No. Of course it won’t (sadly). Mitt Romney as president won’t magically fix Washington. It’s too polarized on both sides of the aisle. Republicans and Democrats are like irrational stepbrothers fighting for father’s inheritance at this point.
If anyone out there is foolish enough to think that the simple difference of who is president will make Washington politics operate how we all hope it would, then you should move to another country, because it’s not gonna happen.
Politics is politics. Who wins the 2012 election won’t change that.
If Mitt Romney wins, Washington will still be a mess, so if THAT is the reason why you want to vote Mitt Romney, throw it out the window: Washington will still be broken if Mitt Romney wins the election. That doesn’t mean don’t vote for him, that just means “fixing Washington” is not a valid reason to vote for him. There will still be petty fighting, bad behavior by congressmen, and a general sour feeling in all our mouths whenever we utter the words “Washington politics” no matter who wins.
The question should be: WHY is Washington a mess? What things cause it to be so corrupt and in constant political turmoil? (Hint: it’s not Obama, it’s not Mitt Romney, and it’s not even Eric Cantor… though he’s a player in that game.)
Money and power. That’s it. Even the best intended politicians get overrun by the amount of money that is in national government and eventually they fold to the lobbyists and promises of lucrative jobs when they are done serving their country by pushing policies the lobbyist want because… it makes their clients more money.
If you hate that republicans in congress have been obstructing, and thusly feel that having a republican president will fix that… you’re forgetting about the Senate. Grover Norquist and the Koch brothers have a longer-term plan to take over the senate in 4 years so that they control everything, but what about the next four years? Democrats in the Senate are likely to take the torch of the filibuster and block a lot of what the Republican Party wants to push through as law.
The fear that makes a difference if Mitt Romney wins: the Supreme Court. Most likely we’re looking at two justices who will retire. That means goodbye to women’s rights and civil liberties for anyone who doesn’t fit into the “traditional Christian idea of what makes a good person and proper marriage.” Republicans are ANTI-Freedom. They never pass laws that give more freedom except when it comes to regulations or taxes on the wealthy. Mitt Romney getting to pick justices will write those ideologies into metaphorical stone. THAT does have an impact.
What should be worrying people if Mitt Romney wins is that no one, even Mitt Romney, knows what Mitt Romney really believes. When he gets into a closed room with people they walk out singing his name… but even they refuse to say what the heck Mitt Romney would do in order to achieve all his promises. Mitt is a salesman. That’s it. That’s not a president.
But the point of this post: Will a Mitt Romney win fix Washington? NO. It will not. But those things that the president can do unilaterally are bad enough to not vote for him.
