Columns

Post-election horror stories need to stop

For individuals who may be living under a rock, President Barack Obama was elected for his second term on Tuesday. Of course people already know this, the election was so widely advertised that it was impossible to watch any show without getting bombarded with ads — only to escape online face the same dilema.

An election that was so widely publicized and important for our nation that as soon as someone logged on to Facebook last Tuesday, they became greeted by a barrage of statuses of absolute gibberish from people banging on their keyboards — either in excitement or horror.

It’s time to move on. The upset from the election has largely come from the contested polls presented through every media outlet. From the conservative side, the polls were consistently showing Mitt Romney in the lead. While on the more liberal leaning sides, the polls reflected Obama in the lead with the race being equally close each time.

Despite the current outcome, neither of these polls were necessarily correct but rather the product of a capitalist business model in an incredibly partisan world. The U.S. stands more divided than any other time since the Civil War, proven true by the close numbers of the popular vote.

The popular vote functions as an influencing power rather than the central power with the Electoral College, and this was hardly an upset. The statistician, Nate Silver, who is now making his news circuit rounds for his own personal victory, had predicted the election with Obama having a 90 percent chance of winning, which was a far cry from the close race other stations were calling.

This is inevitably because his predictions were not based on partisan shift, but on statistics and math. American culture exists in a time of privatized television news. Where rather than the older days where television networks would sink money they knew they would never get back into nightly newscasts, there are corporate news stations that align themselves with partisanship in order to secure a demographic and cover advertising revenue.

They exist in the CNN’s and Fox News of today. These popular news networks circulate and benefit from these close polling results as a way to drive their viewership during one of their most profitable times. It causes their viewers to check up on, bite their nails and glue their eyes to set in fear that there would be a chance their candidate could lose. For if they knew the truth that the election was never quite as close as they expected, these networks and websites would lose viewers and consequently money.

Now in the wake of the election, these networks and websites are using the post-election rage and discomfort as a source for new media with investigating why the voters turned out how they did or what was wrong with previous predictions. All quite obviously filler news stories.

There is a second form of post-election news stories flooding the websites and television stations: the horror stories, where supposedly journalists report on the many ways Obama will destroy the nation’s freedom now that he will have a term without fear of having to be re-elected. It saddens me that I have to explain this.

Our federal government consists of a system of checks and balances, where the president only resides with one-third of the government’s power. The ideal here is that Congress or Supreme Court will shoot down anything that seems actually damaging to the country and the people’s freedom. I’m sorry, Republicans, but Obama is not a communist, antichrist or Kenyan, and he is definitely not going to destroy the country any worse than the last president.

Patrick Larose is a creative writing sophomore and may be reached at [email protected].

18 Comments

  • Newest Horror Story: CBS reported that states are petitioning to secede from the Union, including out good ol’ Texas (Seriously). Have fun trying to figure that one out.

  • Spoken like a true democrat. The outrage is justified. The horror stories are not fabricated. The President has the Senate in his back pocket and the Republican House is the only thing standing between him and turning us into a socialist nation. He supports wealth distribution, universal healthcare, and higher taxes.
    The laws are worded so vaguely, how could the Supreme Court over rule them if they don’t understand the full measure of them?

    • Oh my! He wants to make it easier for people to get Health Care, make the rich have to pay their fair share of taxes and he also wants to distribute the wealth so that the lower portion of America DOESN’T have to rely on any sort of trickle-down economics system in order to get money? How awful?!?
      As for your second point, the fact that these laws are worded so vaguely could also make it to where the Supreme Court could rule it in any way they see fit BECAUSE of the fact that there isn’t such stringent rulings. You don’t want a law to be so narrow that it punishes even the most innocent of acts that would “by law” be illegal.

      • How awful? Love to see you quip about fair share the day you start to pay taxes like many of us. Let us see how you react when you see how much you have to pay after all the blood sweat and tears spilled earning that degree.
        So instead of having people EARN the money which comes through the trickle down you prefer to have them rely on the government for their checks. Yeah that is really going to help the economy improve and more jobs brought about. How about we start distributing grades much like we distribute incomes? Distribution of wealth to some one who DIDN’T EARN IT doesn’t not encourage growth it hinders it.

        • I already do pay my share of taxes thanks to the multiple jobs I work and I honestly have no problem with it because I feel that it’s a fair amount that I should pay.

          • Ah I see you think it is fair. But is it really? Are you really paying your fair share? Maybe you’re not, just because you think or feel so does not mean you are. How much should some one be happy with to keep? Again redistribution does NOT grow and economy nor create jobs.

          • Most likely, if you’re a college student, you’re living under the illusion of paying your “fair share” of taxes. In reality, you probably get it all back on April 15th.

    • What’s wrong with Universal Health Care? Do you just want health care for those who can afford the tens of thousands of dollars simple operations cost?

      • Do you want to kill economic growth further through even more taxation to the point where yes you have health care but what good does that do you when you can’t get a job to feed, clothe and put a roof over your head? Seen all those countries that had a one payer system now having to reap the rewards of having to many users and not enough payers into the system?

      • What’s wrong with Universal Health Care? That’s a whole essays worth of info. But to start with, America is too sick to afford it and employers are already laying off people and cutting hours on employees and raising prices so they can afford to stay in business when the law kicks in. Mandatory insurance also penalized the increasing number of people who avoid allopathic care in favor of safer health care approaches not covered by insurance… Every penny spent on mandatory insurance robs them of the ability to spend their hard earned money on the care of their choice. Big pharmacy and the AMA strangle hold on medical care and our ignorance are the problems to tackle first. UHC is throwing good money after bad.

  • “Our federal government consists of a system of checks and balances, where the president only resides with one-third of the government’s power. The ideal here is that Congress or Supreme Court will shoot down anything that seems actually damaging to the country and the people’s freedom.”
    Well, that used to be true but no more. The three branches of the federal government no longer act as a system of checks and balances to each other. The Executive refuses to fulfill the Oath of Office, ignores law which he doesn’t like, ignores court orders, etc, and there are no consequences. The Senate refuses to even consider bills sent by the House, and the House holds no one to account. THe Courts have gone from passing judgement on legality of legislation to legislating. Any more questions?

  • Horror stories need to stop. Why? Because it hurts poor little Patrick?
    .
    The real horror story is the new layoffs coming because of ObamaCare. 5 pages already and undoubtedly hundreds of thousands more to come.
    .
    Hello 29 hr workweeks. Hello higher pizza costs due to ObamaCare. Did I mention the layoffs?
    .
    PL you embarrass yourself with your regurgitation. Have you ever had an original thought free of your liberal professors?

    • Obamacare is not socialized medicine. it is a requirement of business owners to offer health insurance to their workers, and to have a federally funded health insurance for those who cannot access it other ways.

      • Why couldn’t the employees just go get their own instead of relying on the man to offer it? I know I have and it can be done. I went and got it on my own and pay for it. AND BS on those who can not access it. Quit your lying, they get it every time they walk through an emergency room which is MANDATED BY LAW that they can not be turned away and must be treated. Go peddle your lies elsewhere. Also how about all the taxes that are going to be levied in areas that are not even related to healthcare? That is why many americans who can think and use common sense see that this act is bad for the country in the long run and barely fixes any problems we want to fix.

          • Nope I would not. I do not want to raise my taxes more and get nickeled and dimed to death like what Obamacare is going to do.

  • While I find it curious that 108% of registered Ohio voters turned out at the polls this year, I don’t have time to linger on election controversy, either. The shenanigans of the new term are rolling down the turnpike too rapidly to keep up with them.

Leave a Comment