We’re back, collegiettes! As promised, we’re here with all of the latest on the election. This week, we’re laying out the candidates’ plans for you. No political theory like last week (although we hope you enjoyed that too!) This week it’s straight policy, with the proposals of the candidates for the future, as well as a little of what they’ve done in the past.
Once again, thanks to Dr. Shannon Scotece (as well as the websites of the candidates), for help with the information for part two of HC Pitt’s election series!
Size of Government
For Mitt Romney, and his VP Paul Ryan, the size of government relates back to their approach to the budget. They want to cut government spending so that the budget of the United States is balanced. They want to make this concrete by passing the Balanced Budget Amendment, which will not allow the government to put out more than is brought in via taxes. The government needs to become less involved by spending less money. With this plan, their bottom line is the creation of jobs. They say that Obama’s job increase is not enough.
Barack Obama agrees that the budget needs to be balanced, but he wants to achieve it in a different way. Instead of cutting government spending on social programs, we should cut it in the area of defense spending. In addition, the government needs to increase its revenue, instead of decreasing its spending. This revenue will come from higher taxes on the rich. The government needs to become more involved, not less. As far as job growth, Obama has a pretty good track record: 31 consecutive months of job growth and 5.2 million new jobs since he took office. (1)
Taxes
The previous discussion leads directly to the topic of taxes. Romney would like to cut taxes, therefore decreasing revenue, and leading to a cut in social programs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Obama wants to end tax cuts for the rich, therefore increasing revenue and increasing the money that flows from the government into social programs.
Social Issues
Although Romney has stated that he is more pro-choice than the party he is a part of, he would be required to try to pass pro-life legislation once in office in order to please the people that voted him into office. Put more simply, even though Romney is personally pro-choice, in office he would be pro-life, except in the cases of rape, incest or if life of the mother is in danger, according to Romney’s Vice President, Paul Ryan, in the recent debate. Romney is also anti-gay marriage, and wants to create an amendment to the Constitution making it illegal nationally. (2)
Obama is pro-choice, and has been attacked for his health care bill funding abortion with government money. However, these attacks were unwarranted, and there is no such funding for abortion in his health care bill. Obama is pro-gay marriage, and wants to work toward making it legal in all states. He also repealed the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Bill, which had prohibited openly gay men and women from serving in the military.
Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy hasn’t been much of a hot topic of this year’s election, seeing as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are coming to a close. Neither president has much foreign policy background, but Obama’s VP Joe Biden has extensive experience from his time in the Senate.
Just know that Barack Obama has been criticized for his lack of effort in ending the peace conflicts in the Middle East, but praised for starting to bring the troops home from Afghanistan and for orchestrating the assassination of Osama bin Laden, the man behind the 9/11 attacks that devastated the U.S. Romney believes that the withdrawal of troops should stop until further evaluation of the situation takes place; we need to be sure that the country is stable and the Taliban is gone before we leave the country for good. (3)
Looking toward the future, keep in mind that Obama will tend to favor those more diplomatic actions of the Democratic Party, while Romney will favor the more hands-on approaches of the Republican Party.
Education
Education has two subsections: K-12 and higher education (or put simply, college).
For K-12, both candidates want to reform No Child Left Behind, but in very different ways. This 2001 bill gives schools restrictive guidelines and goals that they must reach if they want funding. Many criticize that the bill forces teachers to “teach to the test.” For anyone who went to a PA public high school, this bill was the reason you took the PSSAs.
Obama thinks this bill is too “one-size-fits-all,” and is in the process of reforming it by making it more local, allowing individual states to create their own plans. He does not like the standardized testing component of the bill.(4) Romney, on the other hand, wants to reform the bill to make schools more responsible for those standardized test scores than they already are.(5) He has said in the past that he likes these blanket tests in all schools across the nation, and wants to keep them there. (6)
In higher education, the main concern is student loans. Obama has kept the interest rates on government loans from doubling while he’s been in office, and wants to continue to reform the system so that everyone has the opportunity to attend college.(4) Romney believes that the number of student loans the government provides is increasing the deficit and leaving graduates with debt that they are unable to pay off. He wants to reform the system in a way that will make student loans less accessible so as to lower the national debt. (5)
Health Care
Obama passed a national health care bill during his past four years in office, an achievement that Democrats have been trying to attain for decades. In this bill, there is an individual mandate – this means that every person is required to buy health care, whether they want to or not. It also forbids health care companies from denying individuals with expensive pre-existing conditions, which is a medical problem the person already had before buying health care. The conditions can range anywhere from asthma to cancer, and make it extremely difficult for millions of citizens to get health care. In addition, young adults are allowed to stay on their parents’ health care until age 26.
Mitt Romney has a huge problem with this bill, and plans to work to repeal it immediately. His largest problems with the bill are the individual mandate – Americans should not be forced to purchase health insurance – as well as the cost of the program.
Summary
So there it is – the candidates broken down by their policies. Have you found one that you identify with? If not, don’t worry. There’s still three weeks until the election and lots more information coming your way via HC Pitt. Check back next week for our final segment, where we’ll break down what these policies mean for YOU. Until then, keep checking their websites and watching those debates – we expect you to be ready on November 6th!
Sources
Interview with Dr. Shannon Scotece
http://www.barackobama.com/economy?source=primary-nav
http://www.mittromney.com/issues/values
http://www.mittromney.com/issues/afghanistan-pakistan
http://www.barackobama.com/education?source=primary-nav
http://www.mittromney.com/issues/education
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/23/mitt-romney-paul-ryan-education…
Picture Credit
http://gigaom.com/video/presidential-debate-live-stream/
http://www.nytexaminer.com/2012/09/the-u-s-presidential-election-do-fact…