Today’s jobless numbers are worrying. According to the report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the American economy added no net jobs in the month of August and the unemployment rate remains at 9.1%. President Obama and Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney are set to release their jobs proposals next week, but one candidate has already done so, Jon Huntsman.
As college students, there are three broad issues pertinent to our interests. The first is jobs. Many of us have parents who are out of work, siblings unable to find work or will be looking for jobs ourselves in the next year or so. Huntsman, the former governor of Utah and Ambassador to China, has outlined a 4 part plan for economic recovery.
First, he proposes comprehensive tax reform which includes simplifying tax brackets and lowering rates, eliminating capital gains taxes, reducing corporate rates and eliminating corporate and personal loopholes and deductions. Second, he proposes expansive regulatory reform including the repeal of Obamacare and Dodd-Frank (the financial regulatory bill), reigning in the EPA and FDA, and enacting patent reform. Lastly, he emphasizes the need for energy independence, through expanding drilling rights and natural gas capabilities, and enacting free trade agreements.
Some of these things may seem obvious, but believe it or not, they have not been outlined by any politician or presidential candidate until now. These are all market-based solutions that will make American companies competitive with foreign corporations, reduce regulatory instability and give individuals and families more money in their pocket. The stabilization of the economy and the stimulation of the jobs market is in our best interest as students soon to graduate.
The second pertinent interest as college students the long-term sustainability of government, specifically in terms of spending. We are still young but at the rate the government is spending, programs like Social Security and Medicare are on a path to destruction while the basic ability of the government to sustain its constitutionally mandated role becomes more and more hazy. With the debt we have built up, and will continue to build up, will be able to respond to natural disasters? Will we be able to respond to an attack on our country? Will we be able to support law enforcement, education, infrastructure twenty years down the road?
Huntsman has been a rational voice in a sea of irrationality during these last few months of debate. While Republicans have decried any revenue increases or defense cuts and Democrats have decried any changes to entitlements, the former governor has clearly stated that decisive action must be taken. We must curtail entitlement spending; we must end costly foreign entanglements; we must reform the tax code.
This is our future at stake; shouldn’t we support a candidate who has our best interests in mind rather than a candidate who caters to special interests (whether they be the anti-tax lobby or the pro-entitlement force, or the pro-military shop)?
The third pertinent issue (and this is by no means and exhaustive list but rather a general summary) that is important to college students includes social and environmental policy. We care about equality, about clean air and clean water, about climate change. Huntsman has been one of the most forward looking members of the Republican Party in all of these respects.
Huntsman recently stated in an interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper that “in a center-right country, I am a center-right candidate.” He also described himself as holding the “sensible middle ground.” Of all the Republican candidates, he is the most reasonable in his politics, personable in his approach and experienced in both foreign and domestic affairs. Right now, the sensible middle ground is exactly what America needs.
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