Obamacare: A collapse of the Progressive Movement

by Zach Moore

Since 2009, Bill and Hillary Clinton have piggy-backed off of President Obama’s attempt to build a progressive platform for a liberal America. For obvious reasons, this is something that the Clintons feasted off of. Why did they do this? Hillary would love a bid in 2016. Moreover, they saw an opportunity to take advantage of progressive America; a system of big, careless government that is in control of dependent individuals. You see, President Obama has created this dependent America, not for reasons of sympathy in which he tries to display, but for strictly politically motivated ideals. If the majority of Americans are dependent on the Democratic Party to feed them out of their hands, they are never going to vote against them.

So what do the Clintons do? They endorse Obamacare. Believing it would be a success, they knew that Americans who enroll would be dependent on Hillary getting elected in order for their “free” care to continue. Therefore, sadly, they believed it would be a sure win for the Democratic Party in 2016. This is just another clear example of the left taking advantage of progressive America, as they use it as nothing but political leverage. This can be seen clearly as Bill Clinton endorsed the Affordable Care Act in September of this year, again as a mere attempt to get his beloved wife elected.

Was this a successful strategy? Of course not. Obamacare was a dismal failure just as many people in the United States expected. In addition, Bill and Hilary Clinton endorsed an individual who lied to the faces of American people on multiple occasions. To be precise, President Obama stated, “If you like your health care plan you can keep it....period”. This, as agreed upon by the majority of Americans is not only deceptive, but an outright lie. Bottom line is, the Clintons endorsed a now perceived liar. They tarnished their reputation (even further), and President Obama quickly became a political liability to their campaign. So what do they do? They run from the disaster and distance themselves from President Obama.

Today, October 12, 2013, Bill Clinton decided to make his distance well known to the American people by saying, “I personally believe, even if it takes a change in the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to these people and let them keep what they got." Hold on a second Bill, during many speeches you attended and endorsed, the president contradicted what you just said. Did you raise a red flag then? No. Even though you knew it was wrong, you let it go all in a mere attempt to deceive the American people just at the president did. If anyone in the world thinks this revelation of Clinton’s beliefs on the Affordable Care Act is anything more than an attempt to run as far from President Obama and the Affordable Care Act as possible, they are completely wrong.

Bottom line is President Obama has become a political liability to anyone in the Democratic Party who supported the Affordable Care Act. Even further, his presidency and the Affordable Care Act is a ticking time bomb that will surely destroy the reputation of his supporters in government. Thanks to him, Republicans now have a very distinct opportunity to lay this “progressive” movement to rest for many decades to come. So, from all Republicans in America, thank you Mr. President for proving that your “landmark” legislation was in fact, a total disaster.

Red Lines: Military Defense or Political Pressure?

by Zach Moore
President of BU College Republicans

Roughly one year ago our president, the commander and chief of the military, made a statement that solidified the position of the United States on the use of chemical weapons. Imaginary or not, President Obama stated that use of chemical weapons by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, would cross “a red line for us,” and therefore we would respond with military action. By creating this red line without UN support, President Obama put the United States in not only a foolish position, but casted our fate in a solo mission against the deadly Assad Regime. 

After threats and intelligence of chemical weapons throughout the last year, the president refused to reinforce this imaginary red line he single handedly traced.  Now, Assad has committed a massacre against his own citizens, and the United States is forced to act due to the words of a political figure.

Through this situation the question arises, do red lines really protect the American people and prevent military action? Logically speaking, no they do the exact opposite. They expose us to dangerous and involuntary political actions due to political pressure. However, speaking emotionally as the left does, a red line is some sort universally supported monstrosity, built with metal spikes, electric fencing, and barbed wire protecting the American people and preventing a war. Sadly, a red line is nothing more than a failed president’s rhetoric, in order to make a train wreck of a foreign policy look like it has legitimacy. In reality, President Obama put the United States at major risk by making this statement, and now is forced to act on those words in order to save his already failed presidency. Most importantly, such red lines put far too much political pressure on our leaders. Now, we have a president who is attempting to build an image, rather than protect our citizens. In order to avert this, you can see the president trying to dump the load of pressure onto our legislatures for it to no longer be his fault if he breaks his promise of a red line induced military strike. Moreover, as of recently, the president even denied his comments about enacting a red line, by saying “I didn’t set a red line; the world set a red line”, another obvious attempt of our president shifting the blame of his attempted actions onto another body of legislature.

Since when do we as American people find this as acceptable? What happened to the president taking responsibility, standing up, and taking a clear and signified position on an issue? Even further, the president continued to contradict himself in his attempt to shift the blame around August 20, by saying, “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.” Notice how the president states, “a red line for us,” “my calculus,” and even, “my equation.” By “my”, Mr. President, I would hope that you are referring to yourself, commander-in-chief of the military, and by “us” the United States of America. However, as I recently highlighted, the president said the world set the red line, not us. Once again, rhetoric with no logic.

Our president speaks strictly with emotion, and through that blinds himself and the rest of this country to the power of his words and what he says as a leader. As the citizens of the United States, we need to learn to hold leaders accountable for their words, so that a president does not have the ability to make emotionally backed statements such as Obama’s on an imaginary red line.

A Jobless Economy: Obama's Polices are Damaging

by Zach Moore

originally published by The Voice on February 21, 2013
http://www.buvoice.com/opinion/2013/2/20/a-jobless-economy-obamas-policies-are-damaging.html

While graduation from higher education is supposed to be a colossal leap to an affluent future, a sluggish labor market awaits the average college student’s resume. With unemployment soaring nation-wide, there is an alarming level of unemployment of college graduates ages 25 and younger. According to the Department of Labor Statistics, 53 percent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed, and the diminutive amount of employed graduates is earning a median salary of a mere $27,000. This figure is a depreciated $3,000 less than students who earned a degree before the year 2007.

 

Moreover, out of the college graduates under the age of 25 who were working in 2011, 37.8 percent were working in a job that did not require a college degree, according to bls.gov. As these statistics develop, it is seen that there has been a serious decline over the last four years in which students have spent working extremely hard to ensure a prosperous future. Note that in 2007, around the time that Bloomsburg seniors were beginning the journey of a college education, the unemployment rate of recent college graduates was 5.7 percent. Through this, the question of who is to blame arises.

 

Over the last four years, President Obama has made a tremendous dent in the economy in which we reside. Students have been victims to the president’s detrimental policies already. This is seen through many aspects of a young American’s life, an example being tuition rates, which have gone up 25 percent under the president, according to bls.gov. All this while a landmark one trillion total student debt has accumulated. Through this we see that not only has President Obama made it increasingly harder for college students to find a job, but once they do accomplish this near impossible task, they will have a larger debt than any other graduates in history. If this is not bad enough, once graduates begin to dig themselves out of this bottomless pit of debt, they will have a very hard time doing so because of the falling median income under President Obama.

 

It is very simple for the eye to see a distinct downfall marked by the start of Barack Obama’s presidency. When President George W. Bush left office, the unemployment rate of young American’s 25 and younger was an astonishing 5.4 percent as reported on bls.gov. Sadly, four years later we see an unemployment rate of the same group of American’s hovering just below nine percent. These disturbing figures are a direct reflection of President Obama’s damaging economic policies. Until the president stops implementing policies that hurt American businesses, employers will continue to not hire. Even if they do choose to employ a graduate, an exponentially smaller figure of capital will be put into your pocket.

 

President Obama has raised taxes on employers to the highest in recent history. The results of this are obvious: when employers have less money, they are no longer investing, no longer hiring, and most importantly no longer growing fiscally. Until President Obama does more to create economic growth, such as financially encouraging employers to hire young, educated Americans, underemployment and unemployment will continue to rise.

 

The “investment” of higher education will continue to diminish as President Obama’s disastrous economic policies continue, and the true value of a degree will no longer exist. Please examine this simple equation of economics: high unemployment, combined with record setting landmarks of student debt, equals a slow and distraught economy, which our generation is now pioneering. If we, the young Americans, the future of the United States, cannot prosper, who possibly can?