With Governor Sanford in political Siberia and Governor Palin perhaps following him, Governor Mitt Romney should be smiling. Lots of things are going his way.
As the Federal Government increasingly grabs oversight of giant sectors of the economic pie – banking, insurance, automobiles, health care, and energy – we are heading towards the destruction of the economic structure and the free spirit that have for the last few hundred years been the source of growth and prosperity in this country. The Government by its very nature is a not-for-profit organization, and an economy that is run on a not-for-profit basis will be a failure.
But in a Government managed economy, there are no profits to use for reinvestment which means that the Government must resort to taxes as its resource. Raising taxes, particularly in a deep recession, will only impede recovery, leaving our economy with
high unemployment and anemic growth.
By the spring of next year, the political focus will be on the House and Senate races that will say a lot about how people really feel about the economy. And following on the heels of the November outcomes will be the start of the 2012 Presidential race.
If the economy is still in limbo a year from now, Mitt Romney will have the opportunity of a lifetime. He understands economics; he knows how industry and business should work to thrive; he has had both private and public experience; he even studied and signed into law a health care system, and he will be able to talk to its strengths and weaknesses, what it can do and what it cannot do.
In all the political kerfuffle unfolding today, Mitt Romney is one of the few potential candidates who has gravitas – no sexual scandals, a few grey hairs, a total lack of demagoguery, confidence but not arrogance, an ability to lead successfully and an understanding of the sanctity of the private sector in this country. Those attributes should stand him in good stead when the 2012 Presidential campaign starts to unfold in barely more than a year from now.
