SpicyTricks

President Barack Obama was the winner of the recent presidential election. As a Democrat, I’m pleased by this, but America’s problems are not over. We still have to work hard to restore our country, and getting rid of corruption in our elections will be a good way to start.

Super PACs are one of the biggest ways that outside organizations influence elections. A 501(c)(4), or super PAC, is a political action committee that can collect money from individuals and companies. It can use this money in any way it wants, including running ads for political candidates, as long as it “does not coordinate” with the candidate. This means that the candidate is not allowed to tell the super PAC owner what ads to run or how to use its money, but if the candidate tells another person, and the owner happens to hear the conversation, it’s legally not considered coordination. This, to any reasonable person, is a ridiculous law, and it exposes the corruption in our political system.

I’ve recommended that teenagers watch Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart before, and I’m recommending it again. One of Colbert’s best features on The Colbert Report recently was his super PAC, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow. This super PAC, which was as real as any of the super PACs run by actual candidates, showed how corrupt America’s campaign finance laws are. Colbert gave Stewart control of his super PAC while he was running for President of South Carolina. Because he was a candidate, he was not allowed to control his super PAC, so Stewart ran ads for him. Colbert and Stewart appeared on each other’s shows to demonstrate how far campaign laws can stretch. Stewart placed a cardboard television frame between him and Colbert, and Colbert said (while “not talking” to Stewart) what he wanted the super PAC to use its money on. After Colbert ended his campaign, he regained control of his super PAC from Stewart.

In the wake of the 2012 election results, Colbert shut his super PAC down. He filed his termination papers for the super PAC Tuesday, and the amount of money transferred out of the super PAC’s account was $773,705. Through a simple process where Colbert moved the money to a secretive second super PAC, Colbert Super PAC SHH, and moved the money from that super PAC to a third super PAC, none of the money is able to be traced. While this super PAC was purely comedical, and the money from it will almost certainly be going to good causes, real super PACs are also withdrawing their money using the same processes. Thanks to the Federal Election Commission’s laws, super PACs from both sides of the aisle are able to use the money they’ve earned for any purpose, and the public is not able to see where that money will go.

The majority of super PAC contributions were to Republican candidates, and some high-profile super PACs, like the super PAC run by Karl Rove, donated huge amounts of money to campaigns. Rove lost most of the money he put into the election. He spent $100 million in the election, and 99% of that money was spent on campaigning for losing candidates. None of the candidates he supported won. Two of the candidates he was opposing lost, and 1.29% of the super PAC money was spent on campaigns against those  candidates.

Hopefully these results mean that the public realizes how super PACs are spreading corruption in our government. If people learn about current campaign finance laws so they can begin to change them, people like Colbert and Stewart may not have any government corruption to expose.

Tuesday November 6th, the day of the national election, the students at Orange High School had their own mock election. Unlike our nation, only about one-third, or 440 students, of the population voted.

The results of the school election were comparable to that of the nation with 47.5% of OHS students voting for incumbant Democratic President Barack Obama and 51% of the country voting for him.

Republican Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney received 44.5% of OHS students’ votes and 48% of America’s vote.

Surprisingly, Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, received over 8% of the OHS student body votes and just 1% in the actual election.

The 2012 election was the longest and most expensive election that has ever taken place. It ended Tuesday night when election results were announced, after voters voted earlier that day. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were re-elected for second terms, defeating Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. The House and Senate are still under Republican and Democratic control, respectively. Locally, there was a major upset in the gubernatorial race. Pat McCrory, a Republican, was elected as governor of North Carolina. He is the first Republican governor of North Carolina in twenty years. He defeated Walter Dalton, the Democratic candidate.

Many local incumbent candidates were re-elected, including June Atkinson, the North Carolina superintendent of public instruction; Beth Wood, the North Carolina auditor; and Renee Ellmers, David Price, and Howard Coble, members of the United States House of Representatives. Dan Forest won the race for lieutenant governor over Linda Coleman. Forest and Coleman were neck and neck, each having fifty percent of the votes. Forest won the election with 12,000 more votes than Coleman.

Nationwide, many surprising votes and important laws were passed. Gay marriage was passed in both Maine and Maryland, and Washington and Colorado legalized marijuana for adults 21 and over. Tammy Baldwin became the first openly lesbian United States senator. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran with a disability, was also elected. Candidates like Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock lost the election after they publicly discussed their views on rape. Todd Akin said that the female body shuts down its reproductive system if it undergoes “legitimate rape.” Mourdock said that, “I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something God intended to happen.”

Many have been disappointed by this year’s election results, calling it “anti-climactic” because Barack Obama retained the presidency and the House and Senate will be controlled by the same parties they were controlled by in the previous term. Local results however, like the North Carolina gubernatorial race, may cause dramatic changes in the government.

Compare the National Election results with the results of the OHS Mock Election. 

The second Presidential Debate October 16 was the rematch between the two Presidential candidates, focusing on domestic policy and clearly dividing the platforms of the respective contenders.

The debate took place at Hofstra University in New York and was formatted in a town hall style, giving independent voters the chance to ask each nominee a question about domestic policy. The first person to speak was a college student who addressed the issue of the lack of jobs for recent college graduates. Both Republican nominee Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Democratic nominee President Barack Obama answered that they, if elected or re-elected, respectively, would try to decrease the unemployment rate and get the economy going again. Other questions included topics such as pay equity for women, energy consumption, and, unsurprisingly, the deficit and the economic crisis.

These topics were not shocking, but the demeanor that the candidates used in the debate was. President Obama, who was criticized as being too passive and unexciting in the last debate, stepped up the intensity. The change was jarring as he not only defended himself against Governor Romney’s verbal attacks, but threw his own figurative drama bombs in the mix, creating a dynamic between the two candidates that was intense and electric.

Governor Romney certainly did not step down in his intensity as he continued to be assertive and aggressive in his mannerisms. His signature debate smile, which involves smiling at President Obama, is full of snark and passive aggression.

Both candidates were unruly and perhaps too aggressive during this town hall debate, performing in a way unjust of the leadership role of President of the United States. In my mind, their performance resulted in no clear winner. However, the intensity in the room was great and made for a very entertaining, stimulating debate. While it didn't exactly clear up each candidate’s respective platform, it did draw very clear distinctions as to where the candidates stood in relation to each other. Hopefully, in the next and final debate, the viewers will finally figure out what Mitt Romney’s Five Point Plan consists of or how Barack Obama plans on lowering the deficit.

President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney battled in the second debate Tuesday, October 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The debate was moderated by Candy Crowley, the chief political correspondent for CNN. It was a town hall style debate, meaning the audience asked the candidates questions, specifically about domestic policy. Obama assailed Romney with attack after attack, winning the debate hands-down. He was much more engaged in the conversation than in the first debate, and he frequently told Romney that his statements were not true. Romney performed well in the debate, but Obama dominated the discussion and made up for his previous debate performance.

One of the most contentious moments of the debate was when Obama and Romney sparred over the U.S. embassy attack in Libya. Romney stated that, “I think it’s interesting the President just said something which is that on the day after the attack, he went in the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror... I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.” Obama told him to “get the transcript” of the speech. Crowley stepped in at this point to tell Romney that, “He did call it an act of terror.” Romney seemed to have not known about this fact, and Republicans have attacked Crowley for overstepping her boundaries as a moderator.

Other topics Obama and Romney covered were immigration, gun control, and the gender salary gap. While talking about the latter subject, Romney stated that he requested information about women from women’s rights groups and received “binders full of women.” This remark has been extremely popular throughout social media websites and news shows, similarly to Romney’s previous comment about Big Bird.

Obama and Romney both stretched the truth or lied on multiple occasions. Obama stated that Romney once said windmills are imaginary, but Romney actually said that “[this is] an imaginary world... [where] windmills and solar panels could power the economy.” Romney stated that during Obama’s presidency, 580,000 women have lost their jobs. Actual estimates range from 93,000 to 283,000, nowhere near Romney’s estimate. Romney also said that he recommended Obama’s plan to bankrupt auto companies. This is partially true, as he did recommend a plan to bankrupt auto companies, but he did not want to give companies aid using the same process that Obama used. Romney blamed Obama for the high gas prices, but presidents have little influence on the price of oil. Generally, Obama was more truthful than Romney, which was another reason that he easily won the debate.

The third and final presidential debate will be held on October 22 at 9 p.m. It will take place at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida and it will cover foreign policy. Bob Schieffer of CBS News will moderate the debate.

Voters use social media to let their opinions known during 2nd Debate

Preview the Second Presidential Debate, starting tonight at 9 pm eastern.

Written by Maddie Norwood

President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had their first debate on Wednesday, October 3rd. It took place at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado. Pundits and the media have mostly declared Romney the winner of the debate, but he and Obama both had a weak debate performance.  When Romney was speaking, Obama tended to look down at the podium. He appeared distracted or tired, and he missed many opportunities to attack Romney’s policies, choosing to spend the time defending himself against Romney’s attacks. Romney came across as disrespectful  and rude towards the moderator, Jim Lehrer, and he insulted PBS when he made the now infamous Big Bird comment.

Although both Obama and Romney could have been stronger in the debate, the media is correct when it declared Romney the clear winner. Romney, unlike Obama, took every opportunity to attack his opponent. Although Politifact has reported that Romney lied multiple times, he won the debate because he acted confident and was more aggressive. Some of the lies Romney said during the debate were, according to Politifact, that Obama has doubled the deficit, that the Congressional Budget Office “says up to 20 million people will lose their insurance as Obamacare goes into effect next year,” and that citizens who have pre-existing conditions will be covered under his health care plan.

Romney’s other issue was that he ignored and interrupted Lehrer. When he mentioned his plan to cut funding to PBS, he stated that, “I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you, too.” This was an unnecessary statement, and the “I actually like you” was especially unnecessary.

Many Democrats were asking after the debate, in the words of Chris Matthews, “Where was Obama tonight?” He may have physically been on the stage, but he mentally seemed to be somewhere else. His main problem, and the problem that made him the loser of the debate, wasn’t that he lied a lot or was aggressive. He was lethargic and appeared to be half asleep. The debate took place on his anniversary with Michelle Obama, so he may have been annoyed that he wasn’t spending the day with her, but he still should have acted like he cared about winning the election. The governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, called Obama’s disconnect with his surroundings “dignified reserve.” Al Gore blamed it on not having time to adjust to Denver’s altitude. Both of these excuses are almost certainly false. The fact is that Obama just had a poor debate. Whatever the reason was, he needs to come to the next debate with a completely different attitude if he wants to regain his lead in this election.

Written by Brianna Hales

The first presidential debate of the 2012 election started out with a bang October 3. President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney went head to head in a heated debate that discussed taxes, the deficit, healthcare, and jobs. While Romney did better than expected, the clear winner was Obama. With only a month to go until elections, these debates are critical in determining who America will choose as its new leader.

Obama, while not always appealing to everyone with his plans as President, at least gave a plan. He especially focused on his main concern: Obamacare. In this debate, he discussed that Obamacare was a good act because it would provide millions with healthcare were not able to before and he stated exactly what his plan to continue his act would entail. All people would have to get this insurance under his plan.

Romney, on the other hand, gave very specious arguments that could never work. He didn't give details about his proposed plans and often changed his story. Originally, Romney said he would repeal all of Obamacare, but now says he will keep some parts. This includes his plan to allow kids to stay on their parents health insurance until they are 26 and covering people with pre-existing conditions, but getting rid of the part saying all Americans were required to get this health insurance. Romney's plan wouldn't work because the government can’t cover everyone without forcing all citizens to get the insurance because not enough money would be coming into the revenue stream.

Taxes are a huge concern for Americans. Obama wants to raise taxes on the upper class and lower them on the middle and lower classes. Romney doesn't want to raise taxes on anybody. Also, Romney insists that the deficit has to be lowered. Obama pointed out that you cannot refuse to raise taxes and try to cut the deficit all at the same time. This shows that Romney just simply does not think out the consequences of the plans he wants to put in place. Such carelessness could really hurt the American economy even more.

One of the final important discussions of the night was the current state of unemployment, which is at 8 percent throughout the country. Obama stated that he had inherited the problem of unemployment which was at 7.8 percent when he took over after the Bush administration. Romney tried to blame Obama for the job situation. Obama rebutted that unemployment is not something you can change within a short amount of time.

Obama really was in tip top shape with statistics, plans, and ideas for his second term of Presidency. While he was very flamboyant and charismatic, Romney failed to create a clear plan to what he would do as President while making false accusations and continuing  flip-flopping on many planks of his platform.  

Written by Sarah Vassello

The first of the three presidential debates was broadcasted on October 3. It was the first time that the two major candidates, Republican Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and current Democratic President Barack Obama, verbally sparred against each other, using ideologies and figures to spear his opponent. The debate was moderated by Jim Lehrer, Host of NewsHour on PBS. The first debate focused on domestic policy and featured opportunities for the respective candidates to showcase his platform.

Out of the six fifteen minute topics, unsurprisingly, three focused on the economy and how the respective candidates plan to fix the economic crisis. Governor Romney took the lead, aggressively criticizing President Obama’s control of the economic situation in the past four years while repeating his catchphrase, “Let’s put America back to work!” However, Governor Romney failed to effectively outline his plan on how to put America back to work and it was very unclear as to how his plan was better than President Obama’s.

However, President Obama did not effectively defend himself against Governor Romney’s attacks. President Obama, a notoriously well-spoken and inspirational speaker, was dull in this debate and responded to Governor Romney by spewing facts that disinterested the viewers. His body language was unusual as he looked at the floor or the podium instead of facing Governor Romney and he looked tired compared to the energetic Romney. President Obama did not focus on his platform but instead focused on brushing off every remark that Governor Romney made, which has been his campaign strategy thus far.

Considering these points, Governor Romney is the winner in my mind. While he definitely made mistakes and cut the moderator off an unbelievable amount of times, he was the more lively in the debate. I do think that the margin was very close in terms of who won and if President Obama focused more on capturing the attention of the viewers and outlining what he was about instead of constantly defending himself he would have been the clear winner. However, this was the first of three debates and it’s quite possible that the remaining two could have different outcomes.

Politics- that’s just for adults, right? Teenagers don’t care about politics. They can’t vote, so it doesn’t matter.

Wrong.

Even though teenagers may not be able to vote, they can still express opinions and learn about the world. Adolescence is when teenagers develop their own opinions. This may mean your opinions are different than what your parents and family think, but that’s okay. A politically educated 18 year old will go much further in life than an uneducated young adult.

I used to not care about politics. I vaguely remember seeing the 2008 presidential election on TV, but I didn’t pay any particular attention to it. I knew that there were a lot of candidates, but I had no idea what they stood for or who I’d want to vote for. My mom made me watch the inauguration, so I complied. I understood that an African-American being elected was a big deal, but I didn’t know anything about the inauguration beyond that.

One day I happened to walk by the TV when my parents were watching a political show. A man with slightly greying hair was talking about reason and sanity. I stopped walking, intrigued. He went on to make a number of jokes and a brown-haired man wearing glasses appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. He wore a green cape and blended into the green screen behind him. I laughed, finding the show funny. When the segment was over and commercials were playing, I asked my parents what the show was called. It was Comedy Central's The Daily Show, and the man with grey hair was Jon Stewart. The second man was Stephen Colbert, who also had a Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report.

I found clips of the show online and became hooked. Stewart made witty, sharp jokes that satirized both Democrats and Republicans. Colbert mocked Republicans by pretending to be one, and both shows were hilarious. In the first clip I watched, they were announcing a rally. The Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear. I immediately knew that I had to go to this event. My parents were uncertain, and up to the day before it took place, they said that we might not go. I remained hopeful, and on the morning of October 31, 2010, we got ready to drive to Washington D.C. 

The rally took place on the National Mall. The event wasn’t specifically mocking either side of the political aisle, it was just a call for sanity. Even though I hadn’t paid much attention to politics prior to watching the Daily Show and Colbert Report, I knew that both parties were attacking each other viciously. Republicans and Democrats used soaring rhetoric and horrible attack ads when what Americans really needed (and still need, as this is an ongoing problem) was cooperation and a competent Congress.

Everything was packed at the rally. The subways were packed, the National Mall was packed, even the museums and bathrooms were packed. I couldn’t get a good view of the actual rally and I only caught snippets of what was going on because the nearest speakers were at least fifty-thousand people away, but I didn’t need to see the stage. My favorite thing about the rally wasn’t seeing anyone famous, it was seeing everyone who wasn’t. Hundreds of thousands of people, reasonable people, had signs, costumes, and great attitudes. People were nice to each other, laughed with each other, and made new friends. They weren’t politically extreme and they just wanted politicians to be reasonable too.

Both Republicans and Democrats were at the event, and people of all religions and races were represented. One of my clearest memories of the rally is a “Jump rope with a Muslim” sign. Muslims and Christians and Jews and Atheists were all jumping rope together, and nothing horrible was happening. The world didn’t implode, and no one of any religion was hateful towards anyone of a different religion. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life. It was also when I realized that I’m extremely interested in politics, and that politics is extremely important for people of all ages.

I still watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report every night, two years after I went to the rally. I use the knowledge I gain from watching TV to debate with other students about politics, write Journalism articles, do homework, and stay informed about the world. I have been changed for the better in the years since I first watched my favorite late-night funnymen do a skit. I truly believe that every high schooler should watch The Daily Show and Colbert Report, or at least pay attention to politics, if not to stay informed about their country, than to have a daily dose of informative humor.