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(10/26/12 5:58am)
In less than two weeks Americans across the country will visit the polls to determine the winner of the presidential race. But you will not find either major party candidate campaigning in South Carolina any time soon. This is because the election will be determined by a handful of swing states the candidates need to get to 270 electoral votes. If you live in a state that has already been ceded to either side, then your vote doesn’t count nearly as much as someone’s in a toss-up state. This is why we need to reform presidential voting procedures and start by removing the antiquated Electoral College.
(10/12/12 6:26am)
Mitt Romney, by almost all accounts, won the presidential debate last week to revive a campaign that seemed dead in the water at the end of last month. But he has taken heat for a comment to the Des Moines Register about abortion that contradicts a pledge he made during the primaries to fight for anti-abortion legislation. This is normal for Romney, who has demonstrated a clear penchant for changing his views on just about any subject arbitrarily. And while he is hardly the first politician to be labeled a flip-flopper, and he will not be the last, the remarkable inconsistency of Romney’s views has been downright mind–boggling. Earlier this week Romney gave a speech titled “The Mantle of Leadership” to lay out his current vision for foreign policy. In that speech, which featured him using hilariously delusional American exceptionalism as a case for returning to the interventionist policies that left the U.S. trillions of dollars in debt and mired in an unwinnable war, Romney managed to contradict multiple previously stated views. The biggest of these was his promise that he would recommit America to ensuring a peaceful agreement between Palestinians and Israelis. That would mean a lot more if Romney had not said he would “kick the can down the road” on those negotiations in the now infamous “47 percent” video. He has stuck by his declaration that he would increase defense spending but this vow clearly contradicts his insistence upon limiting the scope of government once elected.In last week’s debate Romney had multiple reversals. He claimed his tax plan would not cut taxes for the wealthy even though the tax plan he released in February called for a 20-percent cut across the board, including a rate reduction in the top bracket from 35 percent to 28 percent. He has claimed eliminating loopholes and deductions will mean they pay the same effective rate, but a look at tax data shows top earners don’t use enough loopholes to make that true. Romney also claimed his plan for health care would include covering pre-existing conditions, even though he had previously stated the health care system “doesn’t work that way.”“Politician” has always been synonymous with “liar” in my mind, because it is virtually impossible for any politician to even remember all of the things they promise constituents in order to get elected, let alone do them. But there has to be a line somewhere, and Romney clearly has crossed it. He has, at some point, switched his position on just about every significant political issue. My life has been very different from Romney’s, and I just don’t share many of his current views. But luckily, if his past has taught us anything, it’s that those views will change.
(10/05/12 5:23am)
Wednesday night’s presidential debate was an interesting look at the stances and thought processes of both candidates. The focus was on domestic issues and more specifically the economy. In the first section of the debate, Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama both talked about different things that could be cut from the federal budget, and Romney specifically mentioned public broadcasting. That reminded me of this summer when Gov. Nikki Haley made headlines by cutting funding to the state’s Arts Commission. Haley was overridden by the state legislature and the Arts Commission did get its funding, but it is clear she and Romney don’t find these types of programs to be worthy of government support. Contrary to their beliefs, preserving the arts and providing access to informative programming are important and deserve government funding.The Arts Commission has many valuable functions. Its goal is to ensure that every South Carolinian benefits from the broad range of arts. It accomplishes this by providing grants and fighting to keep arts in school curriculums. It also provides support for the “creative sector,” which in South Carolina creates $9 billion a year and encompasses 78,000 jobs. They also help make the city more modern and attractive to outsiders. Arts activities are big draws, and the Nickelodeon Theatre and the South Carolina State Museum are two examples of that. A strong arts community helps our state become much more competitive nationally.In a similar way, public broadcasting is also necessary. It provides exposure for important things that would never make it on to for-profit television, like “POV,” which showcases independent point-of-view documentaries. I still attribute at least a quarter of my science knowledge to episodes of “The Magic School Bus,” which was presented through South Carolina’s own SCETV network. National Public Radio, which also falls under the broad umbrella of public broadcasting, provides informative and unbiased reporting on important issues. What cannot be understated is the impact these programs have on people. Our $16 trillion national debt has politicians searching everywhere for a program to cut, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are plenty of examples of government waste out there, but support for programs like public broadcasting and the Arts Commission are anything but waste. While both do receive funding from other sources, it is important the federal as well as state governments demonstrate a willingness to support programs that preserve our culture and help educate and inform our citizens. In any case, the amounts of money these programs get are such small proportions of the total budgets that it doesn’t help much. Investment in the arts and public broadcasting is an investment in human capital and our future.
(09/28/12 5:35am)
Politics have always been dirty business, and this election has been no different. We have seen attacks from both sides that may have crossed a line, none more interesting than Mitt Romney’s stance on welfare. In his much maligned “47 percent” remarks, Romney essentially wrote off half of the country as degenerate freeloaders, victims dependent on government assistance. Though he admitted they were “not elegantly stated”, Romney never actually apologized for his comments and stands by his assertion that President Barack Obama has made the country reliant on government handouts. He also has continued to claim in ads that Obama has attempted to ease up work requirements on welfare, even though that claim has been thoroughly debunked. But as is the case with so many politicians, Romney’s rhetoric on the subject doesn’t really match up with his record.