rearrange
who you are into what you're gonna be."

Romney and Ryan can help make America into what it can and should become. It's time to change! Let's do it today!

Disaster on Many Fronts

My heart goes out to all those suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  I’m so happy to see our first responders getting in and putting forth such tremendous effort to help people. I can’t imagine the nightmare they’re all going through. The immediate, temporary help is wonderful!

But I just ache for them when I think about what their life will be like when the responders are gone, temporary assistance has run out, and they have to try to get back to their regular lives.  

Disasters are hard when times are good.  What about when times are bad? When you’ve lost so much, how do you recover when the economy is in such a horrible state? We have to get it turned around.  So many Americans are trying to recover in some way or another. Now Sandy has only added a layer of nightmare to the whole recovery process.

The current economic situation has been so hard on the states, they can’t afford to pay for disaster relief after Hurricane Sandy.  Some states are asking the feds to pay 100% of the bill. See, many states are required to balance their budgets, but the federal government is not, so they can just keep on dishing out money they don’t actually have (hence the $16 trillion debt). But that can’t go on forever, especially when we are already in such a deep abyss—our debt simply isn’t sustainable.

Now more than ever we need a president who knows how and is capable of turning things around in the long term. We need a president who can get our economy back on track. We need a president who can give Americans the hope that he can make our country better because he’s shown he knows how and can do it.  We need Mitt Romney for president.

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.

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.

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.