2012 Election

Some of my thoughts about the recent election.  As long and as bitter as the election seemed, it wasn't as bad as the last one.  2008 had long drawn-out primaries for both parties.  This time around, there was really only a Republican primary, and Romney became the clear leader fairly quickly.  By this time, most people were used to his Mormonism so he had stronger support.  Though there were some arguments from the Right during the primaries, once he got the nomination pretty much all Republicans called to support him, culminating when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was removed from Billy Graham's list of cults.  The Left still had a problem with the church, but really only because they have a problem with churches in general.



During the primaries for the 2008 election, the main focus was on foreign policy, especially with the war in Iraq.  Unfortunately, after the primaries were over, the housing bubble burst and the main topic became the economy, something I didn't really think either candidate could handle.  Not that it mattered-- Bush had become so unpopular that the Democrat was going to win, whoever he or she was.

In 2008, I voted for Obama because I thought he would do a better job.  (Not that it mattered, since I live in Utah.)  But Obama didn't do such a great job.  In 2009, we were on the road to recovery, but at the end of the year came the introduction of the Affordable Health Care for America Act.  Part of this and the final version that got passed (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) was that employers with over 50 employees would get fined for not providing affordable health care, giving employers a disincentive for hiring.  This significantly slowed the rate of recovery.  This is the main reason I thought Romney would be a better President.

In the end, Romney lost in the key swing states this year-- Ohio, Virginia, and Florida.  Although the candidate I supported didn't win, getting upset about it isn't going to help.  I had a lot of friends that posted some hilarious stuff on Facebook talking about how upset they are.  But all the same, we need to work together.  Congress hasn't passed a budget since they passed the 2010 budget back April 2009.  Congress needs to work together to get things done.  Hopefully they can set aside their differences and make some compromises.  Let us do the same.

Image Credits: Mitt Romney by Gage Skidmore, Barack Obama by  official White House photographer Pete Souza.