With Herman Cain's alleged sex scandals pushing his poll numbers down, Newt Gingrich has taken a huge lead over Mitt Romney in the latest Florida poll. According to The Florida Times-Union poll, Gingrich took 41 percent of the vote, a 24 point lead, over Romney's 17 percent.
With Gingrich taking the new top spot for the GOP's seemingly desperate attempt to find anyone that isn't Mitt Romney to run against President Obama, Republican voters will need to take a closer look at what this politician stands for.
Looking at the "solutions" page on Gingrich's website, he has placed immigration at the top of his list. While his solutions seem well meaning: he proposes to include a tighter border, enact a more modern immigration program and create a path for those here illegally to gain legal status, his overall approach is flawed.
Some of Gingrich's solutions will make it harder for Americans here legally to gain employment. Rather than encouraging American companies to hire U.S. citizens, Gingrich wants to make it easier for companies to hire foreign workers with H-1B visas. Even worse, he wants to make it easier for foreign companies to come here and buy out American companies. He calls these "solutions" investments of foreign intellect and foreign money. However, they will do little more than keep the current recession going and help the American economy continue its downward spiral as the nation bleeds more money and jobs.
Gingrich also has his solutions for getting the nation out of the recession on his website, ranked second after immigration. His first solution is making the Bush tax cuts for the richest 1 percent permanent. President Obama is currently fighting the GOP in Congress to keep and even lower the tax cuts on the middle class. Gingrich talks only about the tax cuts for the wealthy, stating they would lead to more jobs. The reality is that if the tax cuts do create any jobs, they will be in foreign countries -- not here in America.
In his economic "solutions" page on his website, Gingrich again pushes for foreign investment over American owned companies. He wants to eliminate regulations that make working in the United States safe and profitable for its citizens. He also plans to make it easier for risk taking in the financial industries.
Gingrich wants to make changes in the FDA's ability to regulate food both produced in the U.S. and abroad. The FDA is one department that is already dangerously underfunded and unequipped to properly check food coming into the country. With health care costs rising, this is a solution the country cannot afford.
His plan for energy is to drill baby drill. After the disaster in the gulf of Mexico by the foreign oil corporation BP, it should be clear that oil is not the answer. Allowing more drilling -- especially by foreign companies -- will not solve our energy problems. Neither will his solution to end energy regulations. America needs to end its dependance on foreign oil -- nearly half of the 2010 trade deficit was from foreign oil. The country can only do this with research into new sources of energy. Buying our own oil unregulated from foreign companies will not solve any of America's energy problems.
Gingrich's plans for healthcare overhaul are clearly for the betterment of the insurance companies. While offering to let people chose any company they like (which they can still do now under "Obamacare") he also want to make sure companies can drop anyone they like. Though he does offer a public safety net, it is for people too sick for insurance companies to care for. This solution seems to miss the point of insurance all together.
While some of Newt Gingrich's solutions may be sound and even doable, over all his answers will not make for a stronger American economy. The GOP will have to keep looking if they want a presidential candidate to fix America's economic woes.
