I Voted for Mitt Romney
In Utah’s Republican primary today, Mitt Romney is probably going to win overwhelmingly. People will chalk that up to Mormons voting for a Mormon candidate, and while there is probably some of that going on, I don’t think it’s quite so simple.
The Utah Republicans I know tend to be fairly orthodox in their positions on national issues–they tend to follow the party line. (I’m sure there are various things things that could be said about such a trend: that it might be due to the LDS Church’s insistence on religious orthodoxy, etc., etc., but that’s not really relevant to the point I’m making.)
Of the major candidates throughout the Republican primary, only two campaigned as orthodox Republicans: Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson. Giuliani is staunchly pro-choice on abortion, McCain loves his image as a maverick Republican, and Huckabee’s economic populism is clearly outside the Republican mainstream.
Granted, Romney’s positions during the Presidential campaign are different from positions he held in the past. Many people see that as a sign of insincerity on his part, accusing him of shifting his positions in order to match up to the Republican mainstream. Be that as it may, his current positions are, in fact, the orthodox Republican positions.
Although I’ve been supporting Romney’s candidacy for about a year, if Fred Thompson were still in the race and I felt he had a better chance of beating McCain to win the nomination, I would have voted for Thompson today. I could have enthusiastically supported Thompson if he were the Republican nominee. I cannot say that about McCain or Huckabee. (More on Huckabee in a minute.)
Since Thompson exited the race, orthodox Republicans have only one candidate who matches up with them on the issues: Romney. Now, I can understand how some orthodox Republicans might have doubts about the seriousness of his conversion to their principles, and that they might therefore go with other candidates. I think it’s here that religion does come into play, with Mormons more likely to give Romney the benefit of the doubt because he is Mormon. (Mormons believe in true conversions, after all–that’s why we send out missionaries.)
Ultimately, I think it’s the orthodoxy of Republican Mormons and the unorthodoxy of the alternative candidates that results Romney getting a higher percentage of the vote from Mormon Republicans than Obama is getting from black Democrats or Clinton is getting from female Democrats.
I do want to say something about Huckabee as a candidate. Huckabee is a Southern Baptist, and I have no problem voting for a Southern Baptist, despite the fact that many Southern Baptists consider Mormonism a cult. I could easily support a Southern Baptist (or a Catholic, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Sikh, a Jew, or an atheist) with whom I agreed on most policy issues.
I have several disagreements with Huckabee on the issues, just as I do with McCain.
If McCain is the Republican nominee, I will vote for him in November (with one exception.) Despite my policy disagreements with him, I prefer him to the Democrats.
If Huckabee were to gain the nomination, however, I would not vote for him. Nor will I vote for McCain if Huckabee is on the ticket with him. I’d be willing to overlook my policy disagreements with Huckabee, just as I am willing to do with McCain, but Huckabee’s deliberate use of anti-Mormon bigotry in this campaign is something I will not support in any way.
My refusal to vote for Huckabee is unlikely to affect the election. It is merely a symbolic gesture on my part.
[...] Eric James Stone: I Voted for Mitt Romney. Eric and I agree exactly on the candidates. I don’t get to vote until next week. Hopefully, it will still matter. [...]
Hey Eric,
Some thoughts: Being that we are in a war, National Defense has to be my number one priority because like it or not, the US economy coupled with our military are the stabilizing force in the world. A loss at this point will certainly cause several things:
1. A civil war in Iraq, with Iran the ultimate winner.
2. Slow or stop the flow of oil in the Middle East, crippling trade and the Western economies.
3. Slow or stop the flow of oil from Chavez and South America.
4. An emboldened radical Islam, where civil war in Europe or simply a growing radical Islamic movement will undermine Western stability. This could take a decade or two, but the unrest there is unmistakable, and Iran will sieze the opportunity if it succeeds in Iraq.
5. World economic collapse if the above happens. The US cannot survive without international trading partners.
If people think the economy is shaky now, which all the polls indicate, wait until it costs $2,000 for an airline ticket for $5 for a tomato at the grocery. It costs money for gas to ship that stuff.
These things considered, a vote for Romney is a vote for the Democrats because Romney cannot win independents in a general election, and therefore cannot win a general election. I support many of the Democratic initiatives, but Obama and Clinton will certainly lose the war in Iraq. That said, McCain can win moderates, and a general election.
I may have just painted myself as a nut, but today’s international struggles are just not as easy as the detente of the 80’s. I think most voters have forgotten that fact.