Second, Romney would get government out of the way of domestic energy production. Obama has cut offshore production, as well as drilling on federal lands that are burgeoning with energy. As a result, we've seen gas prices double during his presidency. Another four years of Obama and we'll see $10-a-gallon gas. We'll be using tricycles to get to work - if there are jobs to go to.
Theodore Roehrig Sr., Newtown Square, realtedr@aol.com
Playing to the audience
At the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney disavowed the right-wing economic positions he had taken earlier in the campaign. At the third debate, he did the same with respect to foreign policy. Romney claims that, because he has been a businessman, he would be a better steward of the American economy than President Obama. However, his business acumen seems most acute in the area of marketing. He simply conveys to his audience what he perceives it wants to hear at any given moment.
The question is, who is the real Mitt Romney, and does he truly have the greater good at heart? Perhaps voters should look to the 47 percent video, where, behind closed doors, Romney portrayed nearly half the country as malingerers not worthy of his attention.
Bill Fanshel, Bryn Mawr, wfanshel@hotmail.com
Time for a new approach
I am not surprised that The Inquirer has endorsed the incompetent President Obama for reelection. His only standard is giving away "stuff," a technique to win votes from those who believe that government is the source of things of value. Whatever happened to those great words of President John F. Kennedy, "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."
Isn't it time to find a new approach, such as the one offered by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, that offers opportunity to all? The national debt, unless brought into check and eventually dissolved, will eventually turn the United States into an "also-ran nation," instead of the great nation that President Ronald Reagan once called the "shining city on the hill."
Alphonse J. DiGiovanni, Newtown Square
Hard to make case for values
What happened to such virtues as honesty, integrity, and conviction? People from overseas who have watched the Republican primary debates, their commercials, and Mitt Romney's performances in the general election debates must be shocked at what they have seen. They must have thought that Americans once genuinely valued truth and fairness. But it's hard to make a case for American values when they see Romney's poll numbers increase after he brazenly lies in debates and TV ads, and changes positions on critical issues, depending on the people in the audience and the polls. It's an embarrassment. If Romney wins, the lesson is clear: The end justifies the means. Is this what we want to teach our children?
Alexis Gerard Finger, Bala Cynwyd
No reason to vote for reelection
Why vote for President Obama?
Unemployment rates are unacceptably high, particularly in the black and Hispanic communities.
Obamacare will increase taxes on the middle class, and $716 billion is taken out of Medicare to pay for it.
No federal budget has been passed in the last three years.
Al-Qaeda is making a comeback.
Look at how the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya was handled, and how the administration incorrectly blamed a video for the attack.
Obama inherited a terrible economy, but we are deeper in debt and the economy is growing at an anemic rate.
His dismissive attitude during the last debate was not presidential, and his personal attacks on Mitt Romney were not acceptable.
Raymond Escardille, Warminster
Voting for the right man
Please leave my body and my religion out of these political races.
Tell me how you are going improve my life with a better economy.
Show me how you are going to help me prepare my child for his future by making college affordable.
Explain to me how you are going to prevent criminals from getting guns.
Assure me that I will not have to pay more than my fair share of taxes so that the richest citizens can pay less.
Prove to me that I can sleep at night, knowing that our government and military will protect us from unnecessary wars and harm to my country.
Show me that my government is for the people, not the corporations, and will strive to work together across the divided party lines to make my country strong again.
Make me proud to be an American.
Do all this, and then, on Election Day, I can vote for the right man to lead my country.
Shari Braveman, Enola
Rating the debate moderators
Now that the four debates have been completed, it is quite obvious that the women moderators were far superior to the two aged men.
Candy Crowley and Martha Raddatz were able to control the pace, ask better questions, and keep the animosity under control. Jim Lehrer and Bob Schieffer at one time were tops in their field, but now are past their prime.
The women were more up on current events and much more able to control the candidates. That was no easy task with Vice President Biden and Mitt Romney.
Ron Costello, Warminster, rrncostello@gmail.com
Re-donate campaign money
It's sad to think that in cities where millions of dollars can be raised for campaigns, teachers and guidance counselors are being laid off for budgetary reasons, and people are forced to choose between paying their mortgage and feeding their families ("Election funding surges to $2B," Friday).
If the candidates truly want to help the people whose votes they are seeking, I suggest they give back 10 percent of their campaign money to the communities they purportedly want to help. It shouldn't make any difference in the outcome of their campaigns, but it would make a huge difference to the citizens who have been adversely impacted by austerity measures.
Michael Dvorak, Lafayette Hill
