Guest Column…
Are We Settling For Less?
By Jesse Leonard  

While the course of the presidential candidates is nowhere near to being concluded, it seems that there is only one GOP candidate that has the public eye, Mitt Romney.  Many conservatives have claimed that he is not the right man for the job, but at the same time he is pulling ahead in the polls and seems to be unstoppable.  The most common reason given is that he is not Obama.  The question must be raised at this point, “Are we settling for less than our convictions and principles?”  

I understand that many people, like myself, do not want to see President Obama re-elected.  However, what is the point in electing another person that cannot truly be defined as Republican or Democrat in his political philosophy.  As we move on past the Health Care Reform Law, which brought the conservative TEA Party to the forefront of political consciousness, we have forgotten that the national law was based on Romney's Massachusetts Health Care Plan.  Is there anything truly conservative in this man and are we really certain that we want to oust Obama in favor of Romney?  What happened to our convictions and our beliefs?  I agree that ousting Obama is important, but not by replacing him with someone whose political track record is as spotty as is the current front runner of the Republican Party. 

We seem to have forgotten the election in 2004 as well.  Let me remind everyone what the main campaign theme for all of Bush's opponents, and specifically John Kerry was,  “Vote for me. I am not Bush.”  Of course the result of that election is history now, Bush was re-elected.  It seems that we are trying the same failed tactic this election, and I fear that it will be met with the same result.  Bad tactics do not win wars, whether they are political or practical. 

In The Crisis, Thomas Paine said “I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection.  'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”  While the dream of the United States is not a suicide pact, we have not truly been challenged and are surrendering our principles.  Mark Twain is quoted to have said, “Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.”  We are well-fed, and yet it seems to me that our principles still have no real force.  Exit polls in the states that have had a primary have shown that the people are not voting based on political convictions and principles, but rather because they think that Romney can beat Obama.  Who are we as a nation, and who will we become?