For the peace of the world, it is essential that the United States remain a world power, said former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney on Saturday at the California Republican Party Convention in Anaheim.

“The best ally peace has ever known and will know is a strong America,” he said.

Citing the rise of China and Russia, Romney said that the United States must take a “course correction on a number of dimensions” in order to hold its place as a world power. He said that having a strong military is not enough, and that the country must also maintain a strong economy.

“You can’t have a tier one military and a tier two economy,” he said.

He said the U.S. government needs to cut down spending on “entitlement programs,” especially mentioning health care, which he said would only get more expensive if Sen. Barack Obama is elected.

“I want to have a president that will take a chainsaw to out of control government spending,” he said. “If you think health care is expensive now, wait till it’s free.”

Romney staunchly supported the Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, saying he will make the country stronger and that his patriotism has been tested “time and time again.” In contrast, he said that Obama will weaken the country despite his “good intentions.”

Romney touched on energy issues, saying that though alternative energy such as wind, solar and hydropower is important, it is more realistic to focus on nuclear and clean coal. He called talks that only focus on the former as “dishonest.”

Steve Poizner, California insurance commissioner and possible 2010 candidate for governor, spoke before Romney and said the recent government bailout of A.I.G. is one of his biggest concerns, as it is the largest insurance group in California.

“I will not let the Fed or anyone else pilfer subsidies out of AIG or anyone else,” he said

He also called for reform within the state, calling Sacramento the only place in the country more “dysfunctional” than Washington, D.C.