By Gurleen Nagpal:
A blunt NO should be the response to such a question, especially if the candidate turns out to be a Mormon racist, a gay bashing bully, someone who hides his money in Swiss Banks just to avoid paying taxes in his own country , who brazenly offers up a $10,000 dollar bet on a national debate with families listening in all over the country, someone who has a tin ear towards the middle class and cannot relate to them owing to his “overtly rich status” attributed to the income of $20,000 dollars an hour. Success is great and we all would love the fruits of financial success but not if the profits are ripped of the backs of hard working Americans.
Mitt Romney has spent the past six years travelling the length of the country and promising the American people that as President, he would do his best to fight for decent, middle-class jobs. But that just happens to be a load of empty promises. “Romney doesn’t even have a job’s plan–only a job-destroying budget plan” points out Liebman . His own budget plan–as well as the House Republican budget, about which he has said he is ‘very supportive of,‘ requires immediate cuts that would significantly reduce domestic spending. If he is in any way correct about the impact of spending cuts, then the House budget, which cuts spending by $187 billion in 2013 relative to the President’s budget, would reduce the economic output by about 1%. That would shrink employment the next year by more than one million jobs. Romney is campaigning for job creation, but he has no definite plan for the same. He however does have a budget plan that would kill a million American jobs as well as a 15-year record of loading up companies with debt, sending those companies into bankruptcy, destroying middle-class jobs and communities.
Venturing onto the topic of religion, Romney is proposing a huge backward step on freedom of religion. Romney has said that he would support a bill that would allow employers and insurers to deny their female employees insurance coverage for birth control and other such health services, based on their religious beliefs. As far as employers are concerned, this fits with President Obama’s policy. But this extension to insurance companies clearly violates the freedom of religion that the President had guaranteed to women. In addition, Romney has said he would “get rid of” Planned Parenthood, an organization that allows women freedom of religion by supplying contraception if they choose to ask for it. This would be another major blow to the freedom of religion. Incidentally, Romney’s ad campaign, which falsely accuses Obama of what Romney himself is advocating, namely denial of religious freedom, is called “Be Not Afraid” using Biblical language, as if he were some prophet.
In addition, Romney offended Palestinian leaders by suggesting that cultural differences explain why the Israelis are so much more economically successful than the Palestinians, thrusting himself again into a sensitive issue while on his high-profile overseas trip. His overseas campaign substantiates his faults. His several evident weaknesses and demeanour further represent the fact he does not have the heart, grace, compassion, or tact to be the President. The same faults he carries stateside were amplified overseas. Romney’s call for across-the-board tax cuts would mostly help the rich at the expense of everyone else and cost the nation $5 trillion. Romney’s refusal to release years of tax returns for public inspection was indicative of a candidate who lacks the willingness to take responsibility for what this job entails. Considering all the facts one is left wondering about the soundness of Mr. Romney and his decision making abilities, also given the recent video that very clearly exemplifies his inconsistency.