2012 Election: America's Folly

Well, America has spoken. They have chosen to re-elect the incumbent president Barack Obama. As a Ron Paul fan, I was not impressed by either of the 2012 candidates. I wanted to vote for Gary Johnson, but I ended up voting for Mitt Romney. I voted for him because Barack Obama is a Marxist who wants to "spread the wealth around," and I figured that Romney would at least be a slower death. Those were Obama's own words by the way (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoqI5PSRcXM). 

Such naive notions obliterate a country's economy as the "evil rich" are taxed to empower the "disenfranchised poor" and "righteous middle class" (Levin, 2009). Regardless, I can't help but wonder why people still rushed to Obama in droves? I mean, Romney was certainly no "knight in shining armor," but what has Obama actually done? I believe that Obama's success can be attributed to highly effective fear mongering. He actually advertised blatant lies like, "Romney does not believe in equal pay for men and women" (Abdullah, Brennan, 2012). And we can't forget the "Paul Ryan wheeling seniors off the cliff" one either (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGnE83A1Z4U). 

Of course, most people watch nonsensical ads like this and buy them without any critical thought. Couple that with Obama's hip appeal, and you have a successful campaign. Besides his scare antics, Obama also played the "I'm for the little guy" card in every debate. He always said that he thinks that the rich need to pay a little bit more. This undying rhetoric never fails to amaze me. Whenever one of my peers regurgitates this nonsense, I respond with, "Oh I see. How many poor people are hiring right now?" Such flawed reasoning results in an even worse economy for all socioeconomic brackets. Lastly, So to sum it up, Obama won because of a few reasons: 1. being "hip" 2. fear mongering 3. catering to special interest groups ( a given for all politicians). Maybe I should stop teaching history because it is a lot of work. After all, cell phones are free for low-income families now (Rickards, 2011).

Sources:

Rickards, Jordan. Obama’s Welfare Recipients Entitled To Free Cell Phones, 250 Free Minutes Per Month, and Free Wireless Internet. Retrieved from: http://rickardsreview.com/2011/02/15/obamas-welfare-recipients-entitled-to-free-cell-phones-250-free-minutes-per-month-and-free-wireless-internet/. 02/15/2011

Levin, Mark. Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto. 2011

Abdullah, Halimah and Brennan, Allison. Obama, Romney equal on gender pay inequality, Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/19/politics/romney-obama-women-hiring/index.html. 10/20/2012 

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