I applaud you, Romney

I turned on the TV Tuesday night to watch the election results.  My heart literally sank in my chest and my stomach churned with nausea when Romney wasn't elected.  I have never felt this way about an election before.  I guess it's the first time that I really cared this much.  And the funny thing is, I don't line up politically with either Obama or Romney.

This was the first time I really took a hard look at what I believe in.  I have known for several years that I am neither a Democrat or Republican, and I refuse to align myself with any party for fear of becoming a blind follower to a party and not thinking for myself.  I have voted for both parties in the past based on issues at hand, not the candidate's party.

The last four years have been tumultuous for many people.  Perhaps more than four years, I can't say it was all under Obama's reign.  Luckily, my household has come out of this with only minor economical damage. I don't feel it is fair to talk about anything other than my realm of experience and how the last few years affected me and my family.

I don't believe that any one party can be to blame for the economic downfall of the country.  I blame that solely on individuals who borrowed more than they can afford.  They made risky investments on their homes in hopes to "flip" them an make some major money.  No one really had the money to do this and when the piper came and all they had was borrowed money, disaster was bound to happen.

Bush did what he did to start the stimulus plans.  Obama followed suit in a more astronomical way.  Neither President was successful at stabilizing the economy.

Enter Mitt Romney.  Everything this man has touched turns to gold.  And rather than lauding him for that and desiring him to turn our economy around, the media vilified him like a monster for making smart financial decisions and being wealthy. I've never seen the media do that to Oprah before, but then again she has cameras following her every good deed in Africa and at home. I know without a doubt that he could have turned around the economics in this country and chipped away at the national debt.

But more importantly to me is what a good guy he is.  Most people only learned what the media fed them about Romney, that he was an elusive Mormon who is too rich to care about the little people.  Most people will never know the Mitt Romney who is one of the most upstanding citizens there is.  My heart literally broke as I knew this would probably be the last chance this country would have to have such an honorable person in office.  And like I said, I'm not even Republican, I'm Libertarian, so I found my sadness a little surprising.  So for me, it's not about my party losing, because it's not even my party, it's about the lost opportunity for such a great person.

Please understand, I am in no way saying that Obama isn't a great person.  I find it so refreshing to have someone in the White House who does honor family values and doesn't sneak around with other women Ala Bill Clinton.  He has done a lot for the little people.  But I believe that Romney could do more.

Most people don't know that Romney would stop by for 6 hours to help a man he never met remove a tree stump, or that when his business partner's daughter went missing he shut down Bain Capital and headed up a search for her. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505267_162-57415081/supporters-seek-to-define-the-real-mitt-romney/

Mitt Romney has spent 28 years of his life taking no salary. "Got your calculators handy? Volunteer campaign worker for his dad’s gubernatorial campaign – 1 year. Unpaid intern in Governor’s office – 8 years. Mormon missionary in Paris – 2 years. Unpaid bishop and stake president for his church – 10 years. No salary as president of the Olympics – 3 years. No salary as MA governor – 4 years. That’s a grand total of 28 years of unpaid service to his country, his community and his church. Why? Because that’s the kind of man Mitt Romney is." http://mittromneycentral.com/mitt-romney-biography/

Most people never heard about Mitt taking on a hornet's nest for a family for whom he was the home teacher. http://www.mitttheman.com/2012/02/22/mitt-romney-the-home-teacher/.

 Nor will they know about how he helped build a memorial park for friends whose son died from cystic fibrosis. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/313631/mitt-nobody-sees-katrina-trinko# .

Or how about how he lent his own money to help the renter's of one of his homes purchase the home.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/us/politics/in-real-estate-deal-romney-made-his-loss-a-couples-gain.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

 Where was this video in all the main stream media: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7405692n&tag=mg;mostpopvideo%3Chttp://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7405692n&tag=mg%3bmostpopvideo%3E

Perhaps my favorite is this website that has testimonial videos of women who have worked with Romney over the years in various capacities. http://gettoknowmitt.com/videos.  The same website has many unheard stories about him. http://gettoknowmitt.com/stories

No, these stories weren't told.  Most people will never know any of this.  You know why?  Because Romney wouldn't like it.  That's the kind of guy he is.  This is what he does when the cameras aren't running and reporters aren't around.  And he won't toot his horn.

 It's not that I don't believe another leader who lines up with my political opinions will come along and be elected President some day.  That will probably happen sooner rather than later.  But I truly grieve that we missed out on having this leader. America, you passed up on a good one.


***While writing this post it became extremely long as I found myself expressing my political views on various issues.  I decided to take those out of this post and instead do a series of posts on this.  Not because I want to incite political arguments, but because this is my journal and I am finding that being able to identify these feelings and beliefs has helped me to understand myself.  It's really just for me and my posterity, which is why it won't be on Facebook.