On the Trail with Mitt Romney

I was out hiking this week on the Big Dry Creek Trail with Mitt Romney.  Actually, I was listening to his 2010 book, No Apology: Believe in America.  Here is what I learned from my new friend, Mitt.

Mitt gets the title of this book from several examples he relates of President Obama issuing apologies and criticism of America in at least eight different arenas. Mitt is adamant that Obama is wrong, and that we Americans have nothing to apologize for.

Mitt is the son of a third generation American Immigrant whose family was run out of Mexico by Mexican revolutionaries.  Imagine that!  He grew up as part of a family that worked itself up from horrible poverty to live what most consider the American Dream.  His father worked as a wall plasterer while he supported his family and worked his way through college. Mitt's father, George Romney, became president of American Motor Corporation (AMC) and later became three-time governor of Michigan.

Mitt is concerned that America is on the path of socialism and that freedom throughout the world will be lost if corrections are not made soon. If the nation is not careful, it will become a second rate world country--still strong enough to survive, but not strong enough to defend freedom anywhere else in the world.   Mitt states that there are three pillars that sustain a free and strong America: A Strong Economy, A Strong Military, A free and Strong People.   Mitt provides an agenda for a free and strong America. His list of goals includes 64 separate items, and even Mitt admits that his is not a complete list of changes needed.  Listening to Mitt’s agenda provided me with a decent idea of how Mitt would tackle the nation's problems as President.

The book's second chapter "Why Nations Decline" is interesting and instructive. Mitt briefly examines the reasons the Ottomans, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Chinese, the British, the Soviets (the super-powers of their respective eras) were all surpassed.   The reasons for these nation's failed sounded eerily similar to much of what is occurring in the USA and Western Europe.

Throughout the book, Mitt repeatedly expresses his love of freedom and free markets. But he then talks about the government rules and programs he supports and the big government initiatives he was involved in as governor of Massachusetts.  That made me wonder if her truly intends to cut the huge federal government down to size.

Tracing America's economic decline back to the demise of its manufacturing base, Mitt details how this, along with our terrible educational system, is setting us up for massive fiscal failure in the years to come.

Mitt also tries to appeal to social conservatives like me.  He sounds more awkward when discussing social issues than when discussing economic issues or foreign policy. His main social concern is single parent families. Children in single parent families perform worse then children raised in two parent families. But he doesn't make any really critical value judgements concerning other people's values or lifestyle.

Mitt comes across as 90% conservative. He checks off all the appropriate boxes expected of a Republican presidential nominee for 2012:
* Pro-traditional allies like the UK, France, Germany, Taiwan, South Korea
* Anti-China, Russia, N.Korea, Iran and radical Islam
* Pro-Strong National Defense
* Pro-Free Market Economy
* Pro-Free Trade (with allies and friends)
* Pro-Traditional Marriage
* Pro-Life (conception to natural death)
* Pro-Limited Federal Government with more authority given back to the states

He seems to be less conservative on Healthcare, Education and Energy.   He talks about tweaking those areas while I was hoping he would talk about drastically cutting them.

I think some of the best topics he talks about include:
* America's global responsibilities – Let’s get involved in fewer world affairs and concentrate on domestic issues
* The dangers of economic protectionism and other risks to our economy
* Tax reform - tax proposals like the fair tax wouldn't work.  He appears to favor a flat tax.
* Government entitlement reform - how to keep Medicaid and Medicare from bankrupting us
* School reform - the growing influence of teachers' unions and their negative impact on students, and an argument against class size reduction

No Apology was a book that helped me to understand Mitt Romney better before the upcoming election. It had a very optimistic outlook with many examples of policies he implemented as governor. It gives a view of problems that America now faces and his solutions to those problems that he hopes will maintain our freedom and a bright future for future generations of Americans.  

I told him that I would review his resume further and consider him for the job as CEO of the USA.