by Hanna Greenberg & Maya Terry-Shindelman
HEALTH CARE
GAY MARRIAGE
Contrary to Obama’s ideas on the Bush tax cuts, Romney would like to make the cuts permanent. He would like to make the lower corporate tax rate across the board to 25%, and cut taxes and regulations to encourage business. He also expressed wanting to cut government spending by 5% in order to avoid exceeding income over a certain amount of time.
Romney opposes Roe v. Wade, and believes states should be able to ban abortions. He originally supported abortion rights, but changed his mind in 2005 while preparing to run for presidency. In the Republican debate at Simi Valley, CA on 5/3/07, the following conversation took place: (http://mittromneycentral.com)
Governor Romney believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, and pushes for a constitutional amendment to define such beliefs. Similarly, Romney does not favor civil unions because he believes they are practically the same as marriage despite the title. “I stood up to fight sam- sex marriage. I was one of the nation’s leading advocates of traditional marriage,” Romney said. (http://content.usatoday.com)
If elected, Governor Romney plans to immediately utilize a system in which individual states craft a health care plan that best suits the citizens, in lieu of Obamacare. Romney plans to allow the states to regulate “local insurance markets and caring for the poor, uninsured, and chronically ill.” From this, he hopes to “restore state leadership and flexibility, promote free markets and fair competition and empower consumer choice.” (http://www.mittromney.com/issues/health-care)
PRO-LIFE
ECONOMY
Designed by Seve Julian Bortman
Obama believes a woman can get an abortion if she wishes, and he supports Roe v. Wade. While this case extended women’s decision to have an abortion, it also allowed the state to regulate abortions to the extent that they feel necessary. Obama also criticizes Supreme Court decisions upholding bans on partial birth abortions. (http://cnsnews.com)
Obama would like to get rid of Bush tax cuts for households earning more than $250,000, and have lower taxes on manufacturing industry. He would also like to promote stimulus spending and tax cuts on the middle and lower classes to improve the economy, as well as cut spending and raise taxes on wealthy to lessen the deficit.
HEALTH CARE
GAY MARRIAGE
PRO-CHOICE
ECONOMY
Under Obamacare, President Obama is pushing to provide a health care system that not only assures access to preventive care, but also protects people from abuse by insurance companies. Obama plans to “help those with Medicare save on the care they need to stay healthy, hold insurance companies accountable, and end the insurance company practice of charging women more than men for the same coverage.” (http://www.barackobama.com/health-care/)
Since stepping up to the political stage in 2004, President Obama’s views on gay marriage have shifted. However, as of May, Obama became the first American President to publicly support gay marriage saying that he is “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage. “I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama said. (http://www.csmonitor.com)
by Hanna Greenberg & Maya Terry-Shindelman