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P R IN T : Opinion •Wednesday, Nov. 14,2012 »>» 3 Nation moves forward with Obama Felicia Skriver News Editor The 57th quadrennial presi dential election is finally over, and to most o f Americans it comes as a relief. It was a close call, but in the end President Barack Obama won with the popular vote o f 50.5 percent, M itt Romney on the other hand only had 48 per cent. The president now faces a partisan divide in houses. Congress has a house major ity o f Republicans while the Democrats keep control o f the Senate. O bam a thanked the American people at his victory party in Chicago for ensuring that this nation will continue to move forward even if it proves to be a hard struggle. “Tonight, in this election, you, the A m erican people reminded us that, while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have, fought our way back,” Obama said in his victory speech. “We know in our hearts that for the United States o f America, the best is yet to come.” The dem ographics o f the election were very apparent; while older generations such as the baby-boomer generation born from the forties to the sixties were very pro-Romney but it was Obama who gained the trust o f the younger gen eration and the minorities o f the states. Romney was the richest man in history to run for president; however that didn’t help in the end. His ideals o f bringing religion into schools, oppos ing same-sex marriage and his belief to add 100,000 troops didn’t win over majority o f the American people. “M itt Romney quite sim ply doesn’t get it,” said Julian Castro, the Mayor o f San Antonio, in his keynote address. “We know that in our free-m arket economy, some w ill prosper more than oth ers. What we don’t accept is the idea that some folks w on’t even get a chance.” Obama has prom ised the people to keep looking for ward; he wants to . invest in renewable energy to reduce greenhouse em issions, bring equality to same-sex couples, is pro-choice and wants to reduce the spending in defense so that it might help the coun try climb out o f a recession. “This election is not simply a choice between two can didates or two political par ties,” the D em ocratic p lat form said, “but between two fundamentally different paths for our country and our fami lies.” Measures such as the legalization o f marijuana for those who are over 21 were passed in W ashington and Colorado. Initiatives legaliz ing it for medical purposes in M assachusetts and A rkansas also passed. In Oregon, the m easure to legalize private casinos failed, ensuring the continuation o f cash flow in the community. Same-sex marriage is now legal in Washington, M aine and M aryland. Obama will also see that subsidies to farm ing w ill continue to pour in, helping communities such as Clackamas ensure economic stability. Organizations such as the Department o f Agriculture, the F ederal E m ergency M anagem ent Agency, the Departm ent o f H ousing and Urban Development and the D epartm ent o f E ducation will continue to stand in for the aid o f the American peo ple; w hereas Rom ney said he would have cut them if elected. In O bam a’s first hundred days speech Obama stated that in the next couple months to follow the American peo ple can expect more medical research into the H1N1 virus. The Congress and the Senate have passed a budget solution and now we can move this economy from recession to recovery and then ultimately to prosperity. Investments will be made in education, and making sure that credit card companies don’t hike up their rates and have harsh penalties. “So I think w e’re off to a good start, but it’s ju st a start,” said Obama in his first hun dred days speech. “I’m proud o f what w e’ve achieved, but I ’m not content. I ’m pleased with our progress, but I ’m not satisfied.” M oving forw ard was O bam a’s slogan this tim e around; the next four years will tell if he stays true. : V H i ài" G " > . 1 figa so President Obama was elected fo r his second term in office after a very competitive campaign against Gov. Mitt Romney. M a rria g e d e b a te h e a ts up a fte r e le c tio n Chris Morrow The Clackamas Print Maine, Maryland and our neighbor to the north, Washington, have legalized same-sex mar riages and Oregon may be next. President Obama, who spoke candidly of his support of mar riage equality in an interview with ABC News, has just won his second term in office. I am not so naive as to think that any victories pertaining to this matter will go unchallenged, as American abolitionist and former slave, Frederick Douglass once said, “Without a struggle, there can be no progress.” The opponents of marriage equality say that gays want “spe cial” rights, treatment, and protec tion. Is it a ‘ special ’ protection for a non-Caucasian to be able to file hate crime charges after walking down a street in a pre dominantly Caucasian neighborhood and get ting assaulted by the resident skinheads? Is it a “special” protection for any follower of a religion or non-believer to be able to file the same charges should they be the victim of violence motivated by their assailant’s issue with their particular brand of faith or lack thereof? As for the right of marriage, I find it ironic, not to men tion hypocriti cal that, so long as they’re het erosexual, atheists and the procreation impaired are Members of the right also spared from the right wing’s rod, make the claim that legalizing despite repeated insistence that gay marriage is going to open marriage is a purely religious a proverbial “Pandora’s Box.”- function meant only for produc Alright then, let’s take this back ing offspring. to 1967. Mildred Delores Jeter I see no efforts being and Richard Perry Loving, an made to deny their claims to interracial couple who married in the benefits and rights afford Washington, D.C. were arrested ed to them by* marriage. upon moving back to their home Based on a misbelief that state o f Virginia, for violating the Civil Union is just “marriage Racial Integrity Act of 1924, a under another name” the right statute on the state’s law books accuses gays of being greedy that criminalized marriages and “demanding something they between whites and non-whites. already have” without even put Suppose that, instead of ting forth the modicum of effort declaring the statute unconstitu it takes to research the disparities tional, the Supreme Court decid between the two arrangements. ed that it was best not to allow Civil unions and even same- interracial marriages because sex marriages face disadvantages later on down the road, the gays that their opposite-sex counter might try to follow in their foot parts do not, not the least of steps. Or, suppose that instead of which is that “marriage” pro legalizing interracial marriages, it vides 1,049 federal and was decided that it’d be a matter state level benefits, best left up to the states. Some whereas civil union states decided to legally recog- only provides 300 . nize interracial marriages, some state level benefits. states decided that since popular If a married het opinion was against them, it’d be erosexual couple best not to. travels or moves Some states offered interra to another state, cial couples an option similar to all their rights marriage, but called it something and benefits go else and only gave those unions a with them. third of the same rights and ben Civil unions efits that were given to marriages and same-sex in which both partners were of marriages are the same ethnicity. usually only History didn’t play out like acknowledged in that: the Lovings’ case resulted in the state in which the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 they were recorded, being ruled unconstitutional, but so partners travel for the sake of argument, imag ing or moving ine that it hadn’t. Would it be from a state that wrong for two people in com legally allows mitted interracial relationships to such partnerships feel likethey were being treated to a state that unfairly? Would it be wrong for doesn’t ,are them to want the same rights likely to find they saw being given freely to themselves same-race couples? Members of in a bind. the right scoff at any comparison between the two struggles, but the parallels are there for any to see if they choose to look. Thankfully, popular opinion isn’t static, it evolves. Minds and hearts change and young takes the place of old. Those who refuse to examine and adapt their attitudes might find themselves juxtaposed with the bigotries of the past, their likenesses displayed on History Channel documentaries as their children and grandchil dren ask “Did people really used to think and act that way?” To those of you reading, I ask that you reflect upon this; if we treat basic human rights as win nings in a race in which the victor is determined by who endured more injustice historically, there are always going to be losers. “I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual ori entation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights...”- Mildred Loving. Join us 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 14 Learn about Academic programs Paying for college Application process Campus life Find Agenda, directions and RSVP at vancouver.wsu.edu/preview W ashington S tate U niversity VANCOUVER
