Mitt Romney: Change for the better or worse?

Mitt Romney has seen the polls and knows he is in trouble. So in a effort to make up lost ground, Romney has launched a new theme on the campaign trail that touts big change if he is elected. But that change has the potential to hurt more Americans than it helps.

To Romney's credit, his new "big change" slogan might possibly be the first honest thing he has said in his entire political career. The problem is, there is nothing in the details of this change, or lack thereof, to suggest that the changes he would bring would not end up making life much worse for most Americans.

While stumping through the Midwest in the final leg of his campaign, Romney has been assuring voters that he wants to bust teachers unions. That certainly would not be change for the better for teachers and their families.

Romney and Paul Ryan have also not been shy about the deep cuts they plan to impose on 62 percent of low-income and working-class Americans. It is an austerity plan of epic proportion that not only threatens to cause another "recession or depression," in Mr. Romney's own words, but will be used to fund massive tax cuts for millionaires, further expanding the income inequality gap in America.

The severely conservative side of Mitt Romney is likely to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade, making abortion illegal in America for the first time in four decades. Most women would not consider that change for the better.

Reproductive rights are an economic issue for most women. Pregnancy means more than giving birth. It means lost days from work, paying for day care and all the other expenses associated with raising a child.

Romney would also like to take health insurance away from about 40 million Americans currently covered by Obamacare, which he promises to repeal. That is not change for the better for those people.

Seniors in nursing homes will also find a Romney administration change for the worse. In the Romney, Ryan budget, Medicaid, which pays for long term care, would be sent to states in the form of block grants with considerably lower federal funding.

Romney has said he will preserve Medicare for current seniors, but turn it into a voucher program for everyone under 55 years of age. For people who are nearing middle age, stripping away the government guarantee for health care and adding up to $6,000 in out-of-pocket premium costs is not change for the better for them.

Few would deny that Mitt Romney represents radical change to the American way of life. What we know of Romney-change involves dramatic cuts to safety net programs, education, housing and food assistance for the poor, environmental protection, and financial deregulation.

The rest of Romney's plan for America involves everchanging positions on the issues, and secret plans he does not dare reveal until after the election.

Like his tax returns from the Bain Capital years, there are nagging questions about what Romney really trying to hide.

Yes, Romney-change is real. Is it change for the better?

That depends on how much money you have.

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