Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Gov. Romney is Abandoning His Values

Right after a General Conference where the Prophet warned us on the dangers of getting into debt, Mitt Romney, the LDS Governor of Massachussetts, has decided that his state will now mandate universal health care. And if you can afford health care, but choose not to use it, you'll be fined $1000 per year. How's that for free agency?

This is the man I was hoping would be President in 2008. Now, he has lost me.

Romney pushed vigorously for the individual mandate and called the legislation "something historic, truly landmark, a once-in-a-generation opportunity."

This is bad news. It truly concerns me how careless republicans have been on things like spending - something that has usually been a democratic vice. We are spending this nation into the ash heap of history. We have had our 'seven years of plenty' and are now squandering its fruits. Instead of giving the money back to the people where it belongs, we have used it to fund further government expansion.

Military spending, which I believe is constitutionally justified, is a different matter. Yes, we're running huge deficits because of the War - but only because we haven't had the guts to scale back social spending. Republicans had one chance, before the war, to really hammer the notion into the public consciousness that social spending is not the responsibility of the government. But now, with their increased expenditures, we have created an entire generation that thinks the government should answer every personal call. And Katrina only made this worse. Look at the public's reaction to the disaster. "Where was the government?" Instead of educating the public about its proper role, the government commits to dumping $200+ billion into Louisiana to make up for that state's financial mismanagement and poor leadership.

If this is the course our nation as charted, none of us should be surprised when it sinks. If Romney wants to be Captain of that doomed voyage, he'll be embarking without his most important constituency, including me.

To see the news article, click HERE.