We have been watching poll numbers for young voters closely, and it is transparently clear that the economy is more important to them than contraception.

For example, University of Wisconsin – Madison student Zachary Walters offers his free-enterprise oriented perspective on the upcoming election:

How can we compare apples to oranges? Yes, they may both be fruit, but other than that they do not share anything in common. One is red, and the other is orange. Also, they taste completely different. In the same manner, we can compare President Obama and Governor Romney. They are both presidential candidates, but other than that they are polar opposites. Their stark differences are especially illustrated through their policies on the economy.

With regards to the economy, President Obama believes that we will be thrust into economic prosperity through a lack of individual freedom and a high influence of government. This is shown by his high taxes and stimulus plans. In his eyes, government bureaucrats know how to use money better than an entire free nation. Many may think that these ideas are working because of the recent drop in unemployment to 7.8 percent. However, if President Obama’s term would end today, he would still have raised the unemployment rate by 0.5 percent. Likewise, in a poll taken in September by Reuters/Ipsos, 75 percent of the nation stated that they believe that the economy is not headed in the right direction. Obviously, this ideology has not gotten President Obama very far.

On the other hand, Mitt Romney believes in the free enterprise system and its potential to succeed without government interference. He believes that an entire nation of free citizens has a better idea of how to spend their money than any number of bureaucrats. This is similar to the approach that Ronald Reagan took while he was in office. While Romney was the governor of Massachusetts, the unemployment rate dropped from 5.6 percent to 4.7 percent. While doing this, he also eliminated the budget deficit of Massachusetts. Clearly, his ideas have worked in the past, and we know that they will work in the future.

Since the economy is one of the most important issues this election, people must choose if they want to take a gamble with socialism, which seems to have failed in the past, or if they want to maintain the free enterprise system, which has made us succeed in the past. Which will we choose: President Obama and economic downturn or Mitt Romney and an economic recovery?