"My fellow Americans:
In a political campaign, it’s no secret there’s lots of
strategizing, particularly when it comes to communications. You have to be popular to win, and so
candidates tend to lean toward popular ideas when campaigning. In other words, you promise things to get votes. That’s as old as politics itself.
But you also have to balance those populist messages with
the hardliners in your party who want nothing to do with not only opposition
ideas, but even centrist ideas as well.
It’s their way or the highway.
And if you don’t kowtow to them, you don’t get their support, you don’t
get their money, and you don’t win the election.
In my campaign in particular, it’s been difficult trying to
woo independents in the center who voted for President Obama’s message of hope
and change four years ago, while trying to appease those party hardliners with
the money and influence.
And it hasn’t really worked.
So it’s time to change tactics. Not
that I was dishonest before, but, now, it’s time to be honest—not only to you,
the voter, but to myself as well. I’m
going to campaign on what I believe in, results be damned. I’m behind in the polls anyway, if you
believe them, with almost no chance to win, so it’s time to bring REAL change
to our politics.
During this campaign, one word has dogged me in
particular. It’s flat-out vilified me,
in some people’s eyes. That word isn’t “Mormon.” It’s “rich.”
He’s rich, so he must be bad. He must be greedy. He must want not only his own fortune, but
everyone else’s money, too. So I better
not vote for him.
Well, let’s talk about that word, rich.
Am I rich? Yes, I’m
rich. But here’s my question: so what? Isn’t that the American dream? Why am I being demonized because I have a lot
of money? President Obama has a lot of
money. President Bush and his father
before him had lots of money. President
Clinton had a lot of money. It’s
nothing new to have a wealthy man in office.
Why, all of a sudden, is it bad to have one now?
Sure, I got some help from my dad, but lots of people get
help from their parents when they first start out. Maybe they help out with your first car or
your first house. My father helped out
with my first company. It’s a matter of
scale. What I did from there was my own
doing. I worked my tail off my whole
adult life to take what my father gave me and build upon it. The same way that someone takes that first
house their parents helped them buy, pays it off, or most of it off, and then
buys a nicer, newer house. Or a nicer,
newer car. There’s nothing wrong with
that. When did it become a bad thing to
aspire, and to achieve?
President Obama has built his campaign—has built his whole
presidency—on class warfare. “Get the
rich to pay their fair share,” he says, and crowds go nuts.
“If Mitt Romney gets elected,” he continues, “the rich will
get richer and you’ll end up supporting their lavish lifestyles.” Rich, rich, rich. Rich is bad.
Well, here’s a question for you: Doesn’t everyone want to be rich? I would say that 99% of Americans—not that
47% I stupidly and incorrectly bad-mouthed to impress a few hardliners—want to
be rich. And that’s probably an
underestimate. There’s nothing wrong
with that.
So here’s what it comes down to. President Clinton, when he campaigned in
1992, had the mantra, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Fast forward twenty years, and it’s the same story. It’s the economy. It’s jobs.
It’s rebuilding the American Dream. Too many Americans have been struggling for
too long. Too many Americans want—and need more money.
You want more money? Elect me. I’ll lead by example, using my experience as a
rich person. Under a Romney
Administration, we’ll enact policies and practices like I did in my businesses.
Those policies will help all
Americans, not just the rich ones to get richer. You grow an economy, you GROW wealth by
BUILDING wealth, not by spreading around what a few people already have. It’s a noble idea to take from the rich and
give to the poor. But it’s not a good
long-term business model. You want poor
people to have more money? Me too. But if you just give them money that other
people have, what happens when that
runs out? Then nobody has any
money. It’s like that old adage, give a
man a fish and he’ll eat for a day; teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for
a lifetime. I can teach America how to
build wealth so that there are more people with more money, not just a few
people forced to share the money they have.
That’s the American way. We teach each other to fish! That’s
how we help each other! That’s what made America
great, and what will make America great again!
God bless you, and God bless the United States of America!!"
If only.
