Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I wanted to share with you that I’ve made my choice of a presidential candidate for 2008. I’m supporting Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts. I hope you’ll give him serious consideration, as well.
In the announcement below, you’ll see that I’ve been named to the Romney Faith and Values Steering Committee. This is a real honor. Below that is an article about Gov. Romney’s prolife position.
Here’s how I arrived at this decision.
I have heard Gov. Romney give three major speeches. Last fall, he spoke at the Values Voter Conference, and he favorably impressed me with a genuine-sounding, well-reasoned, traditional-values message that put strong emphasis on those (Judeo-Christian) values that are at the base of our nation’s success. In January, he spoke at a conservative conference, and for the first time in years, I actually heard someone I could vote FOR and have enthusiasm for, rather than regard as the lesser evil among the viable choices. He spoke with passion about our country, our nation’s flag, and told about his involvement with the Boy Scouts. That message was nothing other than Reaganesque. Then the Governor spoke at CPAC. That speech confirmed that my judgment was firmly founded.
I must add that his disposition, everywhere I’ve seen him (including at the January conference we both attended), is calm, upbeat, optimistic, and genuine. I was a panelist at that conference, and he came in and sat there as just another attendee at the session — taking it in, listening to the Q&A, unassuming, humble. He strikes me as much in the same vein as my former boss, Rep. Ed Bryant, and as Ronald Reagan.
Now, as a Christian, I had to consider the fact that Gov. Romney is a Mormon.
When I worked for Sen. Strom Thurmond, the theologian and leader of L’Abri, Francis Schaeffer, would meet when in Washington with us Capitol Hill types. A Christian congressional staffer asked him if we shouldn’t elect more Christians. His answer was yes, if that Christian candidate would vote right. He said an unbeliever who would vote for the right policies was
better to have in public office than a Christian who would vote wrong!
Schaeffer’s remark has stayed with me. So, I thought of how through our history, some of our public officials have advanced horrible policies, while identifying themselves as Christians, yet others have governed well though not Christians themselves. I thought of Reagan, who apparently was a Christian but not a very frequent church attender, who was supportive of traditional faith and values in the public square, yet tolerant of his wife’s occultic superstitions. I thought, in contrast, of Jimmy Carter, who was very forthright about his Christianity, but a terrible president and whose administration even worked at cross purposes with conservative Christianity in the public square. I thought of Rep. Jim McDermott, a Wheaton graduate, who is a rabid left-winger.
By contrast, why should I prefer a nominal Episcopalian, a nominal, proabortion Catholic, a nominal, proabortion Methodist, or a nominal, proabortion Church of Christ member? (That’s McCain, Guiliani, Clinton, Obama.)
So, if Gov. Romney lives his life, public and private, from the same general moral and political framework as I, then why should his Mormon faith lead him to advance policies at odds with my Christianity or Christianity’s traditional role in America’s civic life (I’ve never known any Mormons who were less than upstanding citizens, very moral people.)? Mr. Romney has been married to the same woman for nearly four decades, has apparently well-reared children and a brood of grandchildren, all very close-knit. There has been no hint of any libertine skeletons in his closet, and he’s been well vetted by press scrutiny in U.S. Senate, gubernatorial, and now
presidential campaigns.
Politically, he succeeded as a principled conservative, but realistic Republican governor in a blue state. If you’d told me I would be drawn to support a Massachusetts governor, I’d have laughed. Well, now I’m laughing about that because the joke’s on me — Mitt Romney is no Mike Dukakis or Teddy Kennedy. He’s a capable leader who, as his state’s chief executive, worked with the Democratic legislature to get things done. He didn’t hesitate to veto their excesses, he worked within the appropriate channels to stand up against gay marriage, he displayed a record of law and order (including on immigration), and he even achieved a bipartisan health care plan, which generally brought market-based principles to bear to get all state citizens health coverage.
So, I hope you see that I am actually FOR Mitt Romney. But I also am AGAINST a few others, so much so that a chief goal is to ensure that Sen. McCain or Rudy Guiliani don’t get the GOP nomination. It is CRITICAL to the nation that neither of these men assume the presidency, or even the nomination.
McCain deserves credit for his service to the nation, particularly in the Navy and as a POW in Vietnam. But he shouldn’t be president. He supports mass amnesty of illegal aliens and authored the anti-First Amendment McCain-Feingold campaign finance restriction law, among other misguided policies. Guiliani favors abortion, and having a prodeath GOP nominee would be nailing the conservative-leaning party’s coffin. Guiliani is bad on homosexuality issues, as well.
I respect Sen. Brownback, but certainly don’t want him as president. He’s libertarian, not conservative, and wrong on amnesty, “free trade uber alles,” and open borders.
Former Sen. Thompson is a good guy, a credible candidate, and I could support his candidacy if he won the nomination. But my preference in the primary remains Gov. Romney. For one thing, being governor has proven the better training ground for effective presidents than has the U.S. Senate.
There are other good candidates, and I like several of them. But none of them I could support stands much of a chance. First priority is picking a viable, first-tier candidate who has the wherewithal to block out both McCain and Guiliani. Romney is the only person in the race who can do that. And given his strong organization and building momentum in the key primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire (and elsewhere), he’s proving that to be so. In addition, I am FOR Romney, making being against others secondary.
Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts on the presidential campaign and my reasons for backing Gov. Romney. I trust this is helpful to you as you size up and pray about the campaign.
