Election 2012: Why It Matters To College Students

This November matters. It really matters; especially to college students. We as a nation stand with two options that are highly polarized, perhaps more so than ever before. This is the election that decides whether America truly believes in Obama’s promises or wants to take a chance with Romney. Should Romney win, his administration will fight to repeal scores of legislation Obama passed; primarily focusing on Obama’s health care act dubbed “ObamaCare”. If Obama wins on the other hand, his bills and laws will be able to fully come into effect and he’ll be able to continue fighting for future legislation. While the election of one of these men is indeed important for all Americans, and likely the world, it has a particularly important meaning for college students. It decides their future.

First, the principal reason why this election matters so much for college students is that both Obama and Romney are concerned with passing long term legislation.”ObamaCare” is an excellent example of this. This program is currently being introduced in phases and will be finished releasing by 2016. This bill has far flung implications and will uniquely effect college students because they will be the first generation that has to spend their adult life with universal health care. They will be the generation that pays the taxes to heal their ailing elders and fellow man, even more so than current taxpayers do with MediCare or MediCaid. What’s more interesting may be the legal ramifications of the recent Supreme Court case that upheld the majority of the health care bill.

Also passed under Obama is the National Defense Authorization Act which allows for the indefinite detention of supposed terrorists, even if they’re American citizens. Romney on the other hand wants to nearly reverse everything Obama has done during his term, and is focused heavily on the economy. Romney wants to both lower the deficit, 14 trillion dollars and counting , while simultaneously lowering taxes across the board. While this seems like an improbable accomplishment, Romney has proven himself an apt businessman over his career in management consulting at Bain Capital. Of course, Romney on top of changing America’s economy also wants to repeal the “ObamaCare” act. Again, Romney’s intents will have far flung effects on college students down the line. Rather than allowing jobs to be created in the health care sector by the health care bill, jobs will open in different sectors under Romney’s plans, assuming Romney’s business prowess translates to economic management skill. However, under Romney it’s likely that the taxes that would have been raised to accommodate the new health care will not be enacted on college students, adding another facet to the argument.

These are only a few aspects of the upcoming election. Foreign policy, military action, education, and many more issues make up the complicated decision that college students must make this November. There is no other group alive that will be quite as affected by “ObamaCare” or Romney’s Economics. College students have their whole future to stake on the policies either of these men initiate. When a college student enters the voting booth, will he or she have evaluated the pros and cons of each candidate? Will this college student compare them against their own beliefs and try to discern which is the wisest decision? Hopefully they will. It is America’s college youth who account for a quarter of the voting populace, but is America’s college youth that have the most to gain by voting- and the most to lose by not.