Things looking up for Gingrich

The latest shows now that Newt Gingrich not only is contending with Mitt Romney for the top position in the polls but has actually pulled well ahead of Mitt in many of the polls.  Why is this?  The people in New Hampshire where the first primary election will be held say that America needs the forward thinking and innovative thinking that the Speaker of the House brings to the table.  I personally believe that people like the way that Newt Gingrich is always very forthright and bold with his answers.  He is never afraid to answer a question and rarely does he seem to beat around the bush.  He is one who definatly speaks his mind and has opinions.  Also he does have a good idea and is aware of all the latest that is happening in and around Washington being that he was Speaker of the House for quite some time.
So is he the one that we want for our next President?  Personally I don't think so.  He is bold and has new ideas, but a lot of his ideas are pretty far out there and I think that America could get into some serious trouble and especially some serious debt if he were president of the United States.  He really wants to build up our Army, he has no problem of invading and going to war with many countries and he is in favor of heavy, heavy tax cuts.  I think that right now America needs a more moderate President who is willing to make changes but nothing that will cause us to go further into debt.  This is why I believe that Newt Gingrich is not the answer.

Foreign Policy

On November 12, 2011 a republican debate was held on foreign policy.  The candidates were asked specific questions based on what was going on in the world today and what there stance would be on these issues.  A few of these issues were as follows: (1) Torture, (2) Iran gaining nuclear power, (3) Pakistan.  Starting with torture the candidates were asked their position on whether or not they would allow torture to get vital information out of men they capture on the battlefield.  Torture is illegal right now and the latest update was that of water boarding which was made illegal just recently by President Obama.  I was suprised to learn that most of the candidates said they would implement water boarding as a means to get the information they needed and were not afraid to use torture.  This suprised me because I think that if it is a national illegal procedure why are we saying that we would make it legal for us.  The candidate that I was most impressed with on this specific topic was Ron Paul because he stood up for what he believed in and went against all the other candidates saying he did not believe in torture and that it was wrong.
Another huge issue was Iran gaining a nuclear war head.  Many of the candidates agreed this was a bad idea and that it was our job to stop them from gaining a nuclear war head.  Except once again Ron Paul as well as Jon Huntsman.  I really agreed with Huntsman on this issue who said that we should focus on building our economy here at home and becoming a stronger nation and a smarter nation then spending money trying to control and nation build.
The last issue discussed was that of what to do with Pakistan.  Do we build alliances further or do we cut all ties?  Should we keep troops in the middle east or bring them home?  Again I agreed with Governor Huntsman who said bring most of our troops home.  Keep some there to help the people but in the most part bring people home and lets start looking inside our own nation.  How can we help the people here in America who are going hungry and are not getting enough?  We must become strong ourselves before we can lift others up.

Whats with the Polls?

Over the past few weeks we have seen the republican candidates rise and fall in the polls.  One candidate seems to keep a constant steady incline and stay at the top and that is Mitt Romney.  However no matter what happens it seems that the people want some type of competition so they will continually vote another candidate up towards the top to challenge Romney after each debate.  The first person to really challenge Romney was Rick Perry, the governor of Texas.  However after many poor performances in the debates and then a disaterous slip on November 9 when he couldn't remember one of the parts of government he would remove if he became president, Perry plummeted in the polls.  The next candidate to really do well and challenge Mitt was Herman Cain the CEO of Godfathers Pizza.  Herman Cain seemed to be bold, exciting, and coming up with new ideas to help the economy.  However his too good to be true economic plan and other of his plans ended up being dismantled as people began to look into them further and notice that really they would not be able to help the government.  Also Cain has recently been accused of many scandals that have really taken a toll on his reputation.
So with Cain falling it looked like there would be no one to step up and challenge Romney.  However once again someone began to take the torch, and the candidate now who is really giving Romney a run for his money in the polls is speaker of the house Newt Gingrich.  He seems to be well aware of all that is going on in Washington and he wants to radically change things from the way Obama has been running America.
So why is it that no matter what happens it seems that Romney will always be at the top but there will always be a competitior as well?  I can't help but think that some of it may have to do with religious bias.

Economy

With the dust starting to settle from all of the republican debates that have happened over the past few weeks we are starting to see what the main focuses are and what the people of America want.  One of the major key points is who will best help the economy and how?  Herman Cain has come up with a flat tax plan of 9-9-9.  He says it will be a nine percent income tax, a nine percent sales tax, and a nine percent business tax.  While he is pushing hard for this plan almost all the other candidates agree that this is a plan that will not work.  They say that in the end the middle and lower classes will be paying much more in taxes then less.  The nine percent sales tax gives the federal government another way to tax the American people therefore many are starting to disagree with Cain on his way of thinking about taxes.
However Economy is not based purely on taxes.  Other issues that have been brought up are; creating jobs by allowing companys to come and drill for oil and other energy solutions here in America.  This is what Governor Perry is pushing for.  Saying that if we allow America to become energy independent we will create more jobs for more people.
Mitt Romney agrees with Perry but has even taken it a step further in saying that we need to create more technical jobs as well as more energy jobs.  We need more manufacturing jobs and businesses created.  These are all great ideas.  But will these candidates actually follow through?  This is what we hope to here in the upcoming debate.thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/.../live-blogging-the-republican-debate-in- orlando

What to do about Health Care?

In the last few debates one main topic keeps coming up over and over again.  This subject is healthcare.  Each republican candidate agrees that they must repeal Obama Care and all say that if they are elected that is one of the very first things they will do when put into office, however the truth of the matter is that its going to take time.  Right now there are so many restrictions and people involved with Obama Care that it doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon.  Another problem that each candidate is facing is what to do with healthcare once they get rid of Obama Care.  Mitt Romney seems to have some answers as he shows his success in Massachussettes with completing a health bill there where the people of Massachusettes want to keep his healthcare system 3 to 1.  However his bill does have some similarities to Obama care which is what he is taking a lot of flack for.  Also he was unable to keep healthcare relatively cheap for the people.

Perry on the other hand says he can do the job by getting the Federal Government out of peoples personal lives.  Yet his state is dead last in providing health care to its people so he does not seem to be to reputable of a source.
After all the debate that has been going on I think we need to look at the overall run of government.  I know that no one wants their life run by the Feds.  but on the other hand without the government to step in and help out at the end of the day a majority of people just wouldn't be able to get health care.  And are we really willing as a nation to refuse to help someone because of their financial situation?  These are moral issues that the people of the United States need to come to terms with and ask themselves who we are and what do we want our nation to stand for.

Debate held at Dartmouth

In this last Republican debate held at Dartmouth college everyone began to see an very confident Mitt Romney begin to emerge from among the candidates.  Questions were continually being poised to Romney and what he would do if he were to become president.  Mitt was able to hold his own and discussed how he would improve the economy by not increasing taxes and by going after China for ripping off the United States in their business affairs.  Romney's extensive background in economy defanatly gave him a leg up on the rest of the competition, because no one was able to answer quite like Mitt did.

However to my suprise Perry seemed to be falling by the wayside and the new up and comer seems to be Herman Cain the CEO of Godfathers Pizza.  He has a new economic plan titled 999.  A flat tax of 9% on income, corporate, and sales.  While this may seem like a good idea there is really no way I see for this to actually be implemented it seems that Romney is still in the lead for now.

Tear down or Build up? You decide.

As I have been following the republican debates as well as the different candidates speeches I have noticed a slight change in the way they are approaching their arguments.  Really its nothing too new, I just thought it would be nice to get it out in the open.  Often times in politics we see that there is one of two options when running against someone else; either you tear them down or you build yourself up.  The question is which one is better to do?  To me there is no question, no matter who the candidate is my respect immediately goes down when someone answers a question or just comes out and starts to speak negatively about another candidate instead of showing me what they themselves have to offer.  I don't care what the other person has done wrong or is doing wrong, at that moment what I want to know is why I should choose the candidate I am watching or listening to for President.


Often times candidates get stuck in this way of thinking that if they are being attacked they must attack back instead of simply defending themselves and then moving on to why they would be the best choice.  Unfortunately that is what is beginning to happen right now in the G.O.P. for the republicans.  Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are continually at each others throats and it seems one can't speak unless they through in at least one negative thing about the other.  To this I say stop telling me about the other person and tell me about yourself.