Love It or Leave It.

Obamacare. Some believe it’s the best idea ever conjured in a human brain, others don’t care, and some feel that passing the Affordable Care Act will ruin the United States to the point where they have no choice but to move to Canada. After the Supreme Court recently voted to uphold the majority of the Act, some may be renewing their passports and buying winter coats in preparation for the journey north, but they may want to stop and think…

The title of this editorial alone, “Hate Obamacare? Don’t Worry, Here Are Some CountriesYou Can Move To” by Dan Treadway, caught my attention. I found it ridiculous that someone was actually going to suggest different places to live after the passing of this law. As I read on, I figured out that the title was a sarcastic, harsh remark towards the authors intended audience, opponents of the upholding of Obamacare.

Treadway, an associate blog editor for the Huffington Post, has also written for The Daily Texan, the Texas Travesty and The Onion and won a scholarship for excellence in college journalism and was a finalist in a national essay writing contest, and is also a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada which makes him credible.

The author argues that opponents of the Affordable Care Act may feel that universal health care is not right for our country, but moving to Canada would not be beneficial in avoiding it considering Canada has provided universal healthcare since 1966. He also adds that other countries have poor healthcare, high risks of catching infectious disease, and abuse human rights and compared to America have far worse standards of living. He supports his argument by stating that America “spends much more per capita on health care than any other nation in the world”. Treadway uses biting sarcasm to support his argument declaring “there’s really no reason to suffer through the grave injustice of universal healthcare when there is such a robust sampling of countries that…will happily allow you to not experience Obamacare… many have been plagued by poverty, unemployment and civil war, but how is living in those conditions that different from life under the Obama administration?”

I agree with Treadway’s argument because I believe that no government can please everybody. There are some people that believe that the Affordable Care Act will do good for our nation and some who believe otherwise, and that is the same situation for government issues; there are supporters and naysayers. Compared to countries like Haiti, where there are 25 physicians for every 100,000 people, our country is doing something good by trying to provide everyone with healthcare. This act is meant to try to help people and improve the standard of living for some, so I think we should give it a try. 

"You break it, you own it"

Almost everyone’s been to one of those stores with very expensive items; the stores that only sell things made of glass or those stores that sell old, fragile antiques. I know I have. When I was young, I went into one of those stores with my parents and my younger, hyperactive sister. As we entered, the shopkeeper warned us: “If you break it, you buy it.”

President Obama is using a similar ideology when it comes to addressing the economy. In this article from Time by Jon Meacham, Obama is using the “Pottery Barn Rule” to put the blame on President Bush and Republicans for ruining the economy.

Something that caught my attention in this article was the fact that most Americans agree with the fact that George W. Bush is responsible for the current state of the economy. I would have thought that since there has been a lot of criticism regarding President Obama’s work with the economy, that Americans would blame him for the economy’s current state.

The author’s intended audience was voters and those who are interested in politics. He is credible because, according to his profile on Time, he is the author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, runs a website devoted to current affairs, was an editor for Newsweek, and is an editor-at-large for a PBS station.

Using ethos, Meacham argues that "Americans don't care as much about the past as they do the present and the future" and that the people want a "President that fixes things, not a President that whines about the task at hand". I disagree with the latter of these statements because the economy was at a low when President Bush left office. A copious amount of money was spent on things such as the Iraq War over the course of 8 years. President Obama has been in office for less than 4 years. It is impossible to reverse 8 years worth of damage in less than 4 years. As for the first statement, I also disagree because the past paves the way for the present and the future. Without a past, there is no future. If Americans do not care about the past, that means the do not care about the Constitution that gave American citizens their rights or the wars that have been fought to ensure freedom, which is obviously not true. 

Meacham later proves that he is wrong by providing data from a Gallup poll that shows that Americans blame Bush more than Obama for the economy’s weakness.  He also says something that I totally agree with: we are going to be hearing a lot about Mitt Romney talking about Barack Obama and Barack Obama talking about the “Pottery Barn Rule” until November.

"The Private Sector Is Doing Fine". How These Six Words Started a Riot.

As Economic Concerns Mount, President Obama Says, ‘The Private Sector Is Doing Fine’
http://swampland.time.com/2012/06/08/as-economic-concern-mounts-president-obama-says-the-private-sector-is-doing-fine/

In the article posted above, it's a Friday morning in Washington D.C.; the President has been busy trying to improve the lives of American workers and prevent the European Union's economy from collapsing. He enters the briefing room, a place that isn't unfamiliar to him, and begins to inform his audience of his plans and the tasks that he's currently trying to complete. Somewhere in the middle of this briefing, someone asks President Obama about the current state of the nation's economy and he responded, and somewhere in his response were the words "the private sector is doing fine". Six words. These six words have fueled several arguments and other backlash towards the President. This article is worth reading because it illustrates how a simple statement from the President is being used against him in campaigns for rival Mitt Romney. Something interesting about this article is the way Obama's statement is related to statements made in 2008 by him and his opponent John McCain regarding the economy. This article is relevant to me because there are less than six months until Election Day 2012 and every statement made by the candidates has the potential to change a voters mind. Even though I won't be of legal voting age, I have several friends that will be able to vote. I chose to blog about this article to highlight how cutthroat politics can be. A simple six word statement caused Republicans to produce responses to show the public that he is wrong and have the potential to change a person's mind. 

Me, Politically

Considering I'm too young to vote, most would assume I have no political opinion. The complete opposite is true. I keep up with politics as best as I can because I know that our political leaders have an effect on our lives. Presidents that have influenced my political beliefs include Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Although some of the decisions that these Presidents have made have been poor, I consider these men to be extremely influential. According to the Pew Research Centers News IQ Quiz, I am fairly knowledgeable about current events in politics, outscoring 59% of the public. I would be considered a "New-Democrat" according to the Pew Research Center. I am both Catholic and an environmentalist. I am religious, but not intolerant. I consider myself a liberal and I believe people have the right to do as they please as long as it is moral to them. I believe all Americans, regardless of what their ideologies are, are entitled to equal rights.