It seems the only thing Republicans and Democrats can agree
on in the midst of this currently undecided presidential field is that
Washington is broken. Our country is facing significant challenges such as the
threat of radical Islam, millions of uninsured Americans, illegal immigration,
the economic threat of mainland China and notoriously out-of-control pork
barrel spending in Washington. In 2006, the Democrats retook Congress, vowing
to enact sweeping policy reforms, yet there have been very few tangible
results.?

Governing is hard, and enacting positive change is even harder. It is
now time for another president with the experience necessary to bring about
real change in Washington. Not just change you would hear about when watching
C-SPAN, but real, tangible change that will improve the lives of every
American.

Mitt Romney has spent his life fixing problems that no one
thought there were solutions to. He did it in business as a venture capitalist,
he did it when he saved and turned around the Salt Lake City Olympics, and he
did it as governor of Massachusetts. By cutting waste and through a character
of strong leadership and vision, Mr. Romney has already solved many of the
problems our country is facing today and is the best candidate to lead the
United States forward.

As college students, the choices our next president makes
will have a more significant impact on us than ever before. Will there be jobs
waiting for us when we graduate? Will we be able to buy a house, start a
business or even just afford to fill up our cars with a tank of gas? Will we be
left to foot the bill of entitlement programs for our parents and grandparents
because of irresponsible spending today? And finally, will we still be living
in the greatest and most prosperous nation the world has ever known? We as a
generation won?t get ahead and make the world a little bit better for our kids,
just as our parents did for us, if the American economy does not remain strong.
?

As a former businessman, Mr. Romney knows how the economy
works and will do what it takes to keep the U.S. the world?s only superpower.
By investing billions of dollars in research and technology and through fair
tax policies that put American businesses on an equal playing field with
foreign companies, Mr. Romney?s plan would not only keep jobs in America, but
create new, higher-paying jobs as well.

While any economist would tell you the outsourcing of jobs
to countries such as China or India is good for the macro economy and maximizes
efficiency, it is soon not just going to be clothes, shoes and toy production
we will export, but high-tech products such as cars, airplanes and computers
that have been the bread and butter of the U.S. economy for years. If
government continues to regulate businesses in ways that put them at a
competitive disadvantage to foreign competition, the whole country may soon
mirror the economic hardship Michigan faces from its struggling auto industry.

The failure to cut American dependence on foreign oil could
end up crippling the United States. The dependence on oil is a problem not only
on environmental grounds, but on economic and national security grounds as
well. The high price of oil doesn?t just make it more expensive to fill up your
car ? it also makes it more expensive to ship bread and milk to the store.
Everything becomes more expensive and puts a giant burden on middle-income
families.

Mr. Romney has proposed an Apollo-scale program to eliminate
our dependence on foreign oil. It is only through strong leadership that such
drastic policies will ever have a chance of materializing, and time and time
again, Mr. Romney has shown he is the best candidate to strengthen America.

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Brad Engle
([email protected]) is a junior
majoring in business and is the chair of UW Students for Romney.