By Rylee Mathis & Jolyn Garcia Posted October 3, 2012
With election day November 6, closely approaching we see more of these two important figures on the news, on our computer screens, or between our favorite television shows. One place we do not see these important men displayed, is in our community. Laura Mercado stated that “you don’t see as many posters as the last election. I think it has to do with people being very tired of the government, tired of Congress not getting anything done in the last couple years, just tired of the negativity and I don’t think that our politicians realize that yet.”
The candidates, we all know them, are President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Two other candidates on the Nevada ballot, but who stay mostly out of the spotlight, are Libertarian Gary Johnson and Independent American Virgil Goode. Many of us probably don’t care or understand enough to pay attention to this race. The reality is that we should, this race determines who will lead our country for the next four years.
This year being a voter in Nevada is highly important because Nevada is known as a swing state. A swing state is a state that is neither for the Republican party nor the Democratic party in the election. This means that Nevada plays a major role in deciding who the next President will be. Nevada has six electoral votes, making it one of the least populated states compared to the other seven swing states.
Mrs. Laura Mercado thinks that Nevada’s status as a swing state is “fabulous for Nevada because, without Nevada’s status as a swing state we don’t get the presidential candidates coming, we don’t get the vice-presidential candidates coming to town.”
Both Obama and Romney have been giving speeches to the public trying to get their point across. Obama also had first lady Michelle and vice president Biden speaking on his behalf.
On September 6, Joe Biden appeared on MSNBC along with other networks to talk about and on behalf of President Obama to the American people. He discussed the takedown of Osama Bin Laden and the depression we were about to fall into before he was elected.
The previous day, September 5th, the First Lady stood in front of an equally large crowd to talk about her husband and what he’s promising to do for our country.
“This man has courage in his heart,” said Biden. He also made a point to talk about the auto industry still up and running. He believes that it is the people of America that keep this country running strong. He continued to insinuate that Romney doesn’t have the courage to make tough decisions for this country.
Biden mentioned the term “the average American” several times although he never actually defined what he meant. The meaning of average in this country has changed drastically over the years. Most people would just assume he was referring to the middle class.
Mitt Romney has a “Five Point plan for a stronger middle class”. According to mittromney.com, this plan will focus on five points: opening up markets that will work for Americans, making sure that Americans have the skills needed to succeed, building energy independence, “cutting the deficit, and championing small businesses.”
Obama plans to bring jobs back to America according to Biden. He also said Obama will “promote the private sector, not the privileged sector.”
“Romney is betting against the American people,” Biden claims. Romney also wants to take certain rights away from women everywhere, he wants to get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood, wants to raise taxes for the middle class, and change Medicare to “voucher care” according to Biden.
“We’re on our way,” Biden exclaimed multiple times, but some people might be wondering, on our way to what?
The young people of this country who are old enough to vote should take full advantage of that right. After all, they are deciding the future of our country. Seniors at Lowry aren’t exactly making it a point to follow the election, but the ones who are, are having a hard time choosing a side.
“I don’t like Mitt Romney’s plan,” said senior Ransom Mathis. He was referring to Romney’s plan to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood and take away women’s rights.
Mathis continued, “I don’t like how he’s planning to cut funding for Planned Parenthood for all the girls who are actually getting free birth control from them.”
According to FoxNews.com, Romney confirmed his claims to cut all federal funding for Planned Parenthood around the country if he were elected. Apparently, the corporation is borrowing money from China to pay for itself. He also wants to eliminate things like Amtrak, National Endowments for the Arts and National Endowments for Humanities. “Both excellent programs but we just can’t afford to borrow money to pay for those things,” said Romney.
The Democratic National Committee made a point to jump on Romney about this issue. What most people don’t know is that Planned Parenthood only gets 0.01% of the federal budget. Romney predicts that as a country we could save $300 million by cutting the Title X Family Planning funding.
Some are questioning Romney’s plans and loyalty to this country as his vision was much different while he was running for governor of Massachusetts in 2002. Women around the country have said in many TV commercials that Romney is “out of touch” and it’s “a scary time to be a woman.”
Even though most high school students at Lowry aren’t necessarily following the election, they’re definitely talking and hearing about it. They are aware that Obama’s plan is pretty much the opposite of Mitt Romney’s and they know some of the questionable things Romney is vowing to do.
“I think that’s a terrible idea,” said sophomore Charlea Ray referring to the job outsourcing. Outsourcing jobs is sending American jobs overseas. That means less work in our country when we need it most. Obama plans to keep jobs here if he’s reelected.
“If I had to vote, life or death situation, it would be Obama. But otherwise, no, I wouldn’t vote for either,” said Ray.
Christy Bell, Lowry’s nurse, has only positive things to say about Mitt Romney.
“I like his ideas better than I like Mr. Obama’s,” she said. She continued to say she doesn’t like ObamaCare. ObamaCare to some is a great way to get insurance, that is if you can pay for it. To others, ObamaCare is a longer wait to see a doctor and less time with that doctor than before. According to wtsp.com, it helps children and adults with pre-existing conditions and provides more options for consumers. While this is true, this health care plan will hurt small businesses financially because they are required to offer health care. Some people see this health care law as more of a tax.
According to Bell, things are worse now than before Obama was elected.
“He’s made it continually worse,” said Bell.
According to MittRomney.com, Romney’s plan is to reduce taxes, increase trade, energy production and labor flexibility. He wants to “relinquish power to the states instead of claiming to have the solution to every problem.” It is a plan to get America back to work as opposed to before when the majority of people were struggling to find a decent job. Romney wants to stop borrowing money from China and clear up the uncertainty within small businesses; he wants America to spend within our means. One of his many goals is to bring federal spending below 20 percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by the end of just his first term.
Bell claimed he’s [Obama] blaming all of his faults on the previous president. She compared Obama’s “look what I got into” attitude to herself and the health nurse before her. She hasn’t blamed any of her mistakes on the old nurse. She believes that it’s going to be tough, but Romney will help our country in the long run.
Romney intends to bring his “turnaround philosophy” to Washington. Romney has already done this within the private sector, the Olympics, and state government. Romney believes that stopping ObamaCare could save our country $95 billion. We could also save billions of dollars by privatizing Amtrak, reducing foreign aid, and repealing the Davis-Bacon Act. The Davis-Bacon Act forces the government to pay above-market wages and raising project costs by ten percent. MittRomney.com makes it clear that Romney has what it takes to financially turn this country around.
Bell argued that Obama hasn’t done anything he said he would do for our country. Why trust him this time? He’s going to have to start actually making changes if he wants to get re-elected.
Government teacher, Laura Mercado, stated that Congress is “really hampering anything happening, anything getting done because well it’s all fine and dandy to say the president is going to do this, this, and this, it’s Congress that has to pass the laws.”
In these next four years, a change that Mercado hopes to see isn’t just with the president. “I’m not sure that what I want to see changed is necessarily presidential, but more Congress, that things have to start getting done.”
Over the years politicians have seemed to have forgotten a vital part of a democracy, Mercado continued, “We teach in our government classes that compromise is something that is necessary for a democracy to work, and I think our politicians lost sight of that.”
“The national debt is atrocious,” said Mercado on the result of our economic problems. “Everyone agrees the national debt is atrocious, just no one wants to make the tough choices to fix it because you can’t have it all. And as a society, we want to have it all.”
It’s no secret to Americans that our country isn’t in the best shape. The damage is mostly financial, but there are plenty of other problems that need to be addressed. Whether Romney get’s elected or Obama gets re-elected, the country expects a lot from these two leaders.
