The First Presidental Debate

I'm for Obama.  I'm against Romney.  The debates did not change this, but they did point out a few interesting points.

Fact: Jim Lehrer did not moderate.  I have watched him moderate before and know that he can do it...but he did not.

Fact: Romney cannot balance a budget through tax cuts for the wealthy without substantially cutting spending or raising taxes for the rest of Americans.  There will be no more money, even if he closes the loopholes (but which ones, please tell us!).  Let me illustrate this point: Tax rate for person A is 35%.  Because of loopholes and deductions, he pays something like a tax rate of 20%.  So the tax rate is reduced to 20% and the loopholes are closed...thus, he still pays 20%.  He doesn't make more money because of lower taxes, so he doesn't have more income to pay more taxes on.  His taxes are the same.  Romney, himself pays an effective tax rate of about 15%, which means that the taxes will be higher for him, but this doesn't mean that he makes more money.  There is no more money in the system through this method.

Fact: Barack Obama does not cut 716 billion dollars for benefits in Medicare.  This money is from overpaying insurance providers through Medicare Advantage.  So those nice insurance companies, you know, the ones that Romney thinks will work so well with vouchers, are taking advantage of our seniors. 

Fact: The Medicare Voucher system will not work.  For several reasons.  First, as Obama pointed out last night, the voucher system does not mean automatic acceptance, but that seniors must navigate the health care system on their own.  Which is difficult enough for me, let alone my 93 year old grandma.   In the health care system(without Obamacare), there are arbitrarily-set limits for lifetime use and for certain conditions.  The truth is, about one in two Americans have a chronic disease and 62% of the elderly have multiple chronic diseases.  My grandmother, who is 82 and relatively healthy, has high blood pressure and risk factors for clots and has osteoporosis. My other grandmother, who is 93 and not nearly as healthy, has COPD, chronic hip pain, chronic joint pain, and osteoporosis.  These women would not be able to use the voucher system because insurance companies do not want people who are a bad bet.  That's why Medicare was invented in the first place, because insurance companies don't want people who pay premiums and deductibles, but require more care each year than those numbers cover.

What Romney showed last night was that he is highly aggressive and does not care about the rules.  Each time Jim Lehrer would try to cut him off, he would insist that he should still speak.  He got the last word every single time.  This is not the way a debate works.

The fact is Romney does not care about me.  He doesn't care about my husband, who is a teacher.  He doesn't care about my cousin Hannah who has chronic asthma and panic attacks.  He doesn't care.  We are not in the 47%, but we are close, we are lower middle class citizens.

Prior to the debate, there were two other issues that  ensure that Romney cannot win my vote.  First, same-sex marriage.  Second, women's rights. 
Romney believes that marriage is between a man and a woman.  What I find interesting about this is that his grandfather believed so strongly that marriage was between a man and several women that he moved to Mexico.  In Romney's own family, the definition of marriage has changed.
Marriage is between two legally consenting adults.  We all deserve the same rights.  We all deserve the same chance at happiness.  My friend Chrissy's children deserve two parents, legally and all that comes with.
And women's rights.  Romney doesn't believe that I am entitled to use birth control and to have my prescription drug plan(a plan that covers antibiotics that could be for STDs, a plan that covers blood pressure medicines or cholesterol medicines(both preventive medicines)) cover this birth control.  I am.  And anyone who says differently does not understand cost.  A pregnancy costs around 20,000 dollars(give or take 5000).  If my birth control was not covered, it would cost 50 dollars per month, which means that the insurance company can cover my birth control(at full cost) for 33.33 years before it approximates the same cost as one pregnancy.
Romney also does not believe that women should be allowed to get abortions.  Roe v. Wade says that we are.  I am entitled to choose whether to incubate a parasite for nine months or not.  I am allowed to choose that my family cannot support me through the pregnancy or through the birth of a child.  I am allowed to choose a better life for myself and future children.  I am.

One last thing.  Last night, Romney talked about Massachusetts and how well they are doing, especially in the schools.  MA schools are ranked number one in the nation, but Romney hasn't been governor since Jan 4, 2007.  Which policies are his and which are the current governor's or previous governors'?  I've no idea.  Additionally, Romney likes to point out how rare it is for a Republican to be voted in as governor of MA.  Well, he was the fourth GOP governor in a row for MA.  More telling however, is the fact that since Romney, the governors have been Democrats.

This is what Romney believes in.  If you believe the same, then yes, by all means this is the man you want to lead your country.  If, however, you believe that all people in the US were created equal and were endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights(life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness), then you cannot vote for Romney, because Romney ignores those not born in privilege.