I am an independent centrist who has voted Rep, Dem, 3rd Party, Ind, write-in, etc.
Normally, I'd have agreed heavily with your post.
The two-party system limits our options (as so brilliantly was illustrated by former centrist turned leftist Matt Groening during the 96 election when the two aliens took over earth by inhabiting the two presidential candidates, since they had no other option they would be electing the aliens to take over earth). It has created this "us" vs. "them", when in actuality, they both go to Washington, and play the same meaningless games, and perpetuate the same systems which just keep lining their pockets and finding ways to keep themselves in power.
However, this year is different.
One of those candidates I wrote-in was Mitt Romney in 2008. The reason was then, and still stands now. He is simply the best person to lead this country out of the economic doldrums and back to being successful.
Unlike other politicians, Mitt Romney actually gets things done. His business background was a major reason he was successful as Governor of MA. He worked with a heavily liberal legislature, and got them to accomplish things on both sides of the isle.
He cut spending, he cut taxes, he cut the size of the government. Those are extremely hard accomplishments in MA.
He did so while forfeiting his salary. He even fired several overpaid useless executives that had just been using the state year in and year out to live off their legacy. One particular legacy which was being lived off was famed mobster Whitey Bulger's brother Billy, who held the position of President of the State College system. Romney said, that's a redundant position, and unless you can show me how that doesn't double up with the presidents of the individual colleges themselves, then I'm going to eliminate the position. When Bulger responded with his duties, Romney said see yah, and fired him. That takes real guts. Still he got it done.
He also pushed through the healthcare legislation, which made MA have the highest percentage of insured residents of any state in the union, at above 97%, and did so by using a system which encouraged private ownership and personal responsibility for ones own health coverage. This would have saved the taxpayers $300M, if it weren't for manipulations to the programs when he left office by liberal legislators.
He also got the Big Dig done, and went after contractors for faulty work and production delays, suing to recover funds. He restuctured the payment of the Big Dig, which was consistently being increased in projections prior to his being elected. After he got his hands on the project, it got finished in less time than was expected at that point, and for far less amount.
Mitt Romney's leadership abilities are well reknowned.
If you had any large organization that was having problems financially, and was poorly organized, you more than likely would be in the market for a new chief executive to straighten it out. If you scanned the country for the top 20 resumes in that regard, you would likely grab Mitt Romney's.
That was even what he did for a living, as he started the venture capital firm whose job was to go in and restructure companies to get them growing again. For the most part he was overwhelmingly successful, so much to the point that they were able to charge fees far greater than that of their competitors and still were chosen heavily for their expertise.
That was also the case when his former company, Bain Investment, sought after him to take over as CEO, and he turned them around in 1 year.
Then the Salt Lake City Olympic Organizing Committee sought him out personally to save their effort, which at the time was underfunded, with corruption charges, and construction delays. He got them straightened out, going on to be the most lucrative of Winter Olympic games by far.
When he came to MA, which had a $2B deficit, he vowed this cooperation across aisles and a businesslike approach to government which would get results. Within 2yrs he had created a $2B surplus. Additionally he passed several key pieces of legislation, that other politicians had only talked about but never gotten anything done about.
Heck, even in his days as a missionary, when he took over leadership the amount of converts they got increased dramatically. Everywhere the guy goes, he creates success.
Such is the case right now. The US is a large organization that has financial problems and a poor leadership structure. We are also in the market currently for a new chief executive.
I would urge every American that wants the US to turn around financially to seriously consider hiring the best candidate for the job.
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth...
Mitt Romney has the resume of results.
I promise you, this time it will be different. You will see a results oriented business approach to politics, and you will like the results.