I’m voting for Barack Obama because our economy is improving, gaining an average of 170,000 jobs per month, according to a November Washington Post article. I see no reason to gamble this on former governor Mitt Romney’s mysterious tax plan: a plan that promises a 20 percent tax cut for everyone and fails to explain where that money will come from.

As if that isn’t enough, I support President Obama because of his vision for immigration and health care.

First, we have an incredible number of young people who, despite living in America their entire lives, lack basic American rights because they were brought here as children. According to the Immigration Policy Center, 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school every year without the prospect of higher education, work or military service. It’s reprehensible that you can grow up in America and live under the threat of deportation.

That’s why Obama supported the DREAM Act, which would make up to 223,000 of those 2.1 million young people who have lived in American their entire lives eligible to become citizens through going to college or serving in the military, according to USA Today.

And although the act hasn’t made it through Congress, in June, the Obama administration introduced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows those who qualify for the DREAM Act to work and go to school without the fear of being deported, according to the Huffi ngton Post.

On the other hand, Romney’s immigration plan consists of building a high-tech fence along the border to keep people out, an idea that would be funny if it wasn’t so post-apocalyptic. He opposes the DREAM Act because he thinks it will encourage illegal immigration. However, he ignores the fact

that the DREAM Act only applies to young people currently in the U.S., not future generations.

Second, I support the Affordable Care Act because I believe everyone has the right to health care. The act, major provisions of which won’t go into effect until 2014, lowers the cost of health insurance for most Americans, keeps companies from denying people for pre-existing conditions, and, according to the most 2010 fi ndings of the Congressional Budget Offi ce (CBO), a nonpartisan federal agency, the act will decrease the federal defi cit by $124 billion over the next 10 years, according to politifact.com.

Romney has promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act. When Republicans offered a bill to repeal the act in February, the CBO said that would increase the budget by $210 billion in ten years. And although Romney claims his health care plan would stop insurance companies from denying those with pre-existing conditions, his plan only covers pre-existing conditions for those who have maintained coverage with another insurance company. That’s a fancy way of saying it doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions.

So, I’m voting for Obama because not only is it the safe choice for the economy, but also because it’s the compassionate one.

Barack Obama

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Perspective8 Tuesday, November 6, 2012 ★ NorthernStar.info Managing Editor: Leah Spagnoli ★ 815-753-0117

Troy Doetch Columnist

Poin

t

Counterpoint: Race to the White House

Colin Leavitt | Northern Star

Mitt Romney

First of all, Romney holds a joint Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Harvard University. And despite scrutiny, his development of Bain Capital has lead to a very successful business, demonstrating that he has the business experience a president should.

According to TheGazette.com, “[Romney] negotiated balanced budgets and tripled the reserve fund as governor of Massachusetts, where he worked with a legislature of more than 80 percent Democrats.” This is the kind of bipartisanship the White House needs.

His fi rst and foremost goal for America is to get people back to work. He has demonstrated this in the explanation of his fi ve-point plan, which includes the development of fossil fuels and reducing the defi cit through budget reductions and not taxes.

Romney is a charitable man, according to newsmax.com, in 1995, Romney heard about the Nixons, a family with sons who became

paraplegic following a car wreck.Romney, with his wife and sons, went to

their house on Christmas Eve, bringing gifts for the handicapped boys. He offered to put them through college and supported them through numerous fundraisers.

Most importantly, he cares about this country and the people in it.

Romney said it best when he stated that, “We also believe in maintaining for individuals the right to pursue their dreams, and not to have the government substitute itself for the rights of free individuals. And what we’re seeing right now is, in my view is a trickle-down government approach which has government thinking it can do a better job than free people pursuing their dreams. And it’s not working.”

Let me paint a picture for you: Gas is $1.84 per gallon on average in the U.S. Unemployment is at 7.8 percent. The national debt is $10.6 trillion.

This is what the stats were when George W. Bush left offi ce on Jan. 20, 2009.

Now? As of Oct. 29, gas averages $3.57 per gallon. Unemployment is at 7.9 percent. The national debt is $16.2 trillion. And a record 46 million people are on Food Stamps.

Except that when you include those who are working part-time but seeking full-time work and those who have given up looking for work, the true unemployment rate is 14.6 percent.

Romney may have “binders full of women,” but his record of hiring women is better than Obama’s.

In fact, in Obama’s Administration, “female employees earn a median salary of $60,000, roughly 18 percent less than men, whose median salary is $71,000,” according to an October article from The Washington Times.

Finally, we can point out the massive push for the Affordable Care Act. While we can debate all day if we agree with it or not, the point is that the economy took a backseat in priorities.

Obama said in 2009 that he was “pledging to cut the defi cit we inherited in half by the end of [his] fi rst term in offi ce” and that if he didn’t “have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”

Let’s hold him to his word.

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