The Presidential Pros and Cons List (Part II)

Introduction
This is the second installment of my Pros and Cons List for whom I will vote for in the upcoming U.S. election in November. This entry’s a little shorter.
Mitt Romney / Paul Ryan
Meg came home from work while I was writing Part I. I mentioned I was writing a Pros and Cons List of Obama and Romney.
“You have Pros for Romney?” she asked.
“Uhhh,” I said stalling for time. “I’m not sure.”
Well, to give the guy a fair chance, I’ll try to think of one. Maybe two.
Pro > Romney Passed Healthcare Reform in Massachusetts
The so-called Romneycare was what inspired the PPACA.
Con > Romney is Against the PPACA
Romney is trying his hardest to make people forget his role in Massachusetts healthcare, and wants to repeal the PPACA, as is Paul Ryan. The cost of repealing the PPACA would be devastating and cost more overall than leaving it as law according to the CBO. The CBO found that completely repealing PPACA would increase the federal deficit by $109 billion between the years 2013 and 2022. (Source: Benico.com)
Con > Shady Business Practices
I won’t go into full details on Romney’s shady business practices while at Bain Capital or as governor of Massachusetts, but the list is long. Shifting money through tax shelters, leaving Americans jobless, outsourcing jobs to overseas companies, and so on. He’s running on a platform of being a savvy businessman. I’m not impressed.
Example: While acting CEO of Bain Capital about 12 years ago, Bain bought out an Italian telephone-directory company from the Italian government and then flipped it for 25 times more money about two years later, at the height of the tech bubble. Bain evaded paying taxes on the deal by routing its profits through Luxembourg. Romney personally made between $50 million and $60 million on the deal, but is now persona non grata in Italy.
Con > Tax Returns
While no law requires presidential candidates to release tax returns, tradition since the early 1970’s dictates that multiple returns are made public. GW Bush released eight. Bill Clinton released eight. GH Bush released three. Reagan released six.
Obama has released twelve. His adjusted gross income in 2011 was $789,674.
Romney has released two years of tax returns, 2010 and 2011. His adjusted gross income in 2011 was $20,902,075.
I wonder if Romney is trying to hide some of his shady business dealings from the public from 2009 and before. Clearly during 2010 and 2011, he was preparing to run for president, so these aren’t going to reflect anything terribly juicy (unless you want to consider the $77,731 tax deduction the Romneys took in 2010 for their dressage horse as “juicy”).
On the other hand, there isn’t a law that requires the release of tax returns, earning money isn’t a crime, and Romney has the right to his privacy regarding his personal finances. There’s enough dirt on his business dealings without the tax returns as it is.
Con > Pandering to the Audience
Subjective moment here. I think Romney panders to whatever audience he’s speaking to. He has an insincere laugh. Of course, he positions himself so his audience is as sympathetic as possible. There’s a reason why he only appears on Fox News but rarely on the other cable news channels.
Con > Horrible Singer
On January 30, 2012, Romney sang “America the Beautiful” to a crowd in Florida, which was the worst butchering of the song I’ve ever heard. It did provide the Daily Show something to laugh about, as well as give fodder for a hilarious Obama TV ad which slammed Romney on his role at Bain Capital.
Con > Religion
Romney is fairly quiet about being a Mormon, and there is no religious test for presidential office, but I’m still free to judge. I usually group Mormons in a higher tier of batshit crazy than I do for run-of-the-mill Christians. Sure, they both believe in invisible sky buddies, but, to quote Richard Dawkins, “Romney confuses Sikh with Sheikh. Also confuses ‘Prophet’ with ‘convicted conman using magic hat to read gold plates.’"
Con > Against Women’s Rights
Romney wants to overturn Roe v. Wade: “I’d like to see Roe v. Wade overturned and allow the states and the elected representatives of the people, and the people themselves, have the ability to put in place pro-life legislation.” (June 5, 2007, Republican Presidential Debate, Manchester, New Hampshire)
Romney also is against supporting Planned Parenthood, and for a personhood amendment.
Con > Family
Subjective moment again here. Mitt Romney has five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben, and Josh. I don’t know why this gives me the creeps. Lots of people have large families, and that is their right in the U.S. But how about some self-control? The world doesn’t need more people. There are 6.9 billion people alive in the world today. Even during my lifetime Earth has increased its tally by 2.3 billion, and I don’t think it’s really helping.
(I say this, but Meg and I are trying to have a child too. We don’t want five children, though.)
Speaking of Romney’s family, his ancestry lists several men who were polygamists, and had huge ties to the Mormon church. His great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife, Hannah Hood Hill, in 1897. Hill, who was Romney’s great-grandmother, was the daughter of polygamists. One of Romney’s great-great-grandfathers, Orson Pratt, had 12 wives. Ew.
Con > Paul Ryan
I can’t view Paul Ryan’s VP ticket as anything but a bad thing.
Ryan is the current House Budget Committee Chairman. His most notable action was to draft the so-called “Path to Prosperity: ABlueprint for American Renewal,” the Republican budget proposal for 2013. It passed the House of Reps on April 15, 2011 along party lines (although Ron Paul interestingly voted against it). The bill died in the Senate a month later.
Ryan’s budget would have replaced Medicare with a voucher-like program, reduce the six existing income tax brackets into only two, and eliminate all taxes on capital gains, interest, and dividends, and providing additional $250,000 tax cut for millionaires. “Under that plan, I’d have paid no taxes in the last two years,” Romney even said himself. (Source: LA Times article, Would Paul Ryan’s budget give Mitt Romney zero taxes? Aug 12, 2012.)
Ryan’s 2010 budget would have gutted lower and middle class programs lowered taxes on the upper class. I think this would increase the disparity between the rich and everyone else. Even Romney apparently considers Ryan’s budget ideas aren’t his: “Gov. Romney applauds Paul Ryan for going in the right direction with his budget, and as president he will be putting together his own plan for cutting the deficit and putting the budget on a path to balance.” (Source: Aug 11, 2012 talking points memo from the Romney campaign.)
Ryan’s biggest influence? In 2005 he said, “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.” While I used to be a big proponent of Rand since she was an atheist, Rand’s ideas are in stark contrast to my now socialist-inclined views.
Ryan also approved all of the Bush economic policies, such as massive tax cuts and TARP.
Paul Ryan is also very much against women’s rights. He co-sponsored H.R. 212, the Sanctity of Human Life Act, a federal personhood bill that would have defined a human person as beginning “with fertilization, cloning, or its functional equivalent,” essentially making all abortions in the U.S. a crime. He also voted for H.R. 3805, the “Ultrasound Informed Consent Act,” which would have forced all women having to undergo an obstetric ultrasound and be shown what the ultrasound is depicting prior to the woman being able to give consent to an abortion. Ryan is certainly not the choice for women.
On the other hand, Ryan does make his own Polish sausages.
 
Third Parties
“What about third party candidates?” you might ask. Well, show me a third party candidate who has won the presidency. There have only been two, George Washington and Andrew Johnson. Ever since 1869, we have either had a Republican or a Democrat in office. I don’t think see this trend changing, and my vote certainly won’t affect this.
Also: Ron Paul is still technically a Republican running for president (I guess?), but he’s so crazy that I would never, ever, ever vote for him. But to put Paul supporters to rest (read: my brother Michael), here’s a quick rundown on why I disagree with him:
Against Women’s rights
According to Paul’s website, “Immediately saving lives by effectively repealing Roe v. Wade and preventing activist judges from interfering with state decisions on life.” He also wants to define “life as beginning at conception.”
Eliminate… Everything?
He wants to eliminate “five cabinet departments (Energy, HUD, Commerce, Interior, and Education)” and abolish “the Transportation Security Administration.” He also wants to eliminate the Federal Reserve.
Well, that’s just two tastes of the Ron Paul platform. He would pretty much destroy the economy and rights of U.S. citizens. Simply put, no, I’m not going to vote for a crazy person.
 
In Conclusion…
Oh dear, I think I’ve taken the two page, five paragraph college essay format and accidentally stuffed it in the shredder. Well, that aside, here is the exciting conclusion of my very longwinded Pros and Cons List.
I’m going to vote for Barack Obama. I still label myself as an independent, because I don’t blindly vote for one party just because they’re “my” party. I’m not entirely happy with Obama (for reasons stated above). However, I think his more progressive stance on most issues is what the U.S. needs to move forward.
Moreover, I’m going to vote for Barack Obama because he’s not Mitt Romney. Whenever someone starts talking about the “fat cats in Washington,” Romney comes to mind. There’s nothing wrong with being rich, but there is if you lose your integrity getting there.
So that’s my choice. Whom are you going to vote for in November, and why? If you’re planning on not voting, why not?