Who Will You Vote For?

Are you planning to vote in November? I truly hope you do. More so, I hope you vote with confidence & an accurate picture of who you're voting for. These days, nobody can turn on the tv, radio, or even Pandora without hearing all these political ads. We all know the election is coming up, but what we all might not know is exactly what these politicians stand for. We listen to these commercials, but each one seems contradictory & exaggerated. One says Mitt Romney will raise taxes, the next says Obamacare will cause a rise in taxes. One says Romney is going to outlaw birth control, the next says Obama kills cats for fun (okay I may have made that up). But seriously, please don't use political commercials as a source for choosing how to vote. So how do you know who to vote for?

Good question. And honestly, I'm still undecided as to how I will vote, even after the time I spent writing this blog.  After many days of research & exploring the vast world of the Internet, I've come up with each major candidate's viewpoints (sorry to all those 3rd party candidates out there). These are what I consider to be the main things I am concerned about this election. I left out things like Immigration, Gun Control, Energy & the Environment, & Foreign Policy. These are all important as well, but my brain hurts from collecting just this information. I really am trying to be unbiased, & I tried to use websites that were (at least read them in an unbiased way), but please feel free to tell me where I'm wrong or complain about my inaccuracies in the comments section. Hey, it's politics- if you can't take some criticism, get out! 

  Taxes    
~Obama: 
-Individuals: Tax the wealthy between 30-39.6%, raise taxes on capital gains & dividends for the wealthy while reducing their available tax deductions, tax the highest-value insurance plans
-Businesses: Reduce corporate tax rate to 28%, tax a corporation's foreign profits, offer businesses a tax credit to move operations to the US, no deductions for businesses that shift operations abroad
~Romney: 
-Individuals: Tax the wealthy approx 28%, the poorest at 8%, reflecting a 20% cut for all Americans in their current marginal tax rate, eliminate taxes on interest, dividends & capital gains (only if you earn less than $200,000/year), eliminate the death tax
-Businesses: Reduce corporate income tax rate to 25%
*The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has expressed doubt that Romney's plan can all be done at once (think: adjustments may have to be made in his policy to actually be implemented- but isn't that true across the board for both candidates?)

"Tax experts say the US budget deficit can't be fixed solely by taxing the rich more, but that doing so could put a meaningful dent in the red ink." 

 
  Jobs & Economy  
~Obama: Invest more federal funds into unemployment benefits, advance & promote public jobs like teachers, construction workers, police, small businesses, auto industry workers, & manufacturing (offering federal loans seems to be his way of investing in these areas), tax penalties for companies that outsource jobs, raise minimum wage (said that last campaign but nothing has happened yet)
~Romney: Less government involvement in job sector, offer automatic permanent residency to graduates with advanced degrees in math, science & engineering, develop more international trade deals (open new trade markets for American goods & services), crack down on fair trade with China (make it work for US), reduce corporate tax rate to 25%, would not raise minimum wage



   Health Care  
~Obama:  
-Private Insurance: Offer tax credits to individuals to supplement the cost of premiums (beginning 2014), take away lifetime caps on what insurance companies will pay for someone (they can't just stop paying for treatment when someone reaches a certain dollar limit in their lifetime), free preventative care for all (ex: mammograms, blood pressure tests, childhood immunizations), require all Americans to have some form of health coverage (public or private) & offer federal subsidies to those who cannot afford premiums, not allow insurance companies to deny coverage based on a pre-existing condition (ex: HIV/AIDS)
-Medicare: Offer many of the same free services (preventative care, lower premiums), keep Medicare until at least 2026 (it is going bankrupt)
-Medicaid: Expand the program (for a household of 3, you would qualify if you make $76,000/year or less) 
~Romney:  
-Private Insurance: Allow individual states the power to vote for a health care reform plan for themselves by offering waivers for each state to not participate in Obamacare, allow HSAs to help cover premiums, offer a tax break to those who buy an individual health policy, allow insurance companies to deny coverage based on a pre-existing condition (as they currently can) but only for those who have not maintained continuous coverage (ex: someone with HIV who had no insurance for a time then buys a private policy can be denied coverage)
-Medicare: Implement a "premium support" system, where the government would give seniors a certain amount of money to be used to buy insurance
-Medicaid: Turn much of the federal funding into lump-sum payments (to states to disburse, I'm guessing? Not much info here)
 * Romney's plan claims it will create more competition among private insurance companies to drive down the cost of premiums

Disclaimer: President Obama inherited a $10.6 trillion national debt

   Debt  
~Obama: Cut the deficit $4 trillion in the next 10 years by investing in education, research & technology to strengthen the economy long-term, make the wealthy pay higher taxes, strengthen Medicare & Medicaid by cracking down on fraud (would lead to less government spending in that area), end the wars/involvement in the Middle East & use the savings to reduce the deficit, his plan depends on raising taxes to help pay down the deficit (estimated $1.5 trillion in higher taxes, mostly on wealthy)
-Federal Spending Goal: 22% of GDP, however the last 2 years it's been at about 24%
~Romney: Eliminate $100 million in foreign aid, cap Medicaid spending, opposed to most bailout policies (auto industry, for ex), lower federal employee compensation to be more equal to that of the private sector & reduce the federal workforce (Romney's website states this will save $47 billion), repeal Davis-Bacon act dealing with protecting labor unions (saving $11 billion), privatize Amtrak (saving $1.6 billion), cut arts & humanities subsidies (saving $600 million)
-Federal Spending Goal: Below 20% of GDP (but where will the cuts be? Romeny's plan isn't clear), immediately cut spending by 5% across the board (but again, where from?)




  Abortion & Women's Rights  
~Obama: Pro-choice on abortion, giving women the right to choose, continue to fund Planned Parenthood, require insurance plans to fully cover birth control, breastfeeding supplies, mammograms, prenatal care, domestic violence screenings & certain cancer screenings
~Romney: Pro-life, but through voting each state could determine their own abortion laws, [from what I read both Romney & Ryan allow for exceptions of rape, incest, & threat to the life of the mother, unlike the commercials may tell you], end federal funding for "abortion advocates" like Planned Parenthood, would not require insurance companies to cover contraception 100% [from what I understand, you could still get birth control with a copay, similar to the way many women do now, but it may not be free as it would under Obamacare. It seems Romney isn't opposed to birth control nor does it sound like he would limit access to most forms, just those like the morning after pill or some IUDs that prevent a fertilized egg from implanting, because Romney believes life begins at conception. Sorry if I'm seeming a little biased here, but those commercials [see one here] stating that women's health issues "haven't faced a crisis like this in decades", saying Romney is "dangerous" for women, & that he's going to take away basic healthcare, have just stuck out as absurd to me. Regardless of who I end up voting for, I think these commercials are ridiculous & very dramatic!]



  Education  
Hard to find drastic differences in K-12 education policies, in that both believe education to be very important & would like our students to be smarter...Duh.
~Obama: Allow individual states to create their own plans for educational reform, created "Race for the Top" which awarded states money for implementing programs & policies Obama supports, would increase funding to the US Department of Labor by 2.5%
-Higher Education: Create a tax credit for higher education students worth $10,000 over 4 years, offer more Pell-Grants to lower income students
 

~Romney: Hold high expectations for teachers, accountability for schools (plain speak: standardized tests) & increased parental choice (like charter schools), require schools to make standardized test results public, decrease the size of the US Department of Labor, while governor of Massachusetts Romney defended a requirement that high school seniors had to pass a "rigorous" test in order to graduate
-Higher Education: Work with private sources to offer more financial assistance to students instead of using federal funds, like Pell-Grants (Obama)

  Gay Marriage  
~Obama: Believes same sex couples should be able to get legally married
~Romney: Preserve traditional marriage as a federal policy (one of the few issues Romney doesn't believe should be left up to each state), except in the case of civil unions, where Romney says states should be left to decide what rights & benefits would be allowable under civil unions, would not seek to ban openly gay military members


     If you asked me to summarize (why, thanks for asking), Romney is more about letting individual states decide on many issues, while Obama is more about federal policies (the national government makes a decision & all states follow those policies). 
     Also, Obama would spend more federal money on various programs, but would have to have a way to make more money. In order to spend money, we need revenue, which is typically through higher taxes. 
     Romney would cut federal spending (less federal funds for programs) but lower taxes. Which mindset is right? That's up to you to decide.
      
[Sources:]
Obama website
Romney website
Christian Science Monitor
The Sacramento Bee


So, there you have it. A brief, incomplete, probably inaccurate in places, attempt to summarize the promises of the two main candidates in this year's election. There is so much more to making this decision. We have a responsibility to be informed voters. Please don't use your "gut," or vote strictly based on what political party you belong to, or put your mark next to the guy whose name sounds the best on election day. I encourage you to do your own research, watch the debates (and really listen!), & sort out who you believe to be the best candidate to lead our country for the next four years. It's a cheesy statement, but your vote really does count!

And remember, God is ultimately in control of our country regardless of who is on the "throne" of America. We can take comfort in knowing no matter what's going on in politics, God is our King & has power over all.
"The Lord has established his throne in heaven, & his kingdom rules over all." ~Psalm 103:19