Why did I vote for Mitt Romney? (brad speaking here)
That's right, I voted today. Spent a very long 75 minutes in a line feeling slightly uncomfortable seeing as how I was the only white person and the purpose of the line was to get a turn to either vote for a white guy or a black guy as our next president....
So Why did I vote Republican?
I consider myself an extremist. I do not agree with any
of the parties. Therefore I am forced to vote for the party that comes closest
to what I’d dream for. I hold my views based on principles. Principles that I
believe if followed yield prosperity of a nation and if neglected yield
destruction of a nation. Due to the fact
that these principles are unchanging, they are relatively boring. Turn on the
news, “hey lets hear more about those thousand year old principles!” Nope. Not
happening. The media would much rather entertain us with who said what, who was
caught doing this and that. Attack ads are everywhere, but they rarely attack
principles. In my opinion, about 90% of
what’s reported on TV is not important.
I personally don’t care what the president said in his first press
conference in response to a strike on an embassy. I don’t care what Romney left out of his
Republican National Convention speech. I
definitely never care about what the polls are telling us, nor do I care about Obama’s
beer factory or Romney’s dog.
Here’s what I do care about.
I care about freedom of choice, freedom of speech,
freedom of religion, freedoms of due process, and all the other freedoms
guaranteed in the constitution.
I do not care about freedom to avoid parental
responsibilities, freedom of food, freedom of healthcare, freedom of education,
freedom of employment, and freedom of tax exemption.
Note the words, “I do not care about” are not equal to
the phrase, “I am against…”
The first freedoms I mentioned are very expensive,
however I believe that they’re worth paying for at ALL COSTS.
The second list of freedoms is also very expensive, but
they are not worth paying for until we become a very very rich nation. I would love to buy anything I wanted, but the
trouble is that I have a brain. If I can barely afford what I have now and
attempt to buy more, then I risk losing all that I have. It is the same with
our country.
Always remember that a Democracy is the most expensive
form of government.
I enjoy the famous quote by Francois
Guisot (1787-1874): "Not to be a
republican
at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is
proof
of want of head."
This
idea that the young dreamers with big hearts vote Democrat and the old realists
with life experience and knowledge vote republican was just the case for myself.
When
President Obama ran in 2008, I was just beginning to care about politics. I was
beginning to be convinced that many aspects of the Republican party were old
and irrelevant, while on the other hand many other aspects were old yet will
forever be relevant. Due to my Christian
faith many social issues were Republican (abortion and traditional family). However, since I was a student of science and
thoroughly educated, I saw a few problems.
I distinctly remember an enormous amount of passion which I felt for
alternate forms of energy, specifically nuclear energy. Obama was definitely on my side here. It just bothered me that old people and
ignorant people could be so frightened of nuclear energy. It’s the greatest
invention of all time! How could we not harvest it? Why do we continue to ruin
our planet with dirty fossil fuels? One other topic close to me was
immigration. I didn’t understand the
politics of immigration, but it seemed like Latinos liked Obama more, and since
I love Latinos, then I also thought Obama could do something more for them. One
last thing about republicans is that I didn’t like war. I believed that we were
only in the Middle East for oil. I thought that Bush was never getting us out
of there. I was honestly tired of war.
So
I headed to the polls ready to vote in a presidential election for the first
time in my life. I was ready to vote for Obama.
But then I told my wife, and she said no. I couldn’t cancel out her
vote. So I displayed wisdom, Happy
wife=Happy life, and voted for old man McCain or whatever his name was.
Now
it’s been 4 years and I’ve learned better.
And perhaps it’s thanks to president Obama. Indeed he did many things as President, and
in doing so it has never been easier to see the difference between our nation's
two parties. The left has moved very
near to socialism and the right has responded in realigning itself to the rebel
ideals of free market capitalism and independence founded by really old men
from the 1700’s.
Obama
created the Affordable Care Act and the Tea Party arose out of nowhere in
defiance.
Suddenly
nuclear energy and immigration did not matter. These two parties were squaring
off against each other over a much greater set of ideas. A second did not pass until I knew which side
I wanted to be on.
I’m
young, but I have some international experience that few people get. Add to that my formal education in Spanish and
Latino-American history and I can tell you without a doubt that socialism is
not only a path to poverty of freedoms but poverty of all temporal needs. Look
at history, look at the present day Venezuela and Cuba. Look at this old cartoon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVh75ylAUXY
And
when I saw the pathway Obama was leading America, I didn’t like it. I finally realized the difference between the
fundamental way of thinking between the two parties.
We
both want free healthcare, we both want to let kids be on their parents plan
until they’re 27. We both want pre existing conditions to be irrelevant. But the republicans say no. Why? Well a Democrat will say “because they
have no soul,” and the Republican will say “because we can’t afford it, because
it gives government too much power, because it’s unconstitutional, and because
this leads us one step closer to socialism and loss of freedoms.”
This
same argument repeats itself for more issues: We both want food stamps to be
available for the poor, We both want Medicaid, and Medicare for all who apply. We both want all senior citizens to retire and live wonderfully at age 65, and we
both want everyone everywhere to be rich. We both want everyone to have an equal chance at
achieving the American Dream. We both want to judge everyone and if someone has
a statistical lesser advantage for financial success well by golly we should
give them a handout and equal the playing field. But the Republicans often say no. And is it because they have no soul, or as I believe, they know better. These are dreams that aren't possible without putting our more important freedoms at risk. This is eating our dessert instead of our vegetables.
And
here is where the Democrats fail to understand the Republicans. How they can just let
suffering occur? How can these heartless republicans ignore the suffering, the old, the poor, and the veterans?
This
is where one of my extremist principles come into play. Specifically this is
the principle I am most passionate about. Here comes some religion.
One
of the fundamental reasons we are placed on this Earth by God is to experience
Charity, the love of God. Although the Democratic party boasts to have more
Charity, it literally destroys it. Charity is the responsibility of the
individual and not the government. If
you vote for someone because they’ll take care of the poor people for you, then
they are inherently stripping you of your ability to feel one of the greatest
joys in life. Real charity is never experienced by voting to have money taken from the
rich and given to the poor. Real charity
occurs by working extra hard so that you can sustain yourself and have some
leftover to donate to those less fortunate. It is an opportunity that nobody should ever shrug
off. Charity and love holds families
together and it can hold a community, a city, and our nation together. There needs to remain a bond between all of
us if we want to stay a United States
of America. When we give up that
responsibility to the government, letting it become the steward of charity,
then perhaps the poor get fed but the love that individuals feel is gone, only
rarely being echoed in the hollowness of political speakers. I would like to
have the right to give 20% of my earnings to charity, instead of having the
government take that same 20% by force to feed the poor and support the
elderly. And now to consider those who
are in need of help; consider the difference between waiting in line for the
government to give you what you HAVE A RIGHT to receive versus being visited by
someone who is willing to give of his/her own earnings to help you for the time
being. Who is more grateful? Which
situation builds a greater country? And in which situation is there CHARITY?
I watched a documentary about the changes made in Iran only a few years ago. A
woman from Tehran said that before Iran became a religious state, she would
wear her veil. It was a symbol of her commitment to God. It was sacred to her.
Now all women are required by law to be veiled.
She said that this new government had robbed her of her religion, in the
name of religion. What once was sacred is now despised. It is the same with Charity.
But wait, you say, I don't want love. I want food. Love doesn't feed my babies. Well of course it doesn't! Family must feed your babies, Religious organizations feed your babies. There are non profit agencies all over the place where good people are volunteering to save those in need. Where the government to allot this responsibility to it's people and give them the opportunity to feed themselves and feel charity then do you think we could do it? I not only believe we could be more productive than the government, I believe it would save our souls.
I have much much more to say. If anyone has any specific
requests for me to describe my views on the family, abortion, immigration,
foreign policy or anything else, then send me your opinion first and I will
send you mine later. (Oh and by the way my opinion on renewable energy has changed) These things take time to
explain and that is not something I have much of.
Remember that understanding yields peace, not contention.
My purpose is to help you understand me, and why I voted for Mitt Romney.
Love yall! -Bradly Larson
