Presidential Debate: Lannan13 vs. TBA

1. AbortionLet me clarify myself, I stated how we the US could take abortion out of the political arena by having non-prescribed birth control pills. It basically allows the women to choose if they want to have a safe abortion, while simultaneously not forcing private religious businesses to cover birth control. Argument's of infringement of religion would be nullified as the Federal government won't need to take a stand on abortion.2. Gay marriageWhile my opponent rides on the 10th amendment for gay marriage, I still retain that the issue of gay marriage is strictly a 14th amendment right. The 10th amendment states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The 14th amendment which protect the civil liberties of US citizens states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." 3. Voting "Rights"I still believe it is a state issue since several Federal investigations have found virtually no evidence of organized voter fraud, and this was during President Bush's term who pledged to crack down on voter fraud. (http://www.nytimes.com...)4. Foreign PolicyJust because Israel is a great ally it doesn't mean that we must support them. While Iran's threats are extravagant, it only shows that Iran can only employ saber rattling tactics to goad the US, and Israel into striking first. We will show Iran we mean business, but we will also do so by denying the Iranians any sort of moral appeal.Syria- Look if we try any of those Charlie Wilson's war crap for the Syrian rebels while they still have Al Qaida affiliates we might as well be supplying AA guns to the Hezbollah, AQAP, Hamas, and the Taliban. We need assurances those weapons won't fall into the wrong hands, and the rebels haven't assured us at all. I still think Egypt is better off than Northern Mali, if there is an urgent reason to intervene it is the likely hood of Syria becoming like Northern Mali or Afghanistan when the Taliban were in power.North Korea- North Korea already has Nukes, they just don't have the technologies to make an ICBM. We are trying to prevent them from obtaining an ICBM which would mean that they could drop a nuke on US Soil or on allied soil. So far we don't know fully the new leader's aganda so we'll keep a wait and see attitude. 5.Welfare and Social Security Welfare is actually a part of Social Security as it falls under unemployment benefits and Temporary Assistance for needy families. We use Social Security numbers to track individuals' accounts within the Social Security program. However SSN's have since been used as an identifier for individuals within the United States, although rare errors occur where duplicates do exist. However, since numbers are now assigned by the central issuing office of the SSA, it is highly unlikely that such duplications occur again. If we abolish Social Security then We will need to find another way to identify US citizens in legal transactions, and another way to retain the 401k.6. DeficitI still think Fiat money is far more viable than platinum money. Does anyone remember the Nixon-shock that made the US dollar unconvertible to gold? Well the economist Paul Krugman summarized the post-Nixon Shock era as, "The current world monetary system assigns no special role to gold; indeed, the Federal Reserve is not obliged to tie the dollar to anything. It can print as much or as little money as it deems appropriate. There are powerful advantages to such an unconstrained system. Above all, the Fed is free to respond to actual or threatened recessions by pumping in money. To take only one example, that flexibility is the reason the Stock Market Crash of 1987—which started out every bit as frightening as that of 1929—did not cause a slump in the real economy. While a freely floating national money has advantages, however, it also has risks. For one thing, it can create uncertainties for international traders and investors. Over the past five years, the dollar has been worth as much as 120 yen and as little as 80. The costs of this volatility are hard to measure (partly because sophisticated financial markets allow businesses to hedge much of that risk), but they must be significant. Furthermore, a system that leaves monetary managers free to do good also leaves them free to be irresponsible—and, in some countries, they have been quick to take the opportunity." 7. Electoral CollegeYour contention is essentially abolishing the electoral college. See in the Federalist Papers Essay No. 39 written by James Madison, it argues that the constitution is a mix between population and state-based government. It was argued that Congress would have two houses; a state-based Senate, and a population-based House of Representatives. At the same time, the President would be elected by a mixture of the two modes. Now if we decided to take out the primary function of the electoral college then we are promoting a mobocracy. Something that our founding fathers tried to prevent through the electoral college. 8. Gun controlWhile my arguments may seem like for the status quo, I am talking about laws similar to the one passed in New York, along with elements of California's gun control laws. The law passed in New York clamps down on the sale of ammunition and the sale of guns, requiring background checks on even the private sale of guns – except to family members. The New York law also attempts to keep the mentally ill from obtaining guns. While its true we had some back ground checks, none actually had mental-health screening and home inspections prior to a gun purchase. In the case of acquiring multiple fire arms we enact California legislation which has an individual wait a month before buying a second hand gun.