Dear Republican friends:
I know Mitt Romney is your party nominee, but from what I've seen, it's not clear he would govern as a true Republican if he's elected. As someone who has spent a good deal of time studying modern Republican presidents, I think you may have a viable alternative with a record that many successful Republican presidents, including Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, would wear proudly.
He's a moderate Republican who has protected the capitalist system, takes the debt seriously, and believes in protecting defense spending even in hard fiscal times.
After the economy collapsed in 2008, he advocated that the country double-down on George W. Bush's Troubled Asset Relief Program. It was an unpopular stand, as almost all Americans wanted to watch those who recklessly destroyed our economy twist in the wind. But he understood that a functioning capitalist system needs functioning banks and big businesses, no matter how selfish and self-destructive.
Yet he also takes the deficit seriously, urging a balanced approach that would include both tax increases on the wealthy and cuts to entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
His foreign policy is cautious. He's advocated that we withdraw from the kind of unpredictable interventions launched by Democratic presidents such as Woodrow Wilson and Lyndon Johnson (and Republican George W. Bush), which wasted treasure both financial and human.
He pushed to bring home troops from unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, just as Eisenhower insisted on ending the unpopular Korean War when he came into office. This candidate knows that the country's most dangerous adversaries today are terrorists — and he insisted our special forces go get Osama bin Laden and launch drone strikes and commit assassinations.
Like many traditional Republicans, this politician understands that not all government spending is bad. In 2008, he called for the largest infusion of public money into our infrastructure since Eisenhower built our interstate highway system, understanding that good roads, bridges and rail lines are the connective muscle that any athletic economy needs. He also supported a stimulus that include hiring teachers, police, and firefighters — true-blue Americans dedicated to protecting our children, our safety, and our property.
And he did this while supporting a cut in taxes to rates lower than under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, according to an independent analysis of the Congressional Budget Office. In 2008, he pushed for a refundable tax credit of up to $400 for working individuals and up to $800 for married taxpayers filing joint returns. He's fought for the reduction of government tax receipts that, when measured as a percentage of GDP, are the lowest since 1950. Reagan would approve.
He also pushed for health insurance reform — an expression of the compassionate conservatism preached by George H.W. Bush. He wasn't seduced by government socialist health care systems like those in Canada or England, and pushed by liberals in the U.S. Instead, he recommended we build upon the American private health care system and create competitive regional insurance exchanges — an idea proposed by the conservative Heritage Foundation.
He modeled his reforms after Romney's Massachusetts health care plan. And his proposed reform squeezed significant waste out of our health care system.
I must note that this man has some views that are antithetical to most Republicans. He supports gay marriage and abortion rights, and he thinks that global warming is a fact, not a fiction.
But what can you expect? Barack Obama is once again running on the Democratic line, despite his Republican-like record.
Dennis Gaffney is an Albany writer. He recently co-authored the book "The Seven-Day Scholar: The Presidents." For more information on the book visit www.7dayscholar.com.