This withdrawal came not only without warning but was publicly announced on 17 September 2009, the 70th anniversary of Soviet invasion of Poland. What followed was a progressive neglect of the whole region in US foreign policy, despite ongoing East European troop contributions to US military effort in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
What Mitt Romney promises is the revision of the US relationship with Poland, Eastern Europe and their powerful and imperialistic neighbor – Russia. Mitt Romney chose Poland as one of only three countries to visit as a presidential candidate and emphasized its traditional friendship with the United States. This visit signaled his intention to upgrade US-relations with Eastern Europe, and Poland in particular, not only as a sign of a traditional friendship but also as a commitment to strong Europe, support for democracy and independence of the region, and strong security ties with the United States. As part of his new initiative, Romney wants to reinstate the antimissile defense program in Poland and the Czech Republic. This will be connected with potential stationing of US troops in the area and maintenance of a defense relationship with the United States as a complement to strong NATO ties.
Aside from upgrading the relationship with Eastern Europe, Romney wants to revise the US relationship with Russia. He does not regard authoritarian Russia as a partner of the United States but rather as its principal geopolitical foe. Russia is moving backwards in its efforts to democratize internally and is persecuting opposition politicians and journalists. At the same time, Russia is reasserting its great power ambitions, at the cost of the independence and Western orientation of Eastern Europe, as well as untenable compromises made by Western Europe. The result is the loss of influence of the United States and the potential loss of freedom for Eastern Europe. Romney intends to compete with Russia and discourage its expansionist behavior, not appease it.
Mitt Romney also understands the key role that independence of energy supplies plays in sovereignty of Eastern Europe because it is subject to the Russian near monopoly in this area. This also applies to Western Europe to a significant extent. Romney promises US technical and other assistance in construction of new routes of energy supplies that would provide new energy options for the region.
The victory of Mitt Romney is not only vital to the US-Polish relationship but also to maintenance of traditional values here in the United States. The great majority of Polish-Americans is Catholic and supports traditional Catholic values. Mitt Romney is pro-life and against gay marriage. He supports freedom of religion, guaranteed by the US Constitution, where alien belief systems and policies are not forced on churches in the name of the state. Obamacare forces its policies on churches and other institutions and the Catholic Church is suing the Obama Administration for such a breech.
In the area of most concern to everyday lives of all Americans, including Polish-Americans, Mitt Romney is promising to give his foremost priority to creating jobs. As a result of the economic crisis, loss of US competitiveness, outsourcing to India and China, and the anti-business attitude of the Obama Administration, the United States lost millions of jobs. Currently, 23 million Americans are unemployed. Others suffered a loss in their standard of living. President Obama, instead of dealing with this national crisis, decided to impose on the country his own leftist agenda: nationalized health care, global warming and environmental restrictions, and public works. His governmental programs created trillion dollar yearly budget deficits without solving the most basic problems of the working people.
Romney promises to create new jobs on free market principles by reforming the tax code and business environment to encourage companies to stay put in the United States. He also wants to revive manufacturing where many Polish-Americans were employed by lowering cost of energy through liberalization of exploration of US domestic energy sources. Polish-Americans and all Americans deserve that their foremost concerns should become national priorities.
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