Mitt Romney is the right choice for Reaganites like me
Union Leader
Gerald Carmen
October 7, 2011
Print Edition
I AM PROUD to call myself a Reaganite. I had the honor of working closely with then Gov. Ronald Reagan during his 1980 presidential campaign and then serving in his admin-istration. Ronald Reagan is rightly revered as a great President, a great American, and a great conservative who turned America around when it stood on a great precipice.
In 2012, Americans are atop an even more intimidating cliff. The coming election is the most important moment for our future as a nation. We will either elect a new President or keep the exceptionally flawed one we now have. We can’t afford four more years of Barack Obama. We need a true leader now, one who will continue down the path marked by Ronald Reagan’s footsteps, a conservative who can win next November and then successfully govern. In my estimation, Mitt Romney is the only candidate in the race with the credentials to carry the Reagan mantle, recapture the White House, and then turn around the American economy.
Romney is not a career politician. He’s a lifelong businessman. That is exactly what we need in Washington right now; someone who understands how jobs are created. But Romney has also been a public servant, one who accomplished a number of extraordinary things.
He has demonstrated true political skill by getting elected as a conservative in the liberal state of Massachusetts. He showed his mettle by governing as a true conservative once elected. As governor, he slashed spending, balanced the state budget and turned a deficit into a $2 billion rainyday fund, all managed while cutting state taxes on 19 different occasions. All this in one of the most liberal states in the nation.
As governor, Romney also fought the good fight on illegal immigration. He advocated securing America’s borders with a physical fence. He pressed for a mandatory biometric, tamper-proof employmentverification system. He fought against amnesty for illegal immigrants. He vetoed a plan to charge in-state tuition to illegal immigrants attending Massachusetts universities.
Long before Arizona enacted its tough new laws, he worked to get the Massachusetts state troopers into the business of enforcing federal immigration laws. In this, Romney was a true pioneer.
This record stands in sharp contrast to that of Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, who recently threw his hat into the ring. Perry is a pay-to-play career politician. I saw the corrosion this type of politician causes when I arrived in Washington at the end of the Carter administration. That’s not the kind of background that can turn this country around.
State spending in Texas grew under Rick Perry. So did state borrowing. When Perry first took office, Texas had $13.7 billion in outstanding debt. Last year, it was nearly $38 billion, almost tripling in 10 years. I wasn’t surprised to learn that back when Perry was a Democrat he enthusiastically backed Al Gore’s presidential campaign in Texas and before that had endorsed the candidacy of Jimmy Carter, who went on to become the worst American President of the 20th century.
Perry’s stance on immigration alone should disqualify him from ever getting conservative support. Back in 2001, he wrote about his desire for “a more seamless, transparent border” with Mexico. Amazingly, he’s called the idea of building a fence there “preposterous” and “idiocy.” Perry didn’t stop there. He turned on the biggest illegal immigration magnet in America by signing legislation that offered in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants, making Texas the first state in the nation to do so. Illegal immigrants receive almost a $100,000 subsidy to attend the University of Texas under Perry.
Gov. Perry calls himself a Ronald Reagan conservative.
Well, to paraphrase the late Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, I knew Ronald Reagan, and Gov. Perry is no Ronald Reagan.
I care deeply about the future of this country. The No. 1 requirement to getting this country back on track is to beat Barack Obama in November. After that, we need to make sure the candidate who beats him will roll back his failed experiment in liberalism and return common sense, conservative leadership to the White House. Ronald Reagan proved that good leadership goes a long way in America— our people are strong and will respond quickly to Mitt Romney’s leadership.
America has been blessed with great leaders at critical periods in our history. During these difficult economic times, Gov. Mitt Romney is right leader to create jobs and restore America’s prosperity.
Gerald Carmen of Manchester was a three-term New Hampshire Republican Party chairman and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva from 1984-86.
