Never Stop Adventuring: Why the 2012 Election Matters

A casual conversation with a friend at my campus center’s Wendy’s began with our mutual laughter about what an idiot clown Mitt Romney is and how if we voted for him, we might as well be holding the scissors that cut our education. Then I asked “Who are you voting for?” and he said “To be honest, neither. I mean, Romney is pretty terrible but Obama hasn’t really done much lately to mobilize the left. It’s like he’s always playing the defense but nothing really ever gets done because the democrats are so busy trying to stop Republicans from passing stupid laws.” This led me to ponder the wisdom of this statement. Well, can we really fault Obama?

I don’t believe this is a cut a dry question. On the one hand, Obama didn’t live up to his 2008 campaign promises. But who does? No politician ever has, last I checked. On the other, it seems like the Republicans have been blocking every attempt any Democrat or Independent has made at meaningful reforms with deafening cries of “we can’t afford that”. Yet, for some silly reason, we can afford to be in wars all over the world while our own people get shafted by giant corporations who exploit domestic and foreign labor. Whenever a war is mentioned, no matter how useless or pointless it is, you will never hear the Republicans say “we can’t afford that”.

The “we can’t afford that” excuse is convenient for Republicans because it makes them look less like assholes and more like everyday people who have to actually budget their household expenses. However, the “we can’t afford that” line is merely smoke and mirrors to mask the fact that these people plan on turning us into a third world country. Think about it. According to them, we can’t afford:

1. Universal healthcare - Never mind the fact that this would actually save the country millions, if not billions of dollars that is currently going into giant health insurance monopolies who are actually committing fraud while millions die of preventable illnesses.

2. Planned Parenthood – Only 2% of their services are for abortion. You can thank them for keeping preventable STDs from spreading and for making hormonal birth control affordable to poor women who otherwise might be forced into unplanned pregnancies, which would simply cost the taxpayers more money.

3. Affordable higher education – During a time when people need college degrees to work at Subway, Republicans think it’s a good idea to cut Pell Grants, further disenfranchising those who are struggling to meet the Private Sector’s ridiculous educational requirements for even the most basic of jobs.

4. Food Stamps – Though food prices are skyrocketing and food insecurity is at an all-time high.

Yet, at the same time we could afford the above if we:

1. Raised taxes on multinational corporations (who are quickly becoming the death of this nation)

2. Cut the overinflated war budget

On a similar note, I think this country is in a sad state of affairs when stupid hipster trolls blow up your Facebook page and threaten you for daring to declare autonomy of your own body.