The 2016 Run for President: A Race for Solutions
More than 16 Republicans and five Democrats are running in the election. The GOP candidates had a debate on Sept. 16, hosted by CNN, where they discussed the principal problems in America and possible solutions: climate change, Obamacare, immigration, gun control, and abortion, among other topics. There have not been any Democratic debates. The first is scheduled for Oct. 13.
By now, an NBC/WSJ poll dated Sept. 24, 2015 gives the GOP victory to Donald Trump, with 21% of Republican primary votes going to him, followed by Ben Carson at 20% and Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina tied at 11% each.
In the Democratic party, Hillary Clinton is the first choice with 42% of primary votes, Bernie Sanders is in second place at 35% and Joe Biden is in third at 17%.
Jeffrey Davis, Social Studies teacher at Urbana High School, said, “Most Americans are primarily concerned about economy, but quite honestly, America’s role in the world is being challenged by China and Russia and our policies with Mexico, for example. We have to have a leader that is going to be able to, hopefully, improve those relationships.”
Davis also thinks the political situation has changed. Now there is a whole spectrum of ideologies inside the parties.
“I think most Americans, they got rid of the labels: Republicans, Democrats, liberal, conservative, socialist… My advice to any American that´s interested in hearing these debates, don’t get turned off by all of Trump’s comments and listen to the arguments of all candidates.”
However, Mark Foley, also a Social Studies teacher at UHS, said that the future leader should be more concerned about climate change and thinks that Bernie Sanders is the “only candidate willing to change the government so they stop polluting the environment.”
Climate change is a problem which Donald Trump does not consider serious. In fact, in a telephone interview to CNN News, he said, “I’m not a believer in climate change… You can´t watch the news any more. It´s always weather”.
Foley also feels that issues with immigration, legal and illegal, are not important to consider.
“Immigration is not an issue. Because illegal immigration is at one of the lowest levels that we’ve had in a long time. So called ‘illegal immigrants’ are not a problem, because they’re coming to be a part of the American Dream and we need to pay attention to the people who are polluting our environment and not to take away the freedoms that Americans enjoy.”
Sophomore Saskia Bakker agrees with Foley in supporting Sanders for President.
“He cares about things that I think really matter, and he´s very up-to-date on problem issues that other candidates don’t even address.”
Bakker also believes money distribution should be considered.
“Even if America is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, currently, the top 1/10th of the 1% has almost as much wealth as the bottom 99% combined… We can’t have that ginormous gap between the middle class, where people can live comfortably, and these billionaires, who aren’t even paying their taxes fairly… 58% of all new income from 2009 to 2014 has gone to the top 1%.”
Through the Presidential race, Democrat Hillary Clinton has been in the spotlight when FBI investigators have recovered several emails with possible confidential information that was erased from the Secretary of Estate’s personal account, in what some called a “scandal”. Also,
Republican candidate Scott Walker dropped out the race in September. His position was damaged by the large number of candidates in his party and the strong position of Trump in the polls.
The Republican party has been focused on their policies regarding pro-life and on their opposition to Obamacare. They want to use some money from government programs for the military and veteran’s rights.
On the other hand, Democrats are working to make progress in issues like equal pay and clean energy.
These are the promises. We’ll have to wait until 2016 to know who is chosen as each party’s candidate for president.
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