|
Social Issues |
Mitt Romney |
Barack Obama |
| Partial-Birth Abortion: | No punishment for women who have partial birth abortions | Trust women to make own decisions on partial-birth abortion |
| Stem Cells: | Stem cell research lofty goals don’t justify destroying life | Stem cells hold promise to cure 70 major diseases |
| Judicial Activism: | Firmly pro-life; including Court nominations | No litmus test; nominate to Court based on their fairness |
| Welfare State: | Opportunity is in our DNA; dependency is death to initiative | Cut poverty in half in 10 years, with faith-based help |
| Welfare-to-Work: | Would require welfare recipients to work | Welfare recipients know how to succeed but need help |
| Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell: | Don’t ask, don’t tell sounds silly, but it’s effective | Repeal Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell |
| Defense of Marriage | MA Constitution, by John Adams, has no same-sex marriage | Decisions about marriage should be left to the states |
| Affirmative Action: | Failure to educate minorities is a civil rights issue | Include class-based affirmative action with race-based |
| College Loans: | China & India graduate more science & engineering PhDs | $10K college tax credit; forgive loans for public service |
| No Child Left Behind: | Changed from closing Education Dept. to supporting NCLB | We need real commitment to education; instead we got NCLB |
| School Vouchers: | Supported means-tested vouchers for public & private schools | Vouchers don’t solve the problems of our schools |
| the Fathers In Families: | Child development enhanced by having a mother & father | I know what it means to have an absent father |
| Personal Faith: | My faith would inform my presidency | I am a person of faith; and I reach out to people of faith |
| Religious Values: | Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom | Listening to evangelicals bridges major political fault line |
|
Domestic Issues |
Mitt Romney |
Barack Obama |
|
| Alternative Sentencing: | One Strike, You’re Ours: lifetime GPS tracking | Supports alternative sentencing and rehabilitation | |
| Death Penalty: | Supports death penalty in heinous murders | Battled legislatively against the death penalty | |
| Gun Rights: | Ok to ban lethal weapons that threaten police | Respect 2nd Amendment, but local gun bans ok | |
| Drugs in Society: | Combat the ruthless narco-terrorists in Colombia | Expand drug courts; help prisoners with substance abuse | |
| Marijuana Legalization: | Opposes legalization of recreational or medical marijuana | Not first candidate to use drugs, but first honest about it | |
| Nuclear Waste: | Compensate Nevada for nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain | Opposes Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste storage | |
| Environmental Philosophy: | Clean environment will be a campaign theme | Genesis teaches stewardship of earth: sacrifice for future | |
| Emissions Standards: | States should be able to have their own emissions standards | Let states define stricter-than-federal emission standards | |
| Energy Efficient Cars: | $20 billion package for energy research & new car technology | Let’s build a fuel-efficient car in America, not abroad | |
| Infrastructure Investment: | Invest in infrastructure from growing economy by lower taxes | National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank: $60B in 10 years | |
| Outer Space Policy: | Mining the moon costs too much | Cancel moon program; develop human mission to Mars | |
| R&D Spending: | National R&D spending OK; picking winners not OK | Space-race-level investment in R&D; biotech; & green tech | |
| Health Mandate: | Personal responsibility instead of employer mandates | Zero fines & no mandate for small business | |
| Medicare: | Reform Medicare, but don’t cancel prescription program | Medicare is major driver of our long-term liabilities | |
| ObamaCare: | I stand by what I did in Massachusetts; but not ObamaCare | Repealing healthcare reform would cost $250B | |
| Corporation Policy: | Corporations are people | I will raise CEO taxes, no doubt about it | |
| Financial Bailout: | Bailout program wasted money; let companies go bankrupt | We all hated the bank bailout; but it was necessary | |
| Wall Street Reform: | I was CEO at mainstream businesses, not Wall St. | Pay attention to Main Street, not just Wall Street | |
| Economic Stimulus: | Key to economic stimulus: get companies to buy more stuff | $1T avoided Depression; but I took office with $8T debt | |
| Trickle-Down Economics: | Lowering taxes, like Bush tax cuts, grows the economy | Not enough to help those at the top: it doesn’t trickle down | |
| National Debt: | The “Party of No” is ok when it comes to spending | Freeze annual domestic spending for next five years | |
| Balanced Budget: | Cap how much government can spend as a percentage of GDP | Appoint bipartisan fiscal commission and re-establish PAYGO | |
| Campaign Finance Reform: | McCain-Feingold hurt our party and hurt the First Amendment | Public campaign financing with free television & radio time | |
| Card Check: | “Card check” is a massive imposition on worker freedom | FactCheck: Yes, wants to limit secret balloting for unions | |
| Unemployment: | Replace jobless benefits with unemployment savings accounts | $4,000 tax credit for companies who hire unemployed workers | |
| Social Security Privatization: | Favors private accounts; prepared to be entirely bold | What do we do with the losers of privatizing? | |
| Trust Fund: | Congress taking money from Trust Fund is criminal | Must capture new revenue; no new Social Security Commission | |
| Entitlement Policy: | Rein in the excessive growth in entitlement programs | Good health care and tax reform will save entitlements | |
| Tax-and-Spend Policies: | Reduce the tax burden on middle-income families | We need a tax code where everybody pays their fair share | |
| Death Tax: | Death tax just doesn’t make sense | 2011 budget proposed to raise Death Tax to 45% | |
|
International Issues |
Mitt Romney |
Barack Obama |
| Climate Change: | They don’t call it “America warming” but “global warming” | Aggressively address accelerating climate change |
| Oil Drilling: | Develop alternative energy but also drill in ANWR | We cannot drill our way out of our addiction to oil |
| Nuclear Power: | Develop energy technology like nuclear or liquefied coal | Nuclear power ok if we safeguard against waste & terrorism |
| China Trade: | China doesn’t want to have a trade war; so push hard | China is a competitor but not an enemy |
| Immigrant Benefits: | Turn off the magnet that attracts immigrants | Pathway to citizenship, but people have to earn it |
| Guest Workers: | I like legal immigration; let business determine visas | Anti-immigrant bitterness stems from joblessness |
| American Exceptionalism: | American Exceptionalism means America need not decline | American exceptionalism is same as any other exceptionalism |
| Iranian Sanctions: | Unacceptable for Iran to become a nuclear nation | Iran is more isolated and will face growing consequences |
| International Diplomacy: | Encourage others to welcome democracy, without military | The UN has succeeded in avoiding a Third World War |
| the Patriot Act: | FBI wiretaps and spying on immigrants OK | The politics of fear undermines basic civil liberties |
| Defense spending: | Increase defense spending to at least 4% of GDP | Reduce defense spending 1% in 2013; add 2% per year after |
| Sources of Terrorism: | To win the war on jihad, we need friends in Muslim world | Battling terrorism must go beyond belligerence vs. isolation |
| Torture Policy: | Best to not say whether waterboarding is torture or not | No torture; no renditions; no operating out of fear |
| Guantanamo Prison: | Closing Gitmo leaves America vulnerable to another 9/11 | OpEd: Promised to close Guantanamo but it’s still open |
| Afghanistan War: | Stay in Afghanistan until our generals say to leave | Troops will begin to exit Afghanistan in July 2011 |
Compiled by the American Family Association
