Sunday, November 11, 2012

Stories from the Road: State of Confusion

My travels have brought me to Texarkana, TX, which happens to be right next to Texarkana, AR. It's a fun and quirky border town, their post office even sits directly on the state line with one half in each state. Plus they've got a mall and Books-A-Million within walking distance to where I'm staying, so I'm pretty happy.


Last night I happened upon an independent ice cream/shaved ice shop, and as is my custom, stopped in to support local business and my sweet tooth. After striking up a conversation with the woman behind the counter I come to find out she's got an interesting identity crisis. She was born in Texarkana, AR. Went to school in Texarkana, TX. She also lived in a house that was bisected by the state line, just like the post office. She said after all these years she's never really known whether to consider herself a Texan or an Arkansan. I suppose it I didn't want to end the suspense, so I didn't bother to ask about her drivers license.

She even joked that she could have probably gotten in-state tuition in either Texas or Arkansas. Looking for something of a tie breaker I asked where she did end up choosing. Her answer? Louisiana. So, when posed with the question Texas or Arkansas she chose none of the above.

Oh, and the ice cream infused shaved ice was great too.

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Why I Couldn’t Vote for Mitt Romney


I waited to post any conclusive thoughts on this election until it was over because frankly neither candidate has done enough to inspire me to do anything that’d be considered an act of campaigning on their part. Despite the claims from the right that he’s been a complete failure, Obama has made progress as president. Wall Street is back on track, Osama is dead, he made headway on healthcare (we’ll see if for the better), though he’s obviously failed to get the middle class economy and job situation back where it needs to be. Obama and I will never line up perfectly together ideologically though, so I couldn’t help but allow myself to give Mitt Romney a chance to convince me he could make things right. Here’s why he didn’t even come close to winning my vote.

-Health Care: Emergency Rooms are a Big Part of His Coverage Plan
On the topic of health care he’s mentioned emergency rooms as his answer for where people without health insurance would receive care. I’m not a huge fan of Obamacare, but actually putting ERs out there as a viable source for regular care for the uninsured is completely ludicrous.

Health care is never as expensive as when it is administered in the ER, so you are encouraging those with the fewest means to rely on literally the most expensive form of care out there. Any good business man shouldn’t construct a system that alots so much health coverage to a ERs that are the least financially sensible way for people to get treatment.

Anyone out there who doesn’t want to have to pay for the care of other people should probably be made aware that they already are doing just that when the people who rely on the ER for healthcare have to file bankruptcy because of this health care setup. 50% of all bankruptcies are related to medical bills, in my opinion America can be better than that, but Mitt Romney has shown no intention of finding a way to make progress on that front.

-Mitt Romney: Create Your Own Candidate
Mitt Romney has taken both sides of almost every issue. Seriously. Want to vote pro-life? Romney is your guy. Pro-choice? Romney from a few years ago has you covered. Government mandated health care? Old Romney all day long. Private health care? New Romney represents you. This could go on for hours.  Voting Romney based on his constantly changing positions is like buying the mystery bag at a dollar store.

-What Tax Loopholes Will He Close? 
He hasn’t offered ANY legitimate specifics on the loopholes he’d cut in his tax plan. You can’t tell me you’ll be the savior of the deficit , tell me that you’ll be able to make it all work by cutting loopholes, then give me nothing worth listening to in regard to what loopholes you’ll be closing. My faith might impact how I vote, but I don’t want a completely faith based tax plan.

Had Romney taken the chance to say under his tax plan he’d insure that no company like GE would ever again earn so much while paying $0 in taxes he would have had my vote.  Instead of getting tough where it would matter in regard to taxes and spending he decided to attack PBS, a mere sliver of the budget. “Conservatives,” let me know when you’re serious about cutting where it matters, like those tanks nobody wants, or when you’re ready to close loopholes that would make a difference.

-“Corporations are people too”
Even though I know this comment from Mitt wasn’t in relation to the Citizens United case both that Supreme Court decision and this statement from Mitt represent a mentality I find abhorrent. Corporations are legal entities that have a legal duty to do one thing, create as much profit as is legally possible. Human beings are the height of God’s creation. If you don’t believe there’s a significant difference in the rights that Adam Samons should have compared to those $amon$ LLC should have I have no desire for you to run our country.