Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!

Four years ago I struggled to know who to vote for.  I am a fiscal conservative and a social liberal who stands left of most of my church friends and right of my educational colleagues.  Last time around I opted for a third party candidate since I couldn't, with good conscience, vote for either Obama or McCain.  This time around is a different story.  I am thoroughly convinced of who I want to vote for: Mitt Romney.

I opted against Obama four years ago largely because Obama was an unproven leader.  I have been appalled at the fiscal irresponsibility of the Obama administration.  I fully acknowledge that Obama inherited a mess, but that doesn't give him a pass on what has happened during his term as president.  Obama's crippling debt has the potential to damage the US in lasting and devastating ways and I can't imagine four more years of this kind of spending.  Simultaneously, I am impressed with how Romney has a proven record of fixing financial train wrecks.  He's run effective and efficient businesses and that experience in the "real world" will be a great foundation for the nation.  I am under no illusions that Romney will solve all of our problems, but if anyone can back us away from the financial cliff we are running toward it will be Romney. 

My whole life I have been interested in the political system, but I had never been to a political rally until this past weekend when my dad and I took the two older boys to a Romney rally.  It proved to be both interesting and entertaining.  All the "throw him out!" and "fire Obama" outbursts were amusing to me.  My big motivating drive was that I wanted my boys to see the political process up close.  And maybe there was a little part of me that wanted them to see a dedicated Mormon man succeeding in the political world.  While his faith has nothing to do with my vote, there is definitely a part of me that stands amazed at the prospect of a Mormon president.  I could have never fathomed this as a teenager growing up in New York, where most people though Mormons were some strange cross breed of the Amish and Waco. 

Tomorrow I will take Big Boy #2 with me to the voting booth.  (I LOVE voting, and I always take one of the boys with me on election day - no early voting for me!  Plus, I have to get my sticker - right???)  There certainly are other issues in this election, but the state of the economy and the national debt are at the top of my list, which is why I will be voting Mitt Romney for president.

No matter who wins, I will happily return to Target and Best Buy commercials, a phone that doesn't ring off the hook with political calls, and Sunday dinners where I don't argue with my mom.  (She likes Romney too - but apparently questioning anti-Obama/pro-Romney hype doesn't go over so well).  God bless the USA!