Mitt Romney Announces His Bid for POTUS

This morning Mitt Romney formally announced his candidacy for the office of President of the United States from the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. So far, he is my choice for the Republican nomination for POTUS because his positions on most issues most closely match my own, AND I think that he is the most conservative candidate that can beat Hillary (who I think will be the Democrat nominee).

As I mentioned before, I'm a guest blogger for Texans for Mitt Romney. Being a pro-life biologist, I've been interested in how Romney's position on abortion and human embryonic stem cell research evolved during his experience as Massachusetts governor. I recently posted an entry on an National Review Online article by Kathryn Lopez that I think fairly describes his conversion to a "Latter-Day Lifer."

Most of the talking heads in the media say Romney's religion (Mormonism) will be a liability. I think that's possible, but that fair-minded people will base their vote on the issues and not on prejudice. Many people find Mormon beliefs to be strange. Fair enough, but I find some beliefs of other churches to be strange as well. I think it just depends on what you're used to, and often people are more likely to be biased against belief systems that are not like their own and ones that they don't understand. There's a lot of misinformation on Mormonism out there--here's the official website of the LDS church for a brief overview of our beliefs.

A minority make it their vocation to actively slander and distort the doctrines of my faith, and I think fair-minded Americans will see these people as the bigots they are. If you really want to know what a Mormon believes, ask one.

The biggest point to make is that Romney is his own man, and will not be taking orders from the head of my church. The LDS church has a strict policy of political neutrality. Members are NOT instructed to vote for any one party, but are asked to vote their conscience. There are no political rallies held at LDS churches as we often see happen in during political campaigns.

Is America ready for a Mormon POTUS? Only time will tell.