Last night’s presidential debate should be eye-opening to Americans, but not for either candidate’s specific answers to questions about the economy, health care, education, military or even the role of government, although proved the most instructive.

This election is about ideology.  Does President Barack Obama want a prosperous economy? Of course.  But not at the expense of his social agenda that gives the left the political power and control that it craves.  Former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall once said, “The power to tax is the power to destroy.”  “Fairness” and “fair share” are terms we hear often from the president in regard to what breeds prosperity (i.e. making the rich pay more to help out the less fortunate). 

However, there is no end to human need and prosperity requires that certain people get ahead.  The rich are not rich enough to bankroll the President’s spending ambitions. Americans shouldn’t let his demagoguery fool them.

— Alex Turner, international relations and global studies senior