Romney our best hope for Ike-like peace and prosperity

◼ link - Kevin Ferris/Phildaelphia Inquirer

"Dwight Eisenhower was a profoundly conservative man, dedicated to the conviction that government served society best by safeguarding the individualism of the governed and allowing maximum liberty within those limits," Newton writes. "His 'middle way' . . . explicitly rejected the notion that government should control the lives of citizens or eliminate all fear or want. But he also stood firmly apart from those who would, as a matter of principle, reject the useful services of a government that could advance the economy or protect its people."

On foreign policy, Eisenhower was equally independent. He rejected French pleas to intervene in Vietnam. He stood with Egypt against allies Britain, France, and Israel during the Suez crisis. He overruled advisers who advocated for tactically deployable nuclear weapons.

Clearly, it was not a crisis-free decade, and Eisenhower received his share of criticism, especially in his handling of civil rights and McCarthyism. The point, though, is that the relative peace and prosperity that prevailed was no accident. It took leadership.

Similarly, if Mitt Romney is elected president Tuesday, he won't cure our addiction to crisis. But he's the best bet for putting us on the road to recovery.