Politics isn’t exactly a hot topic among most high school students. However, with the presidential election coming up this November, even those of us who normally don’t follow politics have started to watch President Obama and Mitt Romney face off.
Why does this election matter? For one thing, the policies of either candidate will affect you and your family. If one of your parents is unemployed, will they be able to find work in the coming years? Will you be able to get a job after college? It can be confusing to wade through all of the attack ads and rhetoric to decipher what each candidate believes about these issues.
Sometimes, all we need is an ordinary Republican or Democratic voter to explain why they are voting for their chosen candidate. In the coming weeks, this column will provide more specific viewpoints on particular issues. For now, I want to introduce myself.
I am a conservative, but what does that mean? Does it mean, as I have heard so many of my fellow students say, to be old, rich and white? Do conservatives oppose change in general? Conservatives are compassionate, just like liberals. Just because we have different solutions does not make us bad or uncaring people.
The term conservative can mean different things to different people. Some consider themselves socially conservative. They tend to oppose abortion, gay marriage and take similar stances on other social issues. Although I respect the beliefs of such people, I don’t identify with them. Instead, I am a fiscal conservative. This means that I believe that government should be small.
Conservatives, represented in this election by Mitt Romney, realize that government cannot expand endlessly. Just in the past four years, the U.S. has added $4 trillion dollars to our deficit. On the first night of the Democratic National Convention, our deficit hit the $16 trillion mark. Republicans like Mitt Romney propose ways in which we can cut the amount of borrowed money that the government spends. However, this does not mean that Republicans don’t care about the little guy. Despite the goal of cutting our spending, conservatives realize that many programs offered by the government, such as welfare and Medicare benefit Americans.
Politics can be divisive. However, when we try to understand other points of view, we remove some of its ugliness. As election day draws nearer, politics will get nastier. It is important to keep all this in perspective and try to understand each other’s positions.
Anonymous • Sep 7, 2012 at 11:18 pm
Thank goodness there are other fiscal conservatives at Niles North. In a school where even teachers are blatantly liberal, this is refreshing to read. Even though Illinois always goes blue, I’m excited to vote for Romney in the upcoming elections.
To the person above, cutting taxes actually is a conservative move. Taxes on income discourage spending and small business development. To lower taxes would increase aggregate spending, decrease the deficit, and raise GDP.
🙂
Nathan Selinger • Sep 5, 2012 at 11:44 pm
I think it’s important to realize that “conservative” and “republican” aren’t necessarily synonyms. While I agree with your concerns about the deficit, and I agree that conservative options are sometimes better options, it’s important to note that some Republican proposals aren’t fiscally conservative at all.
For example, take the issue of taxes. With national debt at an all-time high, and tax rates at 50-year lows, the conservative view is that tax rates should be raised enough to come closer to a balanced budget. However, the Republican plan would cut taxes even more. That may please wealthy campaign donors, but it won’t balance the budget. The Republican view on taxes is far from conservative.
Also, the fiscally conservative view on military spending would be to be cautious on where we send our money and troops, to avoid costly wars that accomplish little. This contrasts with Republican proposals, which all but guarantee hugely inflated military budgets, and hint at starting more long, expensive wars.
I like this idea for a column, and you make some valid points. However, in a piece that is meant to cut through political labels to the real substance of issues, I think you’ve neglected an important point: that “conservative” doesn’t always equal “Republican,” and “liberal” doesn’t always equal “Democrat”. On some issues, you could even say Obama is more conservative than Romney.