How to Get Mikel Hartsough's Vote: A Young Voter Manifesto

A candidate attempting to become an elected official needs to take a stand on several issues for me to even consider him to have potential. He or she must also be fairly sincere and  speak with unrehearsed rhetoric. A personal issue is the first one that comes to mind, one of the reasons I didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton is her stand against video games. She compared them to tobacco and alcohol, and considered them to be extremely dangerous. A candidate needs to stay away from my music, movies, and videogames. There is already a rating system in place, Hillary just emulated Nancy Reagan to gain some press, not to defend something she believed in. A politician must endorse stem cell research, make no reference to his religion, and regard education as a top priority.  I like a candidate who doesn’t always side with his political party, it shows they care about the issue more than a win for their affiliation.

Then I get to the essentials, I don’t think we should be involved at all in the middle east, our healthcare system still needs to be reformed, and the economy can’t fix itself at this point.  Immigration needs to be regulated more fiercely, I feel that young adults and high-school kids take priority over illegal immigrants in the hard labor job market. Gay marriage is not a high topic of interest to me, but if a candidate is strongly against it I question his priorities. I don’t think that gay marriage should be a high priority in politics, the reason it gets so much attention in this country is because of the religious aspect, and how many religions consider it an abomination, it is not an issue that a government should be concerned with.

Education needs to be regulated more so than it is now, but carefully. Standardized testing can be effective, but not in all scenarios. I believe the ability of a teacher should be judged by their peers and students, not by government and parents. Privatized schools should not receive any kind of federal funding, public schools should take priority over them. The prep school I went to showed no signs of needing funds, the school expanded every year, and tuition increased with its popularity. Granting the school I went to extra funds would not be money well spent. School administrators should be given the same salary as teachers. Lastly when the government deems it necessary to make budget cuts, education should be the last thing that comes to mind.

When a candidate uses devil and god terms to win over an audience, he loses my vote. When the argument comes down to left or right wing agenda, I stop listening. I feel as if too many politicians treat their job as if it’s a win or lose scenario, and don’t concentrate on the people’s best interests.

Mikel Hartsough

Communication Studies 

Wilkes 2013

How to Get Kayla Mattioli's Vote: A Young Voter Manifesto

Economy

In a country with an unemployment rate hovering around 8% and an ever growing deficit problem, it is important for this election to focus primarily on the issue of job creation. I will be graduating from college this year along with thousands of others around the country. I don’t want to work two part-time jobs that have nothing to do with the four years of training I just received.

The candidates from both parties need to have a comprehensive plan for job growth in America. Currently, President Obama has shown support for government programs that would put people to work fixing America’s crumbling infrastructure but is having trouble getting the plan off the ground. The presumed GOP candidate, Governor Mitt Romney, is a firm advocate for private sector job growth. The problem with his plan is that the private sector is not creating jobs. They are not hiring Americans. In fact, most of their employees reside in other countries because it’s cheaper to employ foreign labor because of tax loop holes. Therefore, tax reform and job growth go hand in hand. The corporate tax code needs to be restructured so that big businesses, and the people who own them, pay their fair share. American businesses can be given incentives to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. 

Civil Rights

Equal marriage rights have been an issue hovering around the last few presidential elections. Since 2004, six states have begun allowing same-sex marriages and this year alone California overturned Proposition 8, and Washington, Maryland, and New Jersey have all passed bills to allow same-sex marriages. Unfortunately, and possibly politically, Republican Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie has vetoed the bill. Nonetheless, gay rights are being embraced by the younger generations as homosexuals become more visible in the media. 

Now is the time to discuss it on a National level. President Obama repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and for the first time last year, national support for same-sex marriage rights increased to 53%. Since 2001, ten countries have allowed same-sex marriages including England, Canada, and Argentina. Even Mexico recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other regions. So why is it that America, a country that has always prided itself on freedom for all, can’t seem to get on board and grant this unalienable right of the pursuit of happiness, to a subgroup of citizens? 

I will not vote for a candidate that believes we should move backward in time and deny rights to any American because they are not living their life a certain way. For that reason, I will never vote for Senator Rick Santorum as he has made it clear that he does not believe in basic health related rights for women. The candidates need to remember that they are not campaigning to one group of people. They need to have a more realistic idea of the current state of the country and the wants of the people they are supposed to be representing instead of pushing their personal, moral agendas.

Foreign Policy

Just as the United States has finally had enough of war in the Middle East, a whole mess of things happens in Libya, Syria, and Iran. It almost seems as if the entire world is in turmoil when you add in the economic crisis in both the U.S. and European Union. I am a bit of a pacifist and believe the entire War in Iraq was unnecessary and did more harm than good regarding our relationship with Middle Eastern countries. Not to mention the amount of money poured into a ten year war that, arguably, accomplished very little.

The U.S. needs to do more humanitarian work than military operations in the future if for no other reason that as a PR strategy. By running around policing the rest of the world and trying to impose our ideals on them makes us look like we think we’re better than everyone else. Seeing U.S. military personnel is probably intimidating and with the recent scandals involving U.S. troops desecrating the bodies of deceased Afghans as well as the burning of the Quran by NATO troops, we could use some good PR. In 2008, the U.S. spent only 0.19% of its GDP on foreign aid. That is well below the U.N. target of 0.7% and behind other countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Kayla Mattioli

Communication Studies

Wilkes 2012

A True Patriot: Barack Obama SOTU 2012

President Barack Obama started out his fourth the State of the Union (SOTU) in a smart way: patriotism.  He said the Iraq War was successful and the killing of Osama bin Laden was also included in this section of the speech.  While I agree that finally murdering his assembly was pretty much the greatest take down since Adolf Hitler took down himself, I cannot stand beside the President on his position of the Iraq War.  It’s really not his fault, as he inherited it from President George W. Bush, there is no way he can possibly actually believe it was a success.  There was no way that war could be successful because it wasn’t started for a real reason at all.  It started with a war on weapons of mass destruction.  Then we found out those didn’t exist.  Then it was dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Where the transition was made from WMDs to freedom, the world may never know.  The point is, I think the President was saying what he had to.  It’s not like he could go out and admit losing American soldiers’ lives didn’t end in a successful way so much as just end.  That wouldn’t show confidence and could even be misinterpreted as anti-American.  Which is the last thing he needs.

Next, Obama moved to the American Dream, another move to instill feelings of patriotism and togetherness in the American people.  He wants to bring jobs back to America by stopping offering tax breaks to companies who outsource would-be jobs for Americans.  He called this a restoration of American values.  That was smart.  It makes people think of moving jobs overseas as not only irresponsible, but as a move specifically against America.  Which, yeah, it pretty much is.  That inference is accurate.  To move our economic potential somewhere else is a very me-centric way of thinking.  Based on the way the American economy has been heading these last 10 years or so, that’s not working out so great.

On the same lines, Obama said he wants to become more energy independent as well as for more United States markets to go international with their products; investigate unfair trading in China; and train more Americans in a specific trade.  All of these ideas can be said in sum by using just three words: jobs, jobs, jobs.  And this is very important to the American people right now.  Millions of folks are out there struggling because their either under qualified due to a failure of an educational system or because there just aren’t jobs in their specialty available.  The aforementioned actions would open up millions more jobs for Americans and give the economy a major boost.

Then, Obama started talking about education and I had a lot of moments where I just didn’t know why he was saying what he was saying.  If I were to offer advice to him it would be this: DO reward teachers; DO offer the tuition tax credit for college students; punish educational institutions for unreasonable raises in tuition rates; DON’T torture teachers and the children by keeping kids in school against their will until they’re 18.  That last one is a biggie.  Because there really is no benefit to it.  There is a tiny possibility a student or two will change their tune between the ages of 16 and 18, but it’s not worth all of the other kids’ educational and possibly emotional suffering.  It’s a waste of teachers’ time and tax-payers’ dollars.

Then, Obama moved onto the subject of immigration.  To no one’s surprise, it’s the same thing he has been saying for years.  Guess he’s not rushing to actually jump on that issue.

Here he discussed the almighty dollar.  He said he wants to extend tax breaks to small businesses to help them grow more easily, continue providing grants to medical and technological projects, capitalize on this country’s natural gas resources and provide money to improve local infrastructure.  It was like the republicans’ worst nightmare except the part about natural gas.  I agree with pretty much all of this except I am a little annoyed at the desire to siphon all of America’s natural resources.  It’s hurting the earth.  Which is sad.  Because we all live here and Earth can’t even defend itself, save for hurricanes and tsunamis.  We need to work harder on alternative energy.  Can you even imagine the strides we could have made here if instead we had spent the gargantuan number of dollars pumped into Operation Iraqi Freedom on energy research?  Obama also said later in his speech he wants to provide more jobs for veterans.  I think we should educate and train them for use in various energy projects, the ones who aren’t retired, anyway.  But, that is a ridiculous idea which I have no defense for.

Other positives on the money front included the fact that Americans can officially refinance at historically low rates, saving up to $3000 per year and a crack down on large-scale fraud and vowed to have the Financial Crimes unit protect investments so the disaster of the economy of 2008 will never happen again.  I don’t know a lot about refinancing or the economy, so I don’t have a whole lot to say about all that.  But what I do know and what I will say is that’s a bold claim, being that Obama will not be president forever.

He also promised a crack down on insider trading in Congress.  Am I alone in being really taken aback by this?  Maybe I’m just not paying attention or try to see the good in people too much, but the fact that insider trading is happening within Congress is astonishing.  Because obviously people know about it.  Because it is a big enough issue for the President to address it in the State of the Union Address.  It’s just another example of the rich using corrupt methods to get richer.  If these rich people want to complain about the economy, how about the top one-percent all give ten-percent of their money to the government and fix it.  Instead, they’re too concerned with making more money they don’t need and will never use.

The idea of interacting with Iran at all makes me shake in my boots.  Remember when they sent that pink plane back?  They know where we live.  And they do not like us.  But, I have little hope Obama or anyone else is going to go over and develop any sort of diplomatic plan.  This is America.  We don’t say, we do.  Ask Japan.  They learned that the hard way.  But none of us are looking to the total destruction of Earth that may be World War III and I’m afraid what we’re doing messing around with Iran and North Korea is going to be the start of something terrible.

Obama concluded his speech with: "Each time I look at that flag, I'm reminded that our destiny is stitched together like those 50 stars and those 13 stripes. No one built this country on their own. This nation is great because we built it together. This nation is great because we worked as a team."  I agree.  And I think we can do it again.  Yes we can.

Cathryn Frear
Communication Studies
Wilkes 2012