Resolved: The GOP's staunch opposition to the presidency and the left has caused more harm than good

CASE:The GOP's staunch opposition to the presidency and the left has caused more harm than goodOpening ThoughtsOver the course of the last few years, America has been at crossroads, a partisan divide has caused several key problems in our government. We have one one side the Democrats, who have been able to win election after election because of their more centrist policies. Now, that statements may seem false, considering the recent Republican win in the Midterm Elections. But, according to the PBS newshour, "turnout in these midterms was the lowest overall in 70 years. " Especially in blue and purple states, where many democratic seats were lost. Also, according to Slate magazine, most of the voters were older white males, and 64% of them voted for Republican candidates, youth, women, and minority votes were down, all categories that lean more democraticSo, what does this mean, well, Republicans over the past 6 years have constantly bashed the president, called for his resignation. Figures such as Donald Trump and other Republicans have called him out for not releasing his birth certificate, and claiming that he was born in Kenya. Which is a ridiculous notion since Kenya declared its independence 2 years after President Obama was born. According to the Huffington Post, nearly 20% of all Republican voters still think Obama is a Muslim, though he has affirmed that he is a Christian. Republicans have had backwards logic, and they seem to oppose every single policy idea Obama and the Democrats put on the table. My goal in this debate is to show that:Contention 1: Obama's policies have worked, and a list of common misconceptions about his planAdam Hartung. "Obama Outperforms Reagan On Jobs, Growth And Investing. "Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 5 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. . http://www.forbes.com...;This fascinating article shows how the jobs and investing market has actually boomed under Obama. Just in 2014, the United States is expected to create over 2.5 million new jobs, and throughout his tenure as president, Obama has created 10.3 million new jobs. The Dow has hit 17,000 points for the first time in years, and more Americans view the economy favorably than before. Look at this chart comparing the unemployment rate under Obama compared to ReaganAs you can clearly observe, there has been a more consistent descent in unemployment, just last month, it was announced that unemployment fell to 5.9%, and it is predicted to fall to 5.4% by the summer of 2015. President Reagan and his policies could not achieve this at all. The job market was also very saturated at this time with Baby Boomers, who were actively seeking jobs, while Obama has had to deal with a huge amount of retirement removal from the job market, which makes it very difficult to deal with unemployment. Under Reagan, there were thousands flooding the job market, making it easier to fill in all of the gaps, but with Obama, there are actually less people seeking jobs, since the amount of jobs available does not change. This graph shows overall participation in the job market, as you can see, Obama has struggled with very sharp descents in workforce involvement and interest. While Reagan was brought into an era of very sharp job market growth. If I have not proved my point yet, here are even more statistics, a dollar invested when Reagan assumed office would be worth 190% of its value after 8 years these numbers have been squandered under Obama’s leadership. Now, a dollar invested under this administration leads to 220% in return after 5.5 years, that is more than double, and unheard of priorSocial Advantages of Obama’s LeadershipThe Affordable Care ActThe most controversial piece of legislation passed under the Obama administration. This law has been very strongly opposed by Republicans and the party has led several repeal attempts against the Affordable Care Act. However, I will prove that the ACA is working and it is a fantastic option to help Americans all over. Point I: The ACA helps Corporations, and works for the free marketBruce Japsen. "Another Sign ObamaCare Works: Wellpoint Boosts Profit Forecast. " Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. We often hear the rhetoric that the ACA is a socialist scheme, however, the ACA is not that at all, it works directly with private insurance companies in order to help them boost profits in a way that is fair to consumers. This, in turn, makes sure that these corporations can provide better care with these increased profits. Lets look at some statistics: WellPoint, which is the company that runs BlueShield and Blue Cross plans, has increased its profit forecast from 8 dollars per share to 8.20 per share, which may not seem significant, but it adds up fast. Why, because the ACA has brought 12 million Americans into the healthcare market, and provided them with quality, low cost options. WellPoint has added between 1-1.3 million new recipients of the healthcare law. Now, healthcare companies from WellPoint to companies like Aetna, Cigna, Humana, United Health Group, and even Kaiser Permanente are all seeing profits go up. Its just common sense that with higher profits, a company can do more, it can overall improve care for its patients, and even train better doctors. The reason why most Americans are still skeptics of the law is because they simply are not sure how it works yet, rest assured, here is some general info on how the healthcare law actually functions. Obamacare Facts. "How Does ObamaCare Work? " Obamacare Facts. N. p. , 2014. Web. 09 Nov. 2014. . http://obamacarefacts.com...The ACA works through an Individual Mandate system, in other words, one can access the new healthcare law through several means, they can purchase from a broker, from a provider (like WellPoint), obtained through your employer (like most Americans), or through government healthcare systems like Medicare or Medicaid, or through individual states’ systems. All of these options make it easy for anyone to get onboard, and the low cost options makes it so anyone can afford healthcare, youth can now stay on their parent’s plan until they are 26 and can then move onto a very low cost catastrophic plan until they are 35. Secondly, the ACA ensures that Americans can’t be turned away because of preexisting conditions, or dropped when they become ill, it makes large corporations cover all of their full-time employees with a healthcare plan by 2016, and offers generous tax credits to small business who choose to participate. What has the GOP been doing, well, that’s a different story. Last election, the GOP pledged to repeal large portions of the ACA, and have already tried nearly 50 times to repeal it. However, they will not be able to, here is why:There are already 12 million Americans on the exchange, and 26 million are predicted to purchase insurance by 2022. The GOP would be shooting themselves in the foot of they attempted to repeal the ACA. According to a new NBC poll, 52% of Americans approve of the ACA, and 48% disapprove of the law. But, it was found that many simply were not familiar with the law and agreed with most of the provisions in the law. Contention II: Politics throughout history has relied on compromise- the GOP has hurt this notionWe can all agree that there is something wrong in our political system, we have a system in which the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer. A system where 1% of the population owns 40% of the wealth. It’s a disgrace, and the GOP, particularly factions like the Tea Party have just made things worse. As I have proved above, Obama’s policies, and the policies driven by Democrats have worked, and our country is on the road to economic success once again. DAVE HELLING AND STEVE KRASKE. "National News from McClatchy DC News | Washington DC. " National News from McClatchy DC News | Washington DC. N. p. , 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. The US is struggling once again to meet the demands of the people. The GOP is not helping one bit. According to the article cited above. Experts agree that we are more divided than any time since the civil war. It’s a partisan gridlock, and the perpetrators are the GOP. The only thing the Democrats aren’t doing right, is that they have been too focused on pleasing the republicans. Congressional approval is four times lower than that of the IRS, now that’s saying something. Whats going on here, well 70% of all republicans identify themselves as conservative or very conservative. While only 40% of democrats say that they are liberal at all. Why, because the Democratic party is now the party of the center in the US, poll after poll after poll shows that the American People agree with the Democratic plan of action more. In ClosingIt is common sense to vote pro in this debate. I have proved that the Obama policies have worked, and the American people are becoming acclimated to them. While in 2014, Republicans have run an agenda that targets programs such as the ACA, has vowed for tax reform that will end up just benefiting the wealthy and large corporations.