The Tribune

The General Election of 2012 is a major crossroads for America, one that will affect life in this country for perhaps decades to come.

Mitt Romney has offered nothing but the same policies of de-regulation and reckless swagger in international affairs, which brought this nation to the brink of disaster under the term of George W. Bush.

In fact, Romney has specifically named Bush as a “heroic steward of the nation’s finances”, and plans to use the same “NEO-CON” group of advisors, which steered us into a costly, immoral and needless war in Iraq.

In the campaign of 2000, Bush made many rosy promises about how lowering taxes would fix all of the nation’s ills, which never occurred. He rode 9-11 as an excuse for the rest of his term. Romney is making the exact same arguments, and I promise the exact same results.

Most major economists agree, if it were not for the quick, decisive action of President Obama, America would have been plunged into another Great Depression. This achievement alone is enough of a reason to re-elect him.

Also, when Romney said “let Detroit go bankrupt,” he showed his true regard for America, as a nothing more than a resource to exploit, no matter how much he tries to “back peddle” his way out of it. He said it, HE MEANT IT.

Romney trumpets his business experience, most of which has been as a corporate destroyer, an outsourcer, and a job-ender in his Bain Capital enterprises. A quick check of reliable sources will show this all to be true.

It is hypocritical of the Republican establishment to continue to argue that Obama has not repaired in four years all the damage their party caused during eight years of exploiting this nation with their reckless oversight of the economy and a war based on lies.

It is also hypocritical for the same Republican Party to continue to scream about a deficit, which they caused the majority of, and to say President Obama has accomplished nothing, after the Republican Congress has stood as a stone wall against all of his many attempts at progress, with a record number of filibusters against his agenda. President Obama dealt justice to Bin Laden, after Mitt Romney said finding him “wasn’t much of a priority.”

If Romney and Ryan are elected, precedence tells us their plans for “liberating” Americans from their entitlements will go much deeper than their sales pitch, much like the Titanic saw only the tip of the iceberg on that fateful night.

When they choose to follow the same policies which got our nation into this mess to begin with, there will be no Barack Obama there to stop the free-fall this time.

America has a clear choice, Obama part II or Bush part III.

We can follow President Obama up the rocky road to recovery, or follow Romney and Ryan over the falls. The choice for America is Obama or oblivion, it really is that simple.

Ken Bailey

Ironton

Sherrod Brown cannot be bought by Super PACs

It looks like 2012 is the year of bought and paid for election candidates. Out-of-state right-wing billionaires, multi-national corporations and Super PACs have spent upwards of $24 million trying to defeat Sherrod Brown in the Ohio Senate race.

That is reason enough to re-elect Senator Brown.

If he could be bought by the rich and powerful, they wouldn’t be spending so much money trying to defeat him.

One doesn’t get to be billionaire businessmen without knowing how to sell. It’s not a great leap from selling toothpaste and paper towels to selling right wing politicians with gleaming smiles.

Of course the return on investment can be a lot greater with politicians. Buy the Senate with a few million dollars and wind up with tax breaks worth billions.

It’s certainly nothing new, but things have only gotten worse with the U.S. Supreme Court’s “Corporations are People, Too” decision.

Not only can Super PACs spend unlimited money on campaigns, they don’t even have to tell us where the money came from. Far from representing us, our next elected official in Washington might be the Senator from Saudi Arabia or Communist China or, possibly, the personal representative of Karl Rove.

Sherrod Brown helped save the American auto industry and all the Ohio jobs dependent upon it. His opponent opposed the auto rescue plan, siding with Mr. Romney, the “Etch A-Sketch” presidential candidate (shake him and he’ll change his position), who wanted it to go bankrupt.

When Republican Governor Kasich and his cohorts blatantly attempted to destroy the collective bargaining rights of police, fire fighters, teachers, and other public service workers, Sherrod Brown stood up for the workers.

Thanks to Sherrod Brown’s work in Washington, Ohioans can no longer be dropped by their health insurance providers if they get sick. Families with sick children can no longer be denied health insurance because of preexisting conditions.

A vote for Sherrod Brown is a vote for a Senator to represent the people of Ohio, not corporate interests, billionaires and unidentifiable foreign power brokers.

Merlyn Marten

Proctorville

Where was Obama during the economic storm?

I saw a press conference on the news where President Obama said something to the effect of, “I have informed my emergency response team not to let any red tape or bureaucracy get in the way of the response to Hurricane Sandy. I have informed them to consider what we can do to help people instead of what we cannot do.”

As an employer, I immediately thought about how the President had issued a de facto deregulation to FEMA in this time of great need of the American people. I considered how correct he was in taking this immediate and decisive action. It left me simply to ponder one thing.

What if the President had a press conference in 2008 when we were hit by an economic hurricane? What if he had informed his economic response team to not let any red tape or bureaucracy get in the way of this economic recovery?

What if he had informed them to consider what they CAN DO to help employers instead of what they CAN NOT DO?

Instead we got Dodd-Frank, EPA and regulatory over reach, tax increases and Obamacare.

Some job creators are barely above water but we have basically all been left to drown.

Joe Freeman

Crown City

Bill Johnson is fighting hard for our entire region

We all know how important the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon is to our area of Ohio.

Bill Johnson has led the effort to make sure the Department of Energy provided the money to keep USEC going. More importantly, he fought the efforts by some of his out of state colleagues to strip the funding for the project.

Johnson knows how many people in southern Ohio work at USEC and how important it is to our economy. He has visited the facility multiple times to see how he can help.

It’s not just this project that Bill Johnson has fought for – he has fought for us and for jobs since he was elected.

Mike Enyart

South Point