I know as a student about to get out into the real world, I’m supposed to have a sunny outlook for the future, but let me go ahead and apologize in advance for saying that that is not the case, and the choices we face this election are to blame.
This election has every indication of being the perfect storm of party meltdowns. With two identical Democrats hell-bent on a venture into socialized medicine and taxing wage earners into oblivion, and a Democrat running as a Republican with a history of being wrong on just about everything in the past eight years there is no doubt that whoever wins, we lose.
Now before you Obama fans get uppity and spill your latte on your new Macbook, you have to come to a realization: Clinton and Obama are the same candidate in different suits. According to the National Journal, of the 267 senate measures that both candidates voted on, they only differed on 10. That figure, broken down into a percentage shows that Clinton and Obama voted differently only 3.75% of the time.
One of the campaign platforms that they do differ on is the means by which they’ll drag the already government-mired health care system even farther into the cesspool of incompetence. And either way, it can only lead to a real crisis.
In one of the only moments the country has ever seen Hillary Clinton be genuine, she came straight out and said that she would “garnish the wages of those who do not wish to comply” with the national healthcare system. In English, this means that regardless of whether you need health insurance, want health insurance, or can even afford health insurance Hillary will make it so the federal government can seize the money you earn to pay for her budget annihilating scheme.
So far, Obama has only hidden behind a wall of generalities saying that “reducing the cost of healthcare” is the goal of his plan. This sounds dandy until that Economics course you took in sophomore year kicks in and reminds you that prices for services in any market don’t just drop because someone in a suit and tie tells them to. Prices drop when the supply of a service outpaces the demand from the public. However, if either candidate’s “fix” is applied, it will artificially and exponentially increase the demand (since the purchase of insurance/plans will be forced it is still considered a demand.) Now, the government can come in and try to place limits on the inevitable rising price, but this can only further limit supply leading to a complete breakdown of the healthcare market (and it is a market). It’s at this point that doctors will probably seek jobs in consulting. So when the Democrats breathlessly preach about “change,” it’s in this direction they want the change to take us.
The Republicans don’t exactly have a stellar lineup either. With the only candidate able to produce a message other than the status quo, Ron Paul, marginalized the party elite are marching the direction of the GOP to the left with the touting of McCain as their front-runner. You don’t have to listen to Rush Limbaugh to realize that the conservative base of the party absolutely detests McCain. Since his loss to Bush in the primaries in 2001, McCain has been doing everything in his power to thwart the administration’s domestic agenda. After grandstanding against the Bush tax cuts, refusing to stop the Democrat filibuster of judicial nominees, and putting forth a bill in congress that was functionally amnesty for illegal immigrants, there's not much room left for McCain to spin that he's anywhere near conservative. McCain even sent advisors to the Democratic Party in 2001 to test the waters for a party switch. McCain cannot win without the conservative base, and instead of trying to deal with it he would rather dismiss them as irrelevant. McCain could easily be Bob Dole, part two.
I’m no conservative, but this election season has completely shut out those of us who favor less government without the religious theocratic spin. And though I’m politically aware, I’m definitely considering voting libertarian or not voting at all this year. And I think this general attitude is far more widespread than the media and candidates would like you to believe.
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