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| Courtesy of St. Martin's Press |
Mitt Romney's (R-MA) policy oriented book No Apology hit stores in early 2010, spurring a new surge in book sales just as the rigor from Sarah Palin's (R-AK) book was beginning to wane. Unlike Going Rouge, Romney's book is not a biography, and actually no cohesive life story is ever really presented. Instead the book focuses on what politics should really be about, policy and policy options. The book highlights many of the most controversial and divisive issues facing America today and Mitt Romney faces them unflinchingly and with an excess of data (he literally includes graphs and charts). Well researched and well written, No Apology may become the go to point for a Romney 2012 campaign, much like Barack Obama's two books became a launching pad for him. Exploring issues and providing a variety of answers to issues like the economy, deficits, education, and social problems; No Apology, by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, is a thoughtful and engaging read.
A Policy Book
No Apology is very different from most of the other recent political memoirs and books, simply because it does not tell a single story, at least not in the conventional sense. The book does not trace the life of Mitt Romney like that of Sarah Palin's Going Rouge, nor does it provide in depth glimpses into the his life that also elaborate on policy issues like former President George W. Bush's is rumored to do. It is a policy book through and through, with charts, graphs, (the biggest indicator of his business background if I have ever seen one) and data; as well as thorough analysis and well explained and thoughtful examples and solutions to some of America's most immense and immediate issues. Luckily, his wife, Ann Romney, insisted that in the epilogue he state and number the main points of every chapter thus providing an excellent way to relate his stances rather than relying on memory. (Seriously, thank you Ann because writing this post would have been much more difficult without the list.) Listed below are some of the issues and solutions presented by Mitt Romney in his book, No Apology.
The economy s one of the most rigorously visited issues Romney hits up in his book. After tracing the collapse of Wall Street and present all the facts and figures behind what caused the crash the former Governor proscribes a list of remedies for our economic woes. Some of his solutions include requiring the federal government to publish an annual balance sheet (much like a business) which will list all income and expenditures in one place, even spending that is considered off budget. He claims this would allow for a better evaluation of America's economic vitality and encourage more government transparency. He also cites lower taxes to promote small business growth and enacting regulation and tort reform to avoid what he calls 'double taxation'. Interestingly, instead of boasting the the praises for deregulation, he actually proposes enacting what he calls 'dynamic regulation.' This is regulation that simplifies existing codes and that protects the consumer and also the business itself and that allows innovation and creative destruction.
He also delves into the tumultuous issue of health care. Now one must remember that the book was written before the passage of Obama's health care bill but indeed Romney seems to have anticipated its passage and provides a compare and contrast between his Massachusetts plan and that of Obama. He proposes using the states as the 'laboratories of democracy' as they were intended. He also claims that enacting market based health care systems (different from the current system because he claims that the current health care systems acts outside market controls) including options like: HSAs (individualized health savings accounts), co-insurance options (similar to that of France and the Massachusetts plans), and single-fee structures. A single fee structure would be regulation that states that an open heart surgery in New York costs the same as one in Indiana, it protects against price gouging and special interest and kickbacks. He also explains that allowing insurance companies to provide incentives for healthy living and preventive care would also decrease health care costs as a whole. Like most Republicans, he also throws his weight behind malpractice reform and opening up the sales of insurance across state lines to increase competition.
The issue of education is also of interest to Romney who spends an entire chapter evaluating different measure to remedy the "American Education." One of his first solutions is to attract more of our top students to becoming teachers by allowing people trained in certain areas easier pathways to become and educator as well as increasing teacher wages. He also supports paying teachers upon performance and allowing for advancement in the pay structures and for teacher mentoring. He also supports many other measures such as: voucher paid education, charter schools, cyber and online learning, and allow for ineffective teachers to be removed from the classroom. He slams teacher unions for being a barrier to educational reform and for putting the interest of the members before the interest of the student. He proposes legislation to counteract the teacher unions as well as encourage local politicians to stand up and not be intimidated by the union.
While there are many other issues that Romney expounds upon, the last issue discussed here will be energy reform. He describes the story of how our nation became addicted to oil and how America lost her energy independence. His prescription for this problem is multi-faceted and encompasses a wide range of ideas. He actually provides a chart that will show just what it will take to stop climate change and it shows how effect each individual solution will be and how much it will cost relative to each other. He supports using nuclear, solar, and wind energy. He also supports increased natural gas consumption and laying more pipelines. He does support offshore drilling in shallow water and also to promote coal and CO2 cleaning technologies. However, some of his biggest support goes to developing incentives to promote energy efficiency and make them appealing to private and public users. He is against a cap and trade program which he calls "a tax in sheep's clothing" and instead wishes to proceed with a no regrets energy plan that will both effect climate change and allow for energy independence.
The Review
Being a pure policy book hinders some of the appeal of the book. It doesn't tell a consecutive story or follow an individuals life so that detracts from it a bit. It is not until the end that you realize that Mitt Romney is attempting the nobler task of telling America's story. He describes our rise, fall, stagnation, and possible solutions to the issues that America is facing currently. His devotion to this nation and his trust and love for it are unquestionable which provides a reassuring facet to the book. No Apology by Mitt Romney will receive three out of 5 stars on its In Review evaluation. The book is dense and takes time to digest, and admittedly is rather boring at times. However, the end result leaves one feeling secure in knowing that America is a great nation and that it has great men like Mitt Romney helping to lead it to future prosperity. The book also provides enough personal moments to make the reader feel like they are getting to know the former Governor a little better although I feel an autobiography may also help his cause in the future. His writing style is that of an essay, which leaves the reader feeling as though he just read eleven essays instead of a single book but in retrospect, that's the definition of a policy book. I suggest that anyone in politics or considering politics and even remotely interested in learning more about possible presidential candidates should read this book.
Later,
Cody
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