Onely.Org

Single-Issue Voters? Hell No — But We *Are* Single! November 4, 2008

Happy (U.S.) Election Day everyone!

Please, more than anything else — please GO VOTE!!!

But before you do, Christina and I want you to know: Onely Endorses Obama!!

(no way are we “undecided”)

Why? Well, not necessarily because he is pro-single (we’ve posted about politics and singlism previously: here and here); rather, because we feel he stands on the “correct” side of issues concerning Human Rights in general (such as reproductive rights for women, equal benefits for same-sex partners, and etc).

However, there is one more issue that may sway some of you “undecided” Onely voters out there – perhaps you *are* a single-issue voter after all – and that is Obama’s stance on health care. Indeed, his proposal for health care would favor single people, in that it would:

# Create a national system of competing, federally approved private insurance policies and a public plan that offers coverage similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan, which provides coverage to federal employees and members of Congress. Individuals and small businesses could purchase coverage through this national exchange.

# Set national standards for private plans and forbid insurance companies from denying coverage because of preexisting conditions.

# Require that children have insurance, offer tax credits to low-income families, and expand coverage under Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Obama has not specified what penalty parents would face if they don’t have health coverage for their kids.

# Impose a “pay-or-play” requirement under which large companies would either have to offer coverage or pay a portion of premiums for workers, or pay a percentage of payroll into the national public plan. Small businesses would be exempt from the requirement, but could qualify for a refundable tax credit of up to 50 percent of premiums paid for their employees, to encourage them to offer coverage directly. Obama also wants to cover some of the costs of expensive health coverage businesses face for some employees.

— from http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/health_care_spin.html

In other words, Obama’s plan — far more than McCain’s, will make it easier for more people (single and married) to gain health care without having to compete for fair and affordable prices. This is especially important for single people, especially young single women, because we are the ones who make less money and have a weaker support system (at least as officially sanctioned by the government):

Compared to marrieds, fewer single women have health insurance or own homes or cars. Almost half have household incomes of $30,000 a year or less, often working long hours for less pay than men. With one paycheck they’re often more at risk if they have credit cut. They are frightened of losing their home, or getting laid off from work, and there’s often little to fall back on. Over ten million unmarried women are single moms, with kids at home and special worries about health care and retirement.

— from http://www.alternet.org/election08/105969/single_women%3A_election_2008%27s_holy_grail/

Of course, there should be much more incentive for the single person to vote for a particular candidate, but culturally our issues just do not garner respect or attention it deserves. Guess we have to speak/stand up for ourselves.

(Incidentally, out here in Kentucky, my university gets the day off — how terrific is that? I have attended two universities and taught at two others prior to this, and I have never had election day off. I do think it should be a national holiday — and this would favor single voters (especially single-parent voters) because it would give them more flexibility in actually participating as the citizens we are!)

— L