Lincoln stresses election to UA students
James Baker
Issue date: 10/1/08 Section: News
Although many students believe politics don't have an effect on them, college students have more to lose and more to gain than anyone else in this election, Sen. Blanche Lincoln said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
Lincoln, the youngest woman to ever be elected to the Senate at age 38 in 1998 and the youngest senior senator in the Senate, welcomed the current increase in voter registration.
"It's wonderful, particularly among college students and youth," Lincoln said. "The reason is this wonderful country we're in has a government designed only to work when we participate.
"It takes, on average, eight to 10 years to do the more complex legislation and get it going," Lincoln said. "In 10 years, students will be starting businesses and families, and so they have more at stake a decade from now than my generation."
Lincoln, in the middle of her second term as an Arkansas senator, also said pivotal legislative issues like health care affect everyone in the election.
"We're still basing our health care delivery on a 40 or 50 year system based on acute, not preventive, health care," she said.
The World Health Organization's latest annual rankings of world health care quality has the U.S. at No. 37 with more than 75 million Americans believed to be uninsured or lacking sufficient health insurance.
France tops the list with a successful, socialized healthcare system, while Colombia, a nation plagued by government corruption, paramilitaries, the War on Drugs, poverty and FARC came in at No. 22, out of 190 countries.
"I could see working as a staffer I had more at stake and how long it was taking people as far as bickering," Lincoln said. "That's why it's so important to get young people energized about the political process," she said.
Lincoln also said the current financial crisis and the administration's plans for a $700 billion bailout should trickle up instead of down, and taxpayers should be given a stake in the companies.
Lincoln, the youngest woman to ever be elected to the Senate at age 38 in 1998 and the youngest senior senator in the Senate, welcomed the current increase in voter registration.
"It's wonderful, particularly among college students and youth," Lincoln said. "The reason is this wonderful country we're in has a government designed only to work when we participate.
"It takes, on average, eight to 10 years to do the more complex legislation and get it going," Lincoln said. "In 10 years, students will be starting businesses and families, and so they have more at stake a decade from now than my generation."
Lincoln, in the middle of her second term as an Arkansas senator, also said pivotal legislative issues like health care affect everyone in the election.
"We're still basing our health care delivery on a 40 or 50 year system based on acute, not preventive, health care," she said.
The World Health Organization's latest annual rankings of world health care quality has the U.S. at No. 37 with more than 75 million Americans believed to be uninsured or lacking sufficient health insurance.
France tops the list with a successful, socialized healthcare system, while Colombia, a nation plagued by government corruption, paramilitaries, the War on Drugs, poverty and FARC came in at No. 22, out of 190 countries.
"I could see working as a staffer I had more at stake and how long it was taking people as far as bickering," Lincoln said. "That's why it's so important to get young people energized about the political process," she said.
Lincoln also said the current financial crisis and the administration's plans for a $700 billion bailout should trickle up instead of down, and taxpayers should be given a stake in the companies.
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