On July 4th, Mitt Romney penned a confused, generally useless op-ed alleging that America is in denial; that our only path forward is to be more open-minded to the political establishment.
Gently - and non-controversially - suggesting that the left in America may be responsible for some of our problems, the Senator from Utah was quick to point out that the right is equally - if not more - at fault.
Of course, it is true that both political parties are often guilty of corruption. And keeping an open mind when it comes to what you choose to believe about your own party is efficacious. But in his unwillingness to commit to either side, Romney comes across as a “double-minded man” “unstable in all his ways.”
The former Republican nominee for president would rather us find middle ground in Washington D.C. than admit that our partisan divide is, in fact, very real and that in many cases Washington is actually inflaming our frictions.
“President Joe Biden is a genuinely good man,” Romney wrote, “but he has yet been unable to break through our national malady of denial, deceit, and distrust.” In other words, the Biden administration is not the problem.
According to Romney, we are the problem. If only we’d trust Washington (he specifically pushes for us to trust the political establishment’s stance on the allegedly serious threat of climate change and Trump’s threat to democracy) then the national government - helmed by President Biden - would be free to fix all of our problems.
The glaring flaw in his logic, however, is the laughable assumption that the government can solve our problems - many of which were concocted by Biden himself.
The Federalist countered the senator’s oped, reporting:
“The economy is headed toward a recession, with inflation spiraling out of control. The U.S. southern border is not secure, is a major national security risk, and smugglers are committing human atrocities on a daily basis, such as the 53 illegal immigrants who were effectively cooked to death in an abandoned tractor-trailer in San Antonio. Crime continues to surge in U.S. cities, along with homelessness and drug overdose deaths. On top of all this, the gargantuan national debt continues to grow.
Worse, there seems to be little recourse for all this. Normally, Americans could appeal to lawmakers’ better judgment or vote them out, but this hasn’t worked for decades. Politicians are more beholden to billionaires, corporate media, and special interest groups than the Americans they’re supposed to serve."
The fact that voting unruly lawmakers out of office “hasn’t worked for decades” is a perfect case for term limits. It also shows just how unwilling Washington is to fix itself let alone the plethora of other problems plaguing the country. Any faith Romney has in the political establishment is patently misplaced.
But just because Washington refuses to impose term limits or other restraints of power on itself does not mean we are without hope. Thankfully, the framers of the Constitution gave the states the power - via an Article V convention - to propose amendments that would impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit its jurisdiction and even enact term limits.
COS is a real solution that could enact real, positive change. Patriots in all 50 states have already joined this movement to end federal tyranny. To add your name to the list of nearly 5 million supporters, sign the petition below!
