What If... Mitt Romney Wins?

L. Joy Williams, a political strategist and cohost of the online radio show This Week In Blackness, looks into her crystal ball to get a load of Mitt Romney's America

If Romney wins the White House and Republicans remain in control of Congress, expect them to keep their promise of repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. While a number of the provisions of “Obamacare” have yet to be enacted, the repeal would have an immediate effect on the 6.6 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 26 who are now insured through their parents’ insurance and millions of women who would no longer have a co-pay for contraceptives.

With support of Republican-controlled state legislatures, limiting rights to abortion, mandating procedures such as vaginal ultrasounds and giving employers the option to refuse contraceptive coverage will continue to be pushed.

Our economy didn’t fail overnight, and it certainly is not going to be fixed overnight. If Romney wins, his administration will benefit from all the work of the Obama administration over the past three years to fix our economy. Additionally, Romney’s economic plans, while sparse, will be focused on dialing back regulation efforts (which arguably contributed to the financial collapse), preserving tax cuts for the wealthy and reducing government spending by cutting programs for the young, the old and the poor, the very Americans who need government the most. —As told to Chloe Hilliard

FAMILY TIES

ROMNEY'S IRONIC LINEAGE TO "OBAMACARE"

Since the conception of his 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney has repeatedly attacked welfare and politicians who have supported the program. Romney even falsely accused the president of supporting a reform plan that would eliminate the requirement to work or train for a job in order to receive federal assistance. Romney’s camp has consistently worked toward having America perceive welfare as charity for Blacks, the shiftless or both, despite the facts confirming the majority of welfare recipients are Caucasian.

What may be even more shocking to the average American is that Romney’s own grandfather, Gaskell Romney, was a welfare recipient for many years. Gaskell, a U.S. citizen who was a prosperous farmer and carpenter in Mexico, fled the Mexican Revolution with his wife and seven children in 1912, leaving all of his possessions behind. Only after years of receiving welfare for himself and his family—including Mitt Romney’s father, George—did Granddaddy Romney regain the prosperity he once enjoyed in Mexico. Perhaps Mitt Romney should consider his own ties to welfare before painting it ugly. —Brooke Obie