Donald Trump’s first few weeks of presidency have been controversial.
I’m sure you’ve all seen the headlines about his executive orders, walking past your television screen or in your hallways at school. Every president signs executive orders when they first enter office, so why are people going mad in response to Trump? What exactly will his documents do anyway? Let’s break it down, shall we:
The first order he signed was to roll back Obamacare, which was criticized by Republicans because it “forces” people to get insurance even when the premiums are too high. They argue that prices would be lower if we allowed insurance companies to go back to having a “free market.”
I understand this gripe, I really do. I have a few issues with it, however, the big one being that there’s no plan to replace it.
This is a big red flag considering millions of people would be affected by its repeal. I personally can’t afford to not be on my parents’ insurance plan; the provision that children can stay on the plan until they’re 26 years of age is crucial for me and so many other young people. Those with chronic or terminal illnesses would also be impacted by the repeal, as it’s the only way they can be insured and afford all the treatments they have to receive on a regular basis.
By law, insurance companies must accept people with pre-existing conditions. Without Obamacare, they’re not going to accept those with pre-existing illnesses out of the goodness of their hearts. That would mean losing money, which is the last thing any insurance company wants to do.
Another executive order that was signed was, in lesser words, created to keep illegal immigrants out of the United States and Trump’s infamous “build a huge wall” order. I have a few things to say about this.
First, against the “they’re stealing our jobs” argument… What jobs are they stealing? Are they stealing doctor or scientist or lawyer jobs?
No, they’re working less-than-minimum-wage under-the-table jobs in horrible conditions just to have some way to provide for their families.
Second, we already have walls. Walls don’t work. Many illegal immigrants come to America by plane. The billions of dollars being spent on this thing could be used in so many other, more helpful ways. Why don’t we spend it on education since funding seems to be cut for that every single year? Or cancer research? Or literally anything else?
The next big order in the news is the “Muslim ban.” Now I know a lot of you are saying, “it’s not a Muslim ban! He didn’t ban ALL Muslim countries,” but let’s explore how this ban came to be. To put it briefly, Trump’s reasoning for this is to prevent another 9/11 from happening. However, none of the seven countries on the ban list—Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia—were the countries that took part in 9/11.
One was Saudi Arabia, which has been suspiciously left off this list, considering they’re one of a few Muslim-majority countries not on the list that Trump has business ties to. What upsets people most about this is that he’s banning those that are legally allowed to be here, such as those with green cards and visas. American citizens can’t go back to work or school. They can’t visit their families anymore or they’re stuck overseas. It’s completely uncalled for and a violation of human rights, not to mention it’s further perpetuating what prejudices many Americans already have against Muslims.
The last executive order is the one reducing regulations for corporations. Trump says that for every new regulation passed, two must be removed. Sounds good in theory, right? Lifting restrictions off small businesses to make it easier for them to get started? This is great if you forget that a lot of regulations are placed to make corporations impact the environment less.
Regulations are placed to minimize carbon dioxide emissions and ensure corporations aren’t dumping waste into bodies of water—you know, the ones that people drink from and where communities of animals and plant life live.
All of this doesn’t seem to be considered because Trump’s administration doesn’t seem to believe climate change is real. Alternative facts, am I right? They’ve done nothing for Flint and the many other communities that have no clean drinking water. They have no problem building a huge oil pipeline through sacred Native American burial grounds, taint their drinking water or just wreak havoc on the environment in general.
You’ve all seen those sad Dawn soap commercials where there are volunteers scrubbing thick black oil off of penguins and ducks and things, right? Well, that’s what’s going to continue happening here since again, corporations aren’t going to spend their money protecting the environment out of the goodness of their hearts.
If you read this and are mad about the impact about any one of these executive orders, I strongly encourage you to annoy your state and local officials office with multiple calls and emails.
It doesn’t seem like much but when enough people do it, they’ll finally listen.