Archives for the Month of January 2008 on College Conservative Movement
Romney the best candidate to take on Hillary Clinton
He can pose himself as an outsider pitting himself against washington. Hillary IS washington. Romney also is very resolute at debates. He won almost all of the GOP debates. He would do the same against Hillary or Obama.
A CONSERVATIVE solution to our nation's health care woes
America has a problem. We have all known about this problem for some time, but no one has done anything about it. Not everyone can get health insurance. This is not exclusive to the poor, the lazy, or any of the other stereotypes at are out there. I have a plan that takes a common sense approach to health coverage in America. Our nation can solve this problem without having to create an inefficient government program. In order to best understand my plan, one must understand my perspective as a college student, why government run universal health care cannot work, and my plan to fix America’s health insurance system.
First of all, one must view this problem through my perspective in order to best understand my thinking. I am 22 years old. I am a college student working towards an undergraduate degree in engineering. I also have a chronic medical condition called Crohn’s disease that requires a bimonthly IV treatment. This treatment can cost in upwards of $7,000 dollars an infusion. This boils down $42,000 a year. Right now insurance covers it. However, I will no longer be eligible for my parents’ medical insurance once I reach the age of 23 years old. I will not graduate until I am 24. There is a program called COBRA that allows me to extend that coverage, but one can only utilize this program for two years. For those two years, the rates are almost $500 a month. This means that I would have a lapse in coverage if I were to pursue a more advanced degree. I cannot afford a $40,000 education and $42,000 in medical bills, so a graduate degree is completely out of the question for me. My problems would not stop at the end of that lapse in coverage. Assuming I can somehow come up with the money to pay for my treatment throughout a graduate degree program, after six months off of insurance, my Crohn’s disease will be a pre-existing condition. This means that even when I graduate and get insured, I will have to wait a year for my new insurance to even begin to cover any medical expenses related to the disease. There is a major problem with college students and health insurance. Something needs to be done about it.
Hillary Clinton and Obama are always talking up a universal health care program. That sounds so perfect. Under their plan everyone would have free medical insurance. No one would have to pay for any prescriptions, hospital visits, or surgeries. This sounds great to the casual observer; however, upon further examination, it is far less beneficial than it sounds. First of all, taxes would have to be raised astronomically to fund such a program. This would place even more burden on domestic businesses where it is already difficult to compete in a global economy with current taxes and regulations. It would be even more difficult to compete because more taxes would further increase the cost for product development and production. More importantly, a universal health care system would disrupt the most powerful medical system in the world. Right now, hospitals are competing to provide the most advanced treatments to draw customers. If a socialized health care system is put in place, competition would be replaced with government regulations. This would greatly hinder future advances in medicine. Most importantly, this would result in patients receiving the cheapest treatments and not the best treatments. This is clear in the treatment of Crohn’s disease in Canada where the health care system is socialized. The government will not pay for the regular IV treatments that I receive. They will only pay for much cheaper treatments like prednisone. While prednisone is only twenty dollars a month, it can destroy one’s bones and liver. It also can lead to extreme anger, mood swings, weight gain, acne, glaucoma, ulcers, abdominal pain, cataracts, insomnia, horrible infections, diabetes, and hypertension. Even with all those side effects, it only works in some cases. In my case, my body did not respond to it at all. With the treatment that I am currently receiving, Remicade, I have been nearly symptom free for almost six years. Some people from Canada are so desperate to get Remicade treatments that they travel to the Cleveland Clinic to receive treatments at their own expense. This is not acceptable. I cannot even imagine having to live without my medication. My life would be absolutely miserable. Canada’s system also shows that the class division that they believe this gets rid of is only strengthened.
I have a plan that could fix the problem with health care without having to socialize it. The concept is quite simple. The biggest problem with America’s health insurance system is the necessity to be part of a group to get affordable coverage. As a college student, once I am off my parents’ coverage, I have nowhere to turn to. Even if I wanted to pay a premium rate, I could not get coverage. My plan would effectively get rid of that problem. The expected outcome is to allow United States citizens to purchase an individual, affordable health insurance plan through a private company. In order to accomplish that, the federal or state congress will first determine minimal standards for two types of coverage: minimal coverage and premium coverage. After that is set, they will set up a linear tax cut system. This system would provide a certain amount of tax relief to health insurance companies who provide individual plans that meet the standards set. The system would be linear because the amount of tax relief would be proportional to the number of people insured. This would encourage competition between the insurance companies to receive the maximum tax break. Competition ensures the best value for the consumers. It is also necessary for the government to require that the company offer the two plans for the same price to all members. This will help to ensure that people with chronic conditions will be able to afford coverage as well. Essentially, this allows for individuals to pool together to get their health coverage. This type of system would be great for college students like me. It will be necessary that a dialog take place to determine what level of tax cuts are necessary for the insurance companies to participate.
This plan would create and utilize the same capitalistic environment that has made our country such a great and powerful nation. This would make insurance companies compete for tax breaks. Any time companies are competing, the consumer wins. This would allow any citizen of the United States of America to get health coverage at an affordable rate without the creation of an inefficient government program. With the available coverage, the life expectancy and overall health of our nation will likely improve. The tax cuts provided to the insurance companies would also help to improve economic conditions. It would put money back into our economy to help create economic growth. This plan would provide an affordable means of purchasing health insurance for those who simply do not have a means of purchasing it in a group. The most important thing about this plan is that all of these results could be achieved without disrupting the operation of our globally superior medical institutions.
Purdue beats #11 Wisconsin
As many may know, I have transfered to Purdue. I am taking a break from politics for a little sports. There is a great story in the Big Ten this season. After a lull for several years, Purdue Basketball is back! Purdue recruited 4 of the top recruits in the country for this season. However, they had little on the team returning to help shape these rookies. Yesterday, purdue's 4 freshman played a majority of the minutes. There is only one senior on this team. Despite their youth, their coach Matt Painter turned this team into a legitimate big ten title contender.
Yesterday was a huge step for Purdue's basketball program. They beat the number 11 team in the country, Wisconsin, 60-56. It came down to a last second play. Wisconsin got the ball with 10 seconds left down 58-56. Wisconsin penetrated the defense and went for what was thought to be an easy layup. Robbie Hummel, the 6-8 freshman out of Valparaiso, Indiana, blocked the shot and recovered the rebound. He proceeded to make his 2 free throws at the other end to seal the deal. At the conclusion of the game, the student section charged the court and carried Robbie Hummel off the court on their shoulders.
Boiler up!
For those of you who are going to complain about me talking about something other than Case... I was at the playoff game against Wabash College this year. I am still a Spartan at heart.
Democrats FEAR Mitt Romney
MSNBC makes the point that I have been making for the last week. Mitt Romney is the man that can take on General Hillary Clinton.
The CONSERVATIVES are the rebels in today's society
The Democrats are often considered the rebels in society. However, in the current college generation, this has taken a turn to the right. The rebels in today's society are the outspoken young Republicans. The college environment that has developed is lined with liberal propaganda. By definition, a rebel is one who goes against what the environment around them is pushing them to do. The teachers in our education system, and the mainstream media are pushing the children and young adults to conform to their liberal way of thinking.
The teachers in our education system from elementary school on up favor liberal ways of thinking. Perhaps one of the strongest demographics for the democrats is the teachers union vote. However, if they were able to keep their views to themselves, that would not be a problem. This is not the case. All across the country, Republican students who speak out their views in the classroom are getting discriminated against. It happened to me in high school on more than one occasion. I have witnessed it happen numerous times in college as well.
The former president of the College Republicans Case chapter was intending on majoring in Political Science. His teacher was a very opinionated professor who attacked George W. Bush's stance on the war in Iraq on a daily basis. About halfway through the course, he spoke up to defend our president and his own beliefs. His grades shortly after this dropped from A's to F's. Similar things began to occur in other classes. He was forced to switch majors shortly after.
One other fine example of the liberal leanings in the education system is their approach towards religious issues. Rather than take a neutral stance and introduce a diverse gathering of ideas, they choose the scientific, atheist approach. One fine example of this is the origin of man. Evolution is taught in high schools across the country. Only a small handful of states even do as much as suggest intelligent design as a possibility. Once again, a belief of many in the conservative movement is being attacked.
The most significant source of liberal pressure is the media. Even the most liberal minds would admit the left leaning tendencies of mass media. Irresponsible story selection and spin is something that has occurred since the dawn of mass media. Story selection is where the media picks and chooses what stories they cover based what is best for their political interests. This occurs a lot on networks like CNN and MSNBC. The most recent example of this is the media’s definite bias towards the democrat Trojan Horse, John McCain. Mitt Romney won Wyoming and Nevada by epic proportions. The media wrote it off as no big deal. Mitt Romney won Michigan by a large margin. The media blew it off as a home state win despite the fact that he hasn’t lived there in 40 years. John McCain won New Hampshire and South Carolina with the help of independents, and the media paints him as the Republican favorite.
There is pressure from many aspects of society for the children and young adults of America today to conform to liberal thinking. Doing so, is conforming to what everyone wants you to do. While many liberal thinkers consider themselves rebels, this is clearly not the case. A rebel is one who goes against societal pressures; the true rebels are the CONSERVATIVES who stand up against the liberalism that surrounds them.
The Democrat's plan to take back the white house will fail
The Democrats have followed through with what they thought to the perfect plan. They systematically convinced the entire nation that our booming economy the last few years was terrible. Now our economy is starting to wobble. There is a growing concern about the future of it as a result. The economy is coming front and center in this election. The Democrats have been driving the pessimism with the hope that this would sway the American people to throw the Republican party out of the White House this year. However, there is one Republican candidate that can break up this plan. Mitt Romney's has the economic expertise to turn around our struggling economy and the American people are starting to see that.
Mitt Romney spent most of his life in the private sector as a venture capitalist. A venture capitalist takes over struggling companies and helps to turn them around. Mitt Romney was very successful as a venture capitalist because he was able to cut the wasteful in companies. Mitt Romney and his firm invested in Staples. Because of Mitt Romney's keen eye for the wasteful, Staples turned their fortunes around and now employs over 50,000 employees nationwide. It is now one of the most successful office companies in the country. Mitt Romney and his firm have also turned around Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Brookstone, Domino's Pizza, Sealy, Guitar Center and The Sports Authority.
Mitt Romney's shining moment as a business man came when he was tapped to turn around the Salt Lake City Olympic Games. During the preparations for the games, the project was running grossly over budget. There was corruption among the leading officials on the Salt Lake City Olympic Games that seemed to have doomed the games. Many believed that the games could not be pulled off. Salt Lake City turned to Mitt Romney to turn it all around. He reduced the budget by cutting out the wasteful and and purged the corruption to get the games off without any problems.
Mitt Romney's political life started in the most unlikely of places, the bluest of blue states, Massachusetts. When he came into office, there was a 2.3 billion dollar deficit. For the first time in his life, he was able to apply his business savvy in the political world. When he left office, there was a 700 million dollar surplus while cutting taxes. This was done despite being hindered with a heavily democratic congress.
Michigan is like looking into a crystal ball and seeing what the nation will think this November. The state is already in a recession. Mitt Romney played to his strength during his campaign in Michigan, the economy. His message consisted of two themes. One theme was that he is not a life-long politician. McCain, Clinton, and Obama are all life-long politicians. He is presenting himself as an outsider with business experience who can turn around our economy by bringing a fresh face into Washington. This brings us to his second theme. Mitt Romney has presented his business experience as something that can be used to turn around the corruption and financial disaster that is our federal government. This is a valid claim since he has done this as a venture capitalist as well as governor of Massachusetts. This message resonated with many as he won the primary 39 to 30 percent in a state that went heavily for McCain in 2000. The Democrats have convinced the entire nation that our economy is in shambles. This will bring the economy front and center in the 2008 election. This plays right into Mitt Romney's strength. The Michigan primary shows that his economic message resonates well for those concerned about a recession. I am predicting that the same will be true throughout the nation come November.