the Silent Majority

Barack Obama knows the devastating consequences that his statist domestic policies will have on the youth of our country.  He also knows that young voters don’t take the time to educate themselves on these issues, the campaign preferring instead to capitalize upon the interrelationship between pop culture and presidential politics as opposed to focusing on actual policy.  Under the clever marketing facade of “Hope” and “Change,” Barack Obama shamelessly exploits the American youth that devoutly cling to his thoroughgoing rhetoric, the majority of whom cannot name a single policy of his, let alone the three branches of the federal government.  It is, essentially, a campaign founded on emotion as opposed to substance.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming constituency of young voters that eagerly profess their support for Barack Obama far outweighs that of the young voters that actually take the time to educate themselves.  In an article from the Cato Institute, authors Jagadeesh Gokhale and John Samples discuss Barack Obama’s Social Security policy, which severely impairs the very constituency that Barack Obama proudly claims to fortify:

Barack Obama’s policy would impose a 60-percent increase in lifetime Social Security payroll taxes for some young voters. College-educated workers would lose the most under his plan, since their future earnings are likely to remain above Social Security’s maximum taxable limit for most of their careers.

A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that under Social Security’s current rules, young college graduates will contribute about 5 percent of their lifetime earnings. Under Obama’s proposal, that number would rise to almost 9 percent, taking these individuals’ overall lifetime tax rate from 45 percent to 49 percent. By voting for Obama, a 22-year-old young college graduate earning $40,000 per year today would be opting to surrender an additional 4 percent of his lifetime earnings to the Social Security administration - and may get no benefits in return.

Put another way, Obama is proposing to significantly reduce the economic value of the college degrees his young supporters are struggling to attain and pay for. He is also reducing the incentives of his young supporters to stay in school even after graduating from college. By proposing higher payroll taxes, Obama proposes reducing or eliminating the value of those additional years of education.

It’s pathetic to see a presidential candidate hanging his youthful supporters out to dry at the expense of furthering his own political ambition.  I, for one, am not inspired.