After the Vice Presidential Debate, it is apparent that the Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare) is an extremely important and hotly contested issue in this election. Championed by the left as a solution to government provided healthcare and a mate to Medicare and Medicaid, it calls for health care coverage for all citizens of America. Within that, though, lies the facts that no pre-existing conditions will get in the way of getting coverage, children can stay on their parent’s plans until they are 25, health care providers can not set yearly or lifetime caps on premiums, and much more.

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden use this as a key piece in their re-election bid, showing the benefits that their administration has given the people. On the other side, the Republicans argue that Obamacare is a “government takeover of health care” and vow to repeal it on the first day that they take office. Although Governor Romney has ceded the fact that many good policies reside in the Affordable Care Act, it remains a major arguing point for the two campaigns.

The question that should be asked regarding this feud is “why?” Why does Romney-Ryan so heavily contest Obamacare? It doesn’t quite make sense, since the basic premise of the bill is Republican in nature. For years before the Obama administration, Republicans had been pining for a government health care mandate quite similar to the Affordable Care Act. Mitt Romney himself proposed a bill in Massachusetts that is strikingly similar to Obamacare. And, across the board, the Affordable Care Act has received more support from the right than from the left. Liberals wanted a true government take-over of health care, which is not what this act entails. So, again, why the rejection of it by the Romney-Ryan ticket?

The answer is simple. The modern Republican party cares more about politics and winning office than they do about the well-being of the country. Instead of recognizing a bill that will positively impact a large majority of U.S. citizens, as well as help save Medicare from bankruptcy, Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan want to try to spin Obamacare into a job-killing government monstrosity. They are, in fact, doing the exact thing that Ryan accused the Obama campaign of doing in the vice presidential debate: “If you don’t have a good record, paint your opponent as someone you should run from.”

Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney are trying to do just that. They are trying to skew Obamacare into something it is not. They are trying to convince swing voters that their plan, which isn’t even explicitly explained and will not be explicitly explained by their campaign, will be better than the current option. But it’s all a political faux pas. Instead of supporting programs that benefit the nation, Romney-Ryan is going to whatever length it can to glean votes out of the population. But by having to twist around the effects of a bill, they are instead showing the weakness of their own platform.