By David Patkin
News Reporter
As we enter the final months of 2015, the presidential election of 2016 takes center stage. There are over twenty candidates between the two main parties, all of whom make promises for a better America.
Two Democrats, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, have separated themselves from the rest of the pack, while the Republican candidates are still battling in a group with no clear frontrunner.
Hillary Clinton – Democrat
Clinton, born in Chicago, Illinois, graduated from Wellesley College and Yale Law School. After graduation, she worked for the Children’s Defense Fund before teaching law in Arkansas.
Clinton is best known as the First Lady to former President Bill Clinton. She has also served as senator of the state of New York and as a secretary of state under current President Barack Obama.
As president, Clinton has said that she wants America to become the clean energy superpower of the twenty-first century, as she believes that the future of our economy relies on the creation of jobs in sustainable energy.
When it comes to higher education, Clinton said she wants free tuition for students at community colleges. She also hopes to cut interest rates for student loans.
Clinton believes that the United States judicial system needs change. She promises to reform mandatory minimum sentences for low-level nonviolent offenses and pursue alternative punishments for young, low-level offenders.
She hopes to improve transparency, accountability, and trust between police and the American people by making every police officer wear body cameras.
Other key components of her campaign include ensuring equality for all: women, the LGBT community, and people with disabilities. She also hopes to support the creation and growth of small businesses and make affordable healthcare a basic human right.
Bernie Sanders – Democrat
Sanders, a registered Independent and self described “democratic socialist,” was born in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Brooklyn College and the University of Chicago.
In 1981, he was elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and went on to become a United States representative for Vermont and, most recently, a senator.
If elected, Sanders promises to make tuition at all public colleges and universities free and, like Clinton, he would like to lower interest rates on student loans.
A large part of his campaign is avoiding war in the Middle East, which Sanders believes should be the last possible resolution to the conflict. Sanders also aims to help those injured in war by strengthening the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to provide veterans with optimum healthcare services.
Other major components of his campaign include urgent action to combat global climate change, the creation of thirteen million jobs in order to rebuild America’s infrastructure, and the raising of the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
As a former civil rights activist, Sanders strongly believes in equal rights for all races, religions, genders, and sexualities. Part of Sanders’ plan for nationwide equality is ensuring that women receive equal pay for equal work.
Jeb Bush – Republican
Republican candidate Jeb Bush was born in Midland, Texas and graduated from the University of Texas. Bush is the brother of 43rd President George W. Bush and the son of 41st President George H.W. Bush. He is the former governor of Florida and was an entrepreneur prior to his political career.
Bush, unlike his Democratic competitors, wants to take action in the Middle East. This includes his “five broad actions that must be taken to move the threat from Iraq.” This list includes supporting the Iraqi forces, providing consistent airpower to support local ground forces, giving current forces a greater range of action, providing more support to the Kurdish forces, and devising a diplomatic strategy for enduring political stability in Iraq.
Bush also hopes to defeat ISIS and ensure political stability in Syria through four simple steps: a coordinated, an international effort to give Syria’s moderate forces the upper hand, the expansion and improvement of recruitment and training of Syrian opposition fighters, the establishment of multiple safe zones in Syria, and the creation of an expanding no-fly zone in Syria.
Other major aspects of his campaign include equality for people with disabilities, continuing the U.S.’s commitment to the security and prosperity of the state of Israel, establishing equal education opportunities for children of all races in all communities, and completely overhauling the current U.S. tax code by lowering taxes and simplifying tax codes, eliminating loopholes which benefit the rich, and preventing the tax code from impeding the U.S.’s competition with China.
Ben Carson – Republican
Dr. Ben Carson was born in Detroit, Michigan, graduated from Yale University, received his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School, and completed his residency in neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital.
Carson went on to become the director of pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, a position he held for twenty-nine years. For his work, Carson received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008. He has also written eight books, two of which went on to become New York Times best sellers. He has had no previous political experience.
Carson believes that the United States must ratify a Balanced Budget Amendment to the constitution in order to restore fiscal responsibility to the federal government’s budget.
He also believes that it is key to keep Guantanamo Bay detention camps open in order to prevent possible terrorist attacks from happening in the future.
Other major components of his campaign include his pro-life stance on abortion, his belief that Health Savings Accounts should replace the Affordable Care Act, his support of the second amendment and the state of Israel, and his thoughts on simplifying the tax code, which, according to Carson, will “enable us to end the IRS as we know it.”
Ted Cruz – Republican
Ted Cruz was born in Calgary, Canada and graduated from Princeton University. After graduating, Cruz worked in law and eventually became Texas Solicitor General before becoming a United States senator for the state of Texas.
Cruz wants to declare war on ISIS and increase military spending in the ISIS’s areas of influence. He also wants to terminate the Iran nuclear deal that President Obama has been trying to push through Congress.
Cruz is a strong supporter of religious freedom and believes that companies should have the right to deny service to customers for religious reasons. While he does acknowledge that women face difficulties in the workplace, Cruz feels that Obama’s executive order regarding equal pay for women was a distraction from more important political issues, stating that equal work has “been the law for decades.” In regards to same-sex marriage, Cruz believes the legalization of same-sex marriage is the responsibility of the states, not the federal government.
Other critical aspects of Cruz’s campaign include his belief that Americans should not have access to government subsidized healthcare and that the government does not have a part in the prevention of global warming.
Donald Trump – Republican
Donald Trump was born in Queens, NY and graduated from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the president and chairman of the Trump organization.
He has written two New York Times bestselling business books and is well-known as the star of the television series “The Celebrity Apprentice.” He has no previous political experience.
Trump’s campaign focus is immigration reform. The three core principles for his immigration plan include: building a wall across the nation’s southern border; enforcing laws passed in accordance with the United States’ constitutional system of government; and improving jobs, wages and security for all American citizens.
Trump’s plan includes making Mexico pay for the wall, tripling the number of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, returning all illegal immigrants to their home countries, detaining all illegal immigrants until they are sent back to their home countries, ending birthright citizenship, and implementing requirements to ensure American workers come first.
Other major parts of his campaign include his pro-life stance on abortion, his belief that the government does not have a place in preventing global warming, and his belief that same-sex marriage should not be legal.
The primaries begin in March, and by November of next year the nation will select the 45th President of the United States of America.
