The choice SC voters have

This author/poster has made it very clear where I stand in the republican primary. South Carolina voters have a vitally important choice to make. Iowa voters choose Rick Santorum, but Romney managed to steal that one. New Hampshire was going for Romney no matter what. South Carolina will be the place where voters will decide between two very different leaders. Like him or not, Newt Gingrich is an individual of tremendous political courage and an ability to lead. From 1995-1999, Newt Gingrich led the effort as House Speaker to cut taxes, reduce spending, reform welfare, enact tort reform, and pass anti-crime legislation. President Bill Clinton was forced into some of these policies as a result of 2 government shut-downs and Gingrich rallying public support. It is not as likely these things would be accomplished if Gingrich had not been Speaker. 11 million jobs and safer communities may not have become reality. Mitt Romney has a vastly different record to run on. While Romney did achieve spending cuts and welfare reform during his 4 years as Governor, he did not pass large broad-based tax cuts and crime rates in Massachusetts increased during his tenure as Governor. As Minority Leader in the U.S. House, Newt Gingrich joined with the conservative Heritage Foundation in opposing Bill Clinton's proposed 1993 health insurance legislation. In 2006, Mitt Romney signed a health insurance bill that allowed for a $50 co-pay for abortion. Newt Gingrich helped lead the effort for the Defense of Marriage Act, where as Mitt Romney did not appeal the MA decision to allow for gay marriage. But, perhaps most telling of the choice South Carolina voters is where Gingrich and Romney differ in where they would lead the nation moving forward. The biggest issue facing voters is the economy. Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have both focused on the economy. Both support repealing the Obama-era regulations and Obamacare. The difference is, what to replace it with. Newt Gingrich proposes a tax cut package that would have an optional 15% flat tax with fewer deductions, 100% expensing of new equipment, a 0% capital gains tax, and a 12.5% corporate tax rate. Romney proposes a reduction in the corporate tax rate to 25% and eliminating taxes on savings, capital gains, and dividends on the middle-class, whom don't necessarily even pay taxes on capital gains and dividends. On trade policy, Newt Gingrich has been a consistent free trader, where as Governor Romney proposes labeling China a "currency manipulator" which would cause a trade war without having a positive effect on U.S. jobs. The choice South Carolina voters will have to make is a clear one: will they nominate a conservative reformer or a center-right republican with a mixed record?