I received this email from a person who knows Mitt pretty well. To me it epitomizes why he is so ready to lead, way beyond any other candidate in the field.

Said the Dutch jurist, philosopher and playwright Hugo de Groot,


“A man cannot govern a nation if he cannot govern a city; he cannot govern a city if he cannot govern a family; he cannot govern a family unless he can govern himself; and he cannot govern himself unless his passions are subject to reason”

Knowing the heart of Mitt Romney as I do, I believe that he passes the de Groot test with flying colors.



Hugo Grotius or Huig de Groot, or Hugo de Groot; (Delft, 10 April 1583 – Rostock, 28 August 1645) worked as a jurist in the Dutch Republic and laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law. He was also a philosopher, Christian apologist, playwright, and poet. Link

I have made the case here in the comments section before that no one is truly objective. We all have our paradigms we must work in. Yet, one character trait of Mitt is that he truly strives to approach everything he can in a dispassionate objective manner. I am sure he has his preconceived opinions of things, as we all do, but no one can doubt his ability to put away the passions and see the whole picture, giving equal time all thought and view points.

In truth we don't need someone who bases policy on the emotions of populism or the emotional wreckage of past experiences. What we do need is someone who can turn data into the right results. Passions and emotions are good, but as de Groot says, they should be subject to reason.