To the Editor:

The first presidential debate underscored one thing — what does Romney intend to do when campaign rhetoric must be turned into policy? He certainly gave us no clues. We all know that the economy has severely suffered since 2008 when the reckless practices of the financial industry drove us to the cliff of another depression. We all know that our health care system is broken. We all know that the tax code needs reform. We all know that tax cuts for the wealthy and the gall of George W. Bush to fight two wars on the national credit card have created unsustainable deficits.

But what we don’t know is what Mr. Romney will do about these problems beyond the heavily rehearsed rhetoric he spun out before the American people.

If Mitt Romney really cares about the middle class, why won’t he tell us how he is going to narrow the gap between the haves and the have nots beyond the fairy tale of “trickle down economics” that proved unsuccessful under both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush? How is he going to make health care accessible and affordable to most Americans without the mechanism he put in place when he was governor of Massachusetts? What loopholes in the tax code are going to be closed to miraculously create a balanced budget? And do those loopholes include closing some of the more glaring examples of corporate welfare? Is he really going to pursue $2 trillion more money for the Pentagon to maintain an army based on the strategy of the Cold War that ended in 1989?

The list goes on. How is he going to strengthen American education by cutting the teachers, prepare for future energy demands while concentrating solely on fossil fuels? How is he going to create all those promised jobs by giving us nothing more specific than the specious argument that he is a businessman who knows how to manage a business. Mr. Romney, the global economy is a much more complex organism than a business bought out by Bain Capital.

This is a crucial election in American history. As citizens we are going to have to live with the results. We need specifics.

Suzanne Thomas

Franklin