Grand-Slam to the "Man"

As most readers know, many business owners across the country were hanging on to every word on election night anxiously awaiting the outcome of 2012 presidential election. This widespread attention was followed by many policy changes once the world learned that President Obama would hold his seat as the President of the United States.

Because the President had been re-elected for a second term, many of his policies would soon be in full effect in the coming year. This includes the so-named “Obamacare” healthcare option enacted by the 2008 Obama term.

Many small businesses have shown their distaste for the Act to fully be put in place in 2013. Denny’s franchise owner, John Metz, has taken his disapproval one step further by publicly announcing an added surcharge at all of his franchises.

Metz has chosen to add a 5% surcharge to all of his checks starting in 2014, and has stated, "If I leave the prices the same, but say on the menu that there is a 5 percent surcharge for Obamacare, customers have two choices. They can either pay it and tip 15 or 20 percent, or if they really feel so inclined, they can reduce the amount of tip they give to the server, who is the primary beneficiary of Obamacare."

This public outcry has shown the ignorance of many in the United States. One can not predetermine the effect that the Affordable Care Act will have on each small business owner. I personally believe that this was less of an economic decision on Metz's part and more of a political statement.

His opinion is his own, but when he steals from the tip money of his workers it becomes a problem. If he wants to make up for the money that he will be losing in response to the Act being put in motion, he should raise the prices of his own products. This would still place the choice onto the consumer, not of whether they would like to tip more or less, but whether they will buy his cheap, pre-frozen, tastless product in the first place.

But, that's just my opinion.

Election Slipping in Grades

After a seemingly endless build-up to the 2012 presidential election, the show has finally come to a close. Now, the entire world can take a breath of relief. With the lack of election coverage to consume the media, they have turned to the public. Instead of choosing to measure the public perception of the outcome of the election, Huffington Post took the liberty to poll the voting population on their opinion of the campaign process, from campaigning of both Republicans and Democrats alike, to those responsible for covering the campaigns - the media.

In retrospect, the voting population showed their distaste of each party’s campaigning process stating that the discussions were less involved with the issues compared to past elections. In addition, 68% said “negative campaigning and mudslinging were both more prominent than usual.”

When rated on a grading scale, the 2012 campaign received straight C’s across the board, which is considerably worse than the last election in 2008. Take a look for yourself and see how 2012 has proved to be more “frustrating” than anything.

I think this article is extremely interesting because it assigns a grade to each aspect of the election. I think that this measurement can be used to hold the media as well as the campaigns to a higher standard. As a voting population, we should be able to have a voice for the way we would like the election to be broadcast to us and our families.

The Race for Race

Last night, the entire nation discovered that President Barack Obama has been elected to another four-year term in the White House as President of the United States. Although this election was very close, the President made strides in his demographic. Creating a record for any presidential candidate, Obama received 45% of his votes from minority voters. Once the statistics were collected from this election, it is not difficult to see how President Obama made such an impact with the minority populations.

Of all minority groups in the United States, 93% of African Americans, 71% of Hispanics, and a little over 66% of women voted for President Obama.

Despite the fact that Romney won the white vote by 58%, which is higher than any Republican candidate since 1988, he did not have a chance when it came down to it at the end of the day. Why is this?

The Republican party has failed to see that the identification of today’s voter is much different than it was years ago. As our country is becoming more and more diversified, and young minority voters are growing to the legal age to vote, the gap between liberal-minded voters and conservatives continues to widen.

President Obama’s campaign focused their immigration platform on the fact that they had granted a way for young immigrants brought to America by their parents to become a US citizen. Apparently this issue was extremely impactful because it led a record number of Hispanics to the polls on Tuesday – 10% of voters were Hispanic.

I think this topic is very important to touch upon because the age of the white voting demographic is over. Our country is becoming more and more diversified with each coming day. Although the average white man may not agree with the decisions that President Obama made while in office, they no longer have the power as a single unit to alter the vote. I am interested to see how elections in the future will turn out. When our country becomes progressive enough to elect two African American candidates for the Republican and Democratic parties, I wonder how the voting public will react. Because 93% of African Americans cast their vote for the President, I believe it is safe to say that many of these votes were cast blindly without education on the topic. I do not want to sound bold by stating this, but I wonder, if the African American people had a choice between two African American candidates, if we would see more intelligible debate over the ideals of each candidate.

Whatever the outcome of the election is, I believe it is our responsibility as United States citizens to remain secure in the decision of our country as a whole and to show a whole-hearted confidence in the elected President. It is our country who nominated the candidate in the first place and it is our hands that placed him in the office. I believe that Barack Obama will continue his efforts grow our economy and make our country stand for equality during his remaining four years in office. I am excited to see where these next four years will take me and my country and I anxiously await the events of tomorrow and the days to come.