Respond to a classmate from post 1
This week your task is to respond to a classmate from post 1. You can pick someone you AGREE with or you DISAGREE with. Either way you need to use at least one new piece of evidence to support or attack their argument. You should write a minimum of a paragraph adding to their argument or taking it a part. It could be helpful for you when trying to understand their argument to read the sources they used.
Try to pick a classmate who has not already been responded to so that everyone has someone respond to them. You can respond to more than one classmate in your post too.
One thing to remember is that if you are attacking someone's argument you are attacking what they wrote but not the author.
Things I noticed in post 1 I'd like to not see in this post:
- Use the last name of the candidate because this is an academic post and you're not actually friends with the candidate.
- Capitalize words like Democrat and Republican.
- Please proofread and spell check your posts before you post them.
- Please indicate after a sentence where you got that information from if you got if from a news source. You do not need to use formal citing but you need to not just post news sources at the end of the post without telling the audience how you used them.
Post is due by Friday, September 18th @ 7:50 am please.
posted by Ms. Aby @ 7:10 AM
24 Comments:
Since he still has yet to declare whether or not he will be running for president in the upcoming election, I have been suppressing my hope for Joe Biden to be the next president of our country. However, after reading through the blog, I realized that I was not the only one who thought he had potential to be a strong leader for us. Therefore, I have to agree with you, Jacob Woolley.
Unlike some of the candidates, Joe Biden has a great deal of experience. Since the 80s, he has been in and around the political limelight. Serving as both a senator from the state of Delaware and the current vice president of the United States, he has political experience competitive with that of Hillary Clinton; in comparison with other candidates, Biden outshines many of his opponents in this area. I also have to agree with Jacob’s statement that Joe Biden would come “with very little of the baggage.” Aside from the deaths of some of his loved ones, Biden has had relatively little drama that we, as a nation, are aware of. He is not someone that you hear about being involved in scandals (knock on wood), and for that reason, he appeals to many Americans as a more honest and genuine choice. In fact, he has actually moved into second place in the Democratic primary polls, holding 22% compared to Clinton’s 42% and Sanders’ 20% (Gass).
However, while some of his ideas are conservative, I definitely think he is left leaning and the majority of his opinions on the issues fall in the realm of liberalism. Both combating segregation and discrimination based on sexual orientation are more liberal than they are given credit for. In addition, the vice president supported Obamacare and believes that it is best to expand health insurance throughout the nation (Ontheissues). Finally, his position on immigration is not to rid the country of illegal immigrants, but rather to grant them access to becoming legalized in the United States (Foley). In comparison to the number of conservative views the potential candidate has, the amount of liberal positions Biden holds, in my opinion, heavily outweighs them. Knowing this, I still believe Joe Biden has a good chance at gaining the support of the majority of the country.
But, Jacob, as you said that becoming president in addition to his past personal conflicts could be “too much for any one man,” I do not think that is so. Especially when that man is Joe Biden. I think he has all the strength and capability in the world, he simply is hesitant at this point to fully commit to running in the election, probably due, in part, to the nature of the demand that comes with it and the strenuous task of leading one of the most influential nations in the world if he were to win. How hard can that be though? I mean, it’s only the presidency of the United States we’re talking about.
I believe if Joe Biden does decide to run in the election, he will give everyone else a run for their money. He could be exactly what our nation is looking for.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/poll-hillary-clinton-lead-2016-joe-biden-213401 - Gass
http://www.ontheissues.org/Joe_Biden.htm#Immigration - Ontheissues
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/27/joe-biden-undocumented-immigrants_n_5044613.html - Foley
While Scott Mitzel makes some pretty good arguments against the Democratic front-runner Senator Hillary Clinton, I personally can’t agree with (or find credibility-denouncing fault in) the claims that she changes her political opinions to get votes, misses Senate roll call votes without good reasons, and that she is totally untrustworthy and unqualified to be president because of her e-mail controversy.
Firstly, I disagree that Hillary Clinton could be characterized as “constantly changing her opinions.” Looking through the nature of her voting, she’s been pretty consistently liberal. This is apparent because she votes in favor of abortion rights, affirmative action, making voting more accessible, promoting green energy, etc (Ontheissues). That’s not to say that she’s never flip-flopped, however; for example, it’s true that she has changed her mind about gay marriage, and only more recently has been in support of marriage equality (Sherman). However, I don’t believe that makes her a “career politician whose only desire is to get re-elected.” As the Senator of New York, and a presidential hopeful, I see Clinton changing her mind as a good thing because now she is reflecting and representing the wishes of her constituents, as well as the majority of this country.
To address Scott’s concern about Hillary Clinton’s record of missing 9.5% of her roll call votes in the Senate (Govtrack), I was looking at the graphic that went along with her voting record and noticed that Clinton hardly ever missed roll call votes- save for a colossal spike in 2007-2008, which skewed the data. What was she doing during that time? Nothing decidedly sinister at all; that was when she ran for the 2008 presidential election, which could have easily taken up a lot of her time and made it more difficult for her to participate in the Senate as much as she did preceding her presidential campaign.
And then lastly, I agree that using a private server for both her personal and work email was a pretty significant blunder, but I think Clinton should be given a little credit and redemption for owning up to that decision right away even though she was within her legal rights (Montanaro&Keith). The FBI’s been going through her emails and the server, and she’s addressed the issue in a speech and has talked about it in various interviews (Gearan and Montanaro&Keith). Nearly every president and politician has had some sort of controversy or scandal to their name, and there are many who deny them. For example, it took former president George W. Bush 10 years to apologize for his mistake regarding the Iraq war- a war declared on the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, when later no evidence backed that up- but he still feels “comfortable” with his decision and believes it “was made the right way,” (Wing). I see it as a good quality in a president to admit faults and address controversies when they are brought up, and to take measures to resolve conflicts or assure nothing wrong was done as Hillary Clinton has shown she is strong enough to do.
Sources:
http://www.ontheissues.org/Hillary_Clinton.htm (Ontheissues)
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/jun/17/hillary-clinton/hillary-clinton-change-position-same-sex-marriage/ (Sherman)
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/hillary_clinton/300022 (Govtrack)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/08/hillary-clinton-apologizes-for-e-mail-system-i-take-responsibility/ (Gearan)
http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/09/11/439456567/fact-check-hillary-clintons-email-defense-is-a-mixed-bag (Montaro&Keith)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/15/george-w-bush-iraq_n_3084187.html (Wing)
Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are all over the news recently, which makes sense since the election is coming up in just over a year. While this is normal, no one is paying attention to the third party candidates. Historically, third party candidates do not get many votes when it is time to vote for president. With less funding and donations to their campaign, it is difficult to spread the word on these smaller parties. This is why it has been so difficult for Jill Stein to get anywhere in the polls. I agree with Diah Johnson that Stein is having a hard time having her voice heard in this presidential race. Through research on Stein, it does seem like she is not completely committed to running for president. She has run for president before, but other than that she does not have much experience being in a position of power. The only position that she has actually held for a period of time was as a town council chair in her home of Lexington, Massachusetts. While she had run for governor twice in the past, she never won. This is in part because she is running for the Green party, which is not altogether well-known in the United States. As Diah said, Stein is not even noted in the polls, only Republican and Democratic candidates are ranked (Polling Report).
Her platform has many issues that she wants to solve, like saving the environment, converting to only renewable energy, and setting minimum wage to fifteen dollars per hour (Jill 2016). All of these ideas are big, and no solutions are presented on her website. It is difficult to be able to support a candidate when she has no idea how she plans on solving these problems if she does in fact win the presidency. She has strong opinions on the environment, which is her main focus in her campaign (On the Issues). As a person, she is not soft spoken, and is involved in active participation. She involves herself in protests and rallies against climate change. While this shows that she can be a leader, I am unsure that she would be able to compose herself and follow any of her policies if she is in the presidential spot. Her political inexperience in large positions of power, even though she has ran in the past, makes it difficult to see how she can get much further in the election process.
She announced in June that she would be running for president, but since then she has stayed out of the limelight for the most part (Ecowatch). Stein still does not have a campaign commercial and it has been three months. Also, her campaign is only funded by her supporters, part of her focus on power to the people. While this is good in theory, not that many voters know about her or support her, so there is not much funding for her to work with. If she puts a little more effort into the campaign process and lets the country know that she is determined to run for president, she might actually have a chance to be a challenge to the two party system, but so far, has not gotten far enough.
http://www.pollingreport.com/ (Polling Report)
http://ecowatch.com/2015/06/30/jill-stein-green-party/ (Ecowatch)
http://www.jill2016.com/plan (Jill 2016)
http://www.ontheissues.org/Jill_Stein.htm (On the Issues)
I totally agree with Aly that Mike Huckabee is not a strong candidate. Huckabee has been overly vocal about his Christian beliefs. When I was looking at his campaign page, Christianity is all over the place. There is a pledge to “God, the Constitution, and the United States” at the bottom of the page. He makes a pledge to “elevate none but faithful constitutionalists as judges or justices. They must be committed to restraint and applying the original meaning of the Constitution, not legislating from the bench.” (Issues)
In regards to the already legal gay marriage, he is very much for traditional marriage. He sees homosexuallity as a sin. He said that legalizing gay-marriage because it accommodated some people was like to legalizing drugs because some people do drugs. (Wiki)
I am a Christian but I feel that Huckabee takes it too far. Church and state are supposed to be separate. He needs to focus on bettering and accommodating for the entire nation, not just those to agree with him. Considering almost a third of the country does not identify as Christian, I think he should focus more on the issues at hand rather than his religious beliefs.
http://mikehuckabee.com/fightforreligiousliberty “Huckabee LIberty”
http://mikehuckabee.com/issues “Issues”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Mike_Huckabee#Education “Wiki”
After reading your blog post Diah, I agree with the statements you made about Jill Stein starting from her lack of political experience to her “great” ideas with no plans and lastly to her not being present on any political polling websites. When you first go on Jill Stein’s website one of the first things you see is her statement on finding real solutions for the “economic, social and environmental crises we face” which she claims is “in our hands” (Stein). However convincing this may seem , Stein doesn’t provide any realistic plans for how she is going to fix the economy, social, and environmental problems.
One of Stein’s key issues deals with environmental changes. Stein’s plan is to “Create millions of jobs by transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030, and investing in public transit, sustainable agriculture, and conservation “ (Santema). Besides this statement, Stein doesn’t provide any other information on how she will make this policy come into effect in the future. I am wondering how Stein thinks it is possible to raise enough money to make this 100% clean renewable energy plan possible 15 years from now.
Another interesting thing about Stein is the fact that she has several policies similar to those of Bernie Sanders, however when referring to Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party she stated that “ These reform efforts within the Democratic Party feel good for those who participate, but at the end of the day, they have not built a foundation for the future” (Ollstein). It is strange that Stein would be saying this about Sanders and the Democratic Party because Stein’s agenda is very similar to Sanders. And compared to Stein, Sanders has a much greater chance of getting anywhere in the political race considering he has the experience and past political success. It will be interesting to see how far Stein gets as time progresses.
Stein. "Jill Stein's Power to the People Plan in Her Bid for President - SoDakLiberty." SoDakLiberty. N.p., 18 July 2015. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
Ollstein. "Why The Green Party’s Jill Stein Thinks She Can ‘Speak Truth To Power’ Better Than Bernie Sanders." ThinkProgress RSS. N.p., 24 June 2015. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
Santema. "Jill Stein's Power to the People Plan in Her Bid for President - SoDakLiberty." SoDakLiberty. N.p., 18 July 2015. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
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After reading Aly Sartain’s blog post about Republican presidential candidate, Mark Huckabee, I was interested to learn more about his views, what he stands for, and some of the decisions he has made. After researching Huckabee, I now understand Ms. Sartain’s frustrations about him.
While Ms. Sartain argues that Huckabee “skips over major issues that are the basis of our country, and focuses on smaller aspects of the presidency that can easily be changed within a term” I argue the opposite. On his campaign website, he has explanations on his views on varying topics which, I believe, are major issues in our country (Issues). One of these include Huckabee’s view on renewable energy which I find quite convincing. Huckabee argues that “wind, solar, and renewable energy have great potential, occur naturally, and flow from inexhaustible sources” (Issues). Huckabees believes in these renewable sources and that we should use them to our fullest extent. After this small anomaly of myself finding something I agree with in Huckabee, I delved deeper into his issues and this is when I really started to agree with Ms. Sartain’s post.
As Ms. Sartain stated, Huckabee “uses christianity as a basis” for which he builds his political agenda on. Huckabee argues that traditional marriage is the “biblical position, the historical position and the right position” (Issues). To my knowledge, we still have the separation of church and state, which Huckabee just does not seem to understand. Huckabee stated that he believes the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage was drawn “out of thin air” (Criminalization). Huckabee also argues on his website that “We must defend, protect and preserve traditional marriage.” (Issues). What I find so humorous about his statement, is that he makes it seem as though same-sex marriage will somehow damage ‘traditional marriage’. Same-sex marriage is definitely a hot political topic, and I think that Huckabee’s harsh opposition to it will only inhibit his chances of winning the Republican ticket. I strongly believe that politicians should keep their religion outside of their politics, and I think that this will hurt Huckabee’s campaign. After last night’s GOP debate, Mike Huckabee is a presidential candidate that has “faded into the background” (Debate).
(I was more than halfway through writing this when Diah posted her response to Aly Sartain, I apologize for responding to the same person.
Sources: http://mikehuckabee.com/issues (Issues)
http://www.ibtimes.com/mike-huckabee-criminalization-christianity-gop-debate-candidate-defends-kim-davis-2100739 (Criminialization)
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/17/politics/republican-debate-winners-losers-donald-trump/ (Debate)
Like most decent people I agree with Leela that Sanders has some very valid and righteous political views, but at the same time there are some deal breakers. To start things off I want to discuss the things I do like about Sanders. Like Sanders, I agree that we need to find an alternative to burning fossil fuels (Sanders). Climate change is one of the greatest threats that humanity has ever faced and if we don’t act quickly our entire planet will be destroyed, by our own inability to act. Opposing the Keystone XL pipeline is a key part of that action. We shouldn’t be wasting any more resources on a system that is only going to hurt us in the long run.
Now for the negatives of Bernie Sanders. The main reason he would be a poor fit for office are his excessive spending. He would like to give everyone in the U.S. free 4 year college tuition. While this is certainly an admirable goal, it is not possible or practical. Over the next 10 years alone this initiative would cost the U.S. 750 billion dollars (Wall Street Journal). On the economic side of things, the U.S. government would be paying for a lot of degrees that would offer little to no boost to the economy. Liberal arts degrees are interesting and fun, but generally do little to help the economy (besides teaching of course!). Now the final thing that Leela touched on was his age. The fact that Sanders is 74 is no small matter (CNN). The President is the head of the most powerful country in the world, he shouldn’t be weak. Even younger Presidents have extreme stress on the body while in office. At Sanders advanced age this could greatly impede his ability to make critical decisions when it matter most (TIME).
In review Sanders has many good stances and has many bad ones. But to me, the simple fact is he would be spending money we do not have, and for that I don’t plan on voting for him.
https://berniesanders.com/issues/climate-change/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/price-tag-of-bernie-sanders-proposals-18-trillion-1442271511
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/health/presidential-age-too-old/
http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1872168_1826284,00.html
I agree with Esther, in that I also believe Ben Carson and Marco Rubio are both strong candidates in the presidential race. Although Trump seems to be leading the polls in the Republican party, Carson is the runner up in most of those polls. (1) Personally I believe the only reason Trump is leading the polls is because of all the controversy he’s caused that has brought attention to him. However I feel in the long term, Carson is one of the strongest actual potential presidential candidates and I feel he will be leading the polls by the time we get closer to the election. Although Carson has no political experience (2), i think he could use that to his advantage. As others have stated, Americans are tired of the conventional politician who is constantly lying in their campaigns to the point where it has become the norm, and being that Carson was a neurosurgeon separates him from the others candidates. Having his background already separating him from most of the other candidates, in order to put himself in the lead and separate himself from Trump, who is also not a career politician, he could highlight his more realistic views. For example, where Trump is very extreme in his views on immigration, Carson has said “ the United States should model its immigration reform after Canada's guest-worker program.” a program that would allow immigrants to work in the United States legally after going through a process. (3) This could make him the more realistic option of the two Republicans. Although Carson is more conservative in how he voices his opinions then Trump is, in the long term if he plays it right he could win over those same supporters and be the frontrunner in the Republican party. Marco Rubio is also another candidate to watch, although he hasn’t necessarily been leading any polls, he has consistently been a contender for the Republican nomination and after the debate on Wednesday, many news sources have listed him as one of the leading candidates from that night’s debate alongside Trump and Fiorina. (4)
(1) http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-national-gop-primary
(2) http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/10/ben-carson-real-life-trumps-political-experience/
(3) http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Ben_Carson_Immigration.htm
(4) http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/carly-fiorina-marco-rubio-seen-winners-post-debate-poll-0
I agree with what Gina said in her blog post about Ben Carson. Just like her, I am very excited to see how Carson does in these upcoming months of campaigning, and also how he will poll compared to Trump. As Gina mentioned, the fact that Carson was a neurosurgeon (the first to separate conjoined twins attached at the head) shows that he has a way to solve problems and face stress while still helping people in need, just as a president is required to do (Encyclopedia Britannica).
While visiting Carson's website, I looked at his stance on certain key issues. Two that stood out to me were education and health care. Carson understands the need for the government to stop controlling education in America and instead make it so that parents will get involved and decide what is best for students, along with the help of the schools and teachers (Carson). Carson also mentions what can be done to make health care in America improved from how it has been in the past years (Carson). He states that we need to reestablish a direct relationship between physicians and patients, and also supports Health Savings Accounts which would lower health care costs while still maintaining the freedom for families to decide their medical treatments (Carson). Since Carson has knowledge on what Americans face while being patients in a hospital, I think he could help America reach a promising health care plan for the future.
Adding on to Gina noticing that Carson does not speak out on climate change, I would agree that this is mostly true, and that Carson stays on the more moderate side of this issue. After an interviewer asked Carson what he thought about after seeing the UN’s report on climate change, Carson replied with him saying that although the climate is important and human responsibility, it should not be a political issue (Breitbart). My dilemma with this is that Carson could either really believe that climate change is not for politics, but for the people on their own to try and improve, or, that he does not want to step on any liberals or conservative’s toes with his actual stance on it.
As the presidential election approaches, I am truly excited to see if Carson will be able to win in the primaries, and if he will hopefully expand his plans on certain issues that face America, such as climate change.
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Ben-Carson (Encyclopedia Britannica)
https://www.bencarson.com/ (Carson)
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2015/09/17/ben-carson-responds-jerry-brown-climate-change/ (Breitbart)
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I agree with Gina that Ben Carson has grazed the surface on his stance on the important issues of today. This in itself shows that although he claims he isn’t a “politician”, he actually is (Jones). This willing to withhold his opinions to “not scare away the moderates” as Gina said, is what a classic spineless politician would do. A lot of people including Carson himself, see his inexperience in government as a positive and that it separates him from the rest. I see it more negatively and that it should be concerning that one doesn’t need qualification to be President of the United States. Nobody would let Carson be a neurosurgeon if he didn’t have the proper credentials and education for that specific job, similarly why should an inexperienced person be allowed to be the President. This job should entail a significance of prior knowledge and experience, most times by being a senator or governor. I too expected a doctor and scientist like him to focus on environmental issues and climate change. I definitely agree with Carson on his stance on education and see it as a prime importance (Carson). However most of the other issues he is concerned with, I see as being unimportant or I simply disagree with. His views on economics such as his proposal for a flat tax based on tithing or his support for the Balanced Budget Amendment, I think would hurt the economy more than help it (ALFCIO).
I am as well excited to see what happens between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. I agree with Gina that maybe Sanders shouldn’t refer to himself as a Socialist. People usually use that word derogatorily and as she said “people turn away, thinking it is some sort of communism”. This isn’t misplaced either since the few Socialist countries today are infact communist, including Cuba and Vietnam (Wikipedia).
https://www.bencarson.com/issues (Carson)
http://www.aflcio.org/About/Exec-Council/EC-Statements/Oppose-the-Balanced-Budget-Amendment (ALFCIO)
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/GFDEGDQ188S
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_socialist_states (Wikipedia)
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/ben-carson-even-if-im-elected-office-im-not-going-be-politician (Jones)
In response to Matthew Schmit's post about Donald Trump, I do agree that Trump has brought a change - however big or small that may be - to US politics as we know it. I also agree that he would not make a good president, though he also wouldn't make the worst one our country has seen, mostly due to the fact that he would be unable to accomplish much as a president. He has made several enemies along the campaign trail, and although his boisterous act has gotten him far, Carly Fiorina was able to throw Trump off of his game in the second Republican debate, smartly responding to a moderator's question concerning Trump's recent comments about her face (Lee). It is possible that Trump's performance in the September 16th debate will eventually lead to a different Republican hopeful to seize command of the debates and potentially a new front runner to emerge.
This being said, I do disagree with how Trump will be a good thing for the American political system. People are voting for Trump for reasons beyond the notion that Trump is viewed as a non-robotic candidate. Through interviews with several Trump supporters, Conor Friedersdorf with The Atlantic came to the conclusion that Trump supporters want him to win because they believe that he is the best candidate, or because his chaotic nature makes them giddy. To me, if we have a candidate that is treating politics like it is some sort of joke it ruins the political system, not improving it. There are people casting their votes for the sole reason of participating in the spectacle that is Donald Trump (Friedersdorf).
Certainly it can be said that Trump has provided a new view on our current political system, but it goes too far to suggest that he is having a major impact on the government as a whole. Sure he leads the poles, but only because of the way he is presenting things, not because of what he is saying. He doesn't have substance to his arguments so he resorts to attacking others personally, then saying that he misspoke.
Overall, I do agree that Trump has left a mark on pop culture, but I decidedly disagree with the notion that Trump has left a lasting mark on a long standing political institution solely because of his inflaming rhetoric and slanderous remarks.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/08/donald-trump-voters/401408/ (Friedersdorf)
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/politics/republican-debate-cnn-2016/ (Lee)
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/19/donald-trump-republican-primary-immigration-debate (not cited in response)
Although Donald Trump is certainly an unorthodox candidate who has drawn a lot of attention to the campaign, I think that Matthew Schmit gives too much credit to the Republican front runner while ignoring the potential danger his leadership could wrought. Matthew quickly writes off his power as a potential president by saying that he will be overcome by the bureaucracy of Washington and unable to pass his more controversial ideas, but a president Trump would still have complete control of foreign relations; to which he knows next to nothing about, military; which few of his fellow Republican candidates claim to be comfortable with, and the general message of the American government; which would be horrendous. Many are quick to mock and support Trump, for late night comedy hosts his candidacy is a godsend of material, but Trump’s language is caustic and his attitude is both immature and dangerous (CNN). Although it Matthew is correct when he says that Trump brings campaign finance to the discussion, he has also brought unabashed racism, hatred, and ignorance with him as well. From continuously dehumanizing immigrants by likening them to disease and garbage, to attacking the appearance of other candidates like a schoolyard bully, to unremorsefully admitting to referring to women he doesn’t like as dogs, to advocating anti-vaccination movements (NYTimes). He is not just a humorous sideshow act and his hatred and bile have serious consequences like when an elderly Latino man was beaten in Boston by Trump supporters (Slate). Although Matthew makes a valid point by saying that many only support him to defy the GOP, many others accept his often outright false statements as fact. So I do agree with Matthew that Trump is different and is changing the system, but he’s changing it to make having sexist and racist ignorance something to be boisterous about while competency and facts take a backseat, is that a change that we really want?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/08/20/donald_trump_boston_immigrant_attack_beaten_homeless_hispanic_man_should.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/15/politics/joe-biden-donald-trump-hispanic-voters/index.html?eref=rss_politics
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/politics/candidates-use-second-g
After reading Leela’s blog, I became aware of how actually unaware I am of Bernie Sanders’ previous political action. She mentioned the “Employ Young Americans Now Act” which I had never before seen mentioned. Due to her blog, I decided to put more research into the stances my choice politician has. So I took to time to read the majority of Bernie Sanders’ said bill and found a few points that back-up why he is my favorite candidate running. In section three of the the Employ Young Americans Now Act, the document clearly outlines that one-third of the allocated funds is on the basis of the number of state residents between the ages of sixteen and 25, and that another third is allocated on the number of unemployed residents (Employ Young Americans Now Act). I thought it was very admirable that in the strings tied to the funds to each state, Bernie Sanders sticks to his firm resolution on creating job opportunities. In the nitty gritty of the bill, I could see that Leela’s admiration for his stance on job opportunities was well founded.
When Leela wrote about Bernie Sanders’ stance on environmental issues, I was taken aback. I am usually so caught up with his social issues I had to on what the Keystone XL pipeline even was. I found out that there was already a Keystone pipeline, but the XL would be a massive expansion (Keystone XL Pipeline). I think Leela is somewhat right on this, because the pipeline construction would create up to 42,000 jobs. Because job opportunities is such a heavy issue for Bernie Sanders, I’m not sure how he can have a strong view on this pipeline. But the Obama administration has refuted the number of jobs it would create because of the environmental effects (Keystone XL Pipeline) The major cause of the potential problem is the corrosive nature of the oil flowing through the pipeline, tar sands from Canada, also known as Bitumen (Keystone XL Pipeline). So though I agree that the environmental issues should be an enormous party platform for Democrats, Bernie Sanders has to prioritize his agenda so he doesn’t contradict himself.
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/060415-employamericansnowactbill?inline=file
https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/tag/keystone-xl-pipeline/
While I am excited about the prospect of someone like Bernie Sanders in the White House, I agree with Jacob Woolley’s stance on Joe Biden. Mr. Biden has served as Vice President for President Obama for the past seven years and has one more year of service left. In this time, he has witnessed an office that has dealt with more than many presidents in recent years. From dealing with the last few years of Bush’s war on Iraq to bringing the country back from the deepest recession since the Great Depression, President Obama and Vice President Biden have had to face many challenges in their two terms (Glenn). Like Jacob mentioned, Biden has been ahead of the curve on issues for years, from gay marriage to war in the Middle East (OnTheIssues). Vice President Biden has also suffered tragedy and can therefore relate to those in our country who have served or who lost someone in the service. He is more moderate than Bernie Sanders, and this would help him appeal to a wider voting base. Joe Biden is also just an all-around good guy, a true American who is optimistic and has only the best interests of the country at heart (Colbert). For these reasons and more I agree with Jacob, and I hope the Joe Biden decides to run for president in 2016.
(Glenn) http://www.gmfus.org/commentary/foreign-policy-challenges-obama-administration
(OnTheIssues) http://www.ontheissues.org/Joe_Biden.htm
(Colbert) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwmMPytjrK4
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In my original post, I was very impressed with Ben Carson, and With Bernie Sanders, but now with the GOP debate only last night still fresh in my mind and the research for writing this post has brought a new candidate to the front burner. Which is why I agree with Esther that Marco Rubio is qualified to be president. Esther states that he knows exactly what he is talking about and it was clear she was right in the debate last night "He used his experience to full advantage during Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate, delivering a performance that many pundits said helped him stand out on the crowded stage." (King) Rubio also was not slamming other politicians, even Obama that was attacked often. Looking at his website, it gives details to his childhood with non stop working parents and him learning from it. He worked his way into law school and never stopped which is something I really admire about him (It is also a great tactic to display yourself as the real life American Dream!!). Rubio is highly educated in foreign affairs, and made statements like "My first acts would be to visit key allies — Israel, South Korea and Japan — to let them know “we stand with them.” He also talked about flying to China and Russia to meet with leaders there as well as with dissidents who “aspire to freedom and liberty.” (Deb) This is a great idea! Even though talking is not going to solve all the worlds problems, It is going to solve a majority of them and all Rubio has talked about it treaties and talking, no wars.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/09/17/marco-rubio-presses-foreign-policy-creds-republican-debate/72357982/
https://marcorubio.com/meet-marco/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/marco-rubio-we-need-a-new-president-for-a-new-age/
Like much of our class, Zach D wrote in support of Bernie Sanders. Although I would certainly agree with Zach that Bernie Sanders is a genuine politician who fights for what he believes is best, I caution the whole class to take a closer view of Sanders. Now, I personally agree with a lot of what Bernie Sanders says. I think that our political system is corrupt, there's not enough police accountability, climate change must be addressed, and Wall Street has to be restrained [1]. However, many of Sanders views are impractical and idealistic. For example, Bernie Sanders' major issue with this country is with income inequality. He makes the claim that the rich are now richer than ever, and that the income gap hasn't been so large since the 1920's [1]. While initially this sounds outrageous and needing fixing, when we dig deeper we can see it isn't so simple. By many measures income inequality has not grown in the United States since 2000, and by other measures not since 1993 [2]. Sanders exaggerates both the magnitude and timing of income inequality in America [2]. It's troublesome when a candidate's defining campaign issue doesn't stand up to professional scrutiny. Sanders also recognizes that our healthcare system is a disaster, although so do most other politicians. Sanders supports going to a single-payer style healthcare system to increase access and quality of healthcare for all Americans [1]. Again, this is truly a touching sentiment, but it also ignores nuances in America today. Many people point at Canada, a country with a single payer healthcare system, as a sign of what an ideal healthcare system would look like. What they fail to realize however is that when accounting for lifestyle differences, i.e. excessive eating, smoking, and inactivity, America's healthcare system provides for better quality of care than Canada's does [3]. To add to this, simply footing our healthcare costs to the government will only exacerbate our countries extreme cost problems. One problems often cited in our system is the extreme cost of prescription drugs. For example, we spend on average $215 for Nexium while the Netherlands only spends $23. Is it really wise to hand this broken system over to the taxpayers to cover instead of fixing the rampant problems within it? American's are paying so much for these drugs not because medical companies are bleeding us dry as Sanders may like to have us believe, but because we as a nation use 80% of the worlds prescription painkillers by ourselves [4]. These problems are too complex and too nuanced to be solved by Sanders' relatively simple solutions. So, although Bernie Sanders still has a lot of good ideas worth discussing, we should be more careful in the future about tying ourselves so tightly to emotional arguments.
[1]https://berniesanders.com/issues/
[2]http://www.nber.org/papers/w15351.pdf
[3]http://www.nber.org/papers/w13429.pdf
[4]http://www.thefix.com/content/america-consumes-80-all-prescription-painkillers
I wholeheartedly agree with Zach Diedrich that Bernie Sanders is the most interesting candidate. However, I do not agree that Sanders has a low chance of winning the Democratic nomination. While Republicans have yet to take advantage of the fact that he is a self proclaimed socialist, the momentum is in his favor. Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers were at about 57 points 2 months ago and now stand on a shaky 43 points (Pollster). The distrust in Clinton has driven supporters to jump ship and the most attractive one is Sanders’s. In fact, reporters who have attended both Clinton and Sanders rallies say that there are more people at Sanders rallies (Macias). Clinton will likely not change her campaign message to rebuild her support base and the decline in support shows no sign of slowing down. Given Clinton’s declining support, the only candidate Sanders and his supporters should be concerned about is Joe Biden. Those who don’t support Clinton are split between Biden and Sanders with Biden at 19 points and Sanders at 25 points. Biden is pulling 19 percent support and he isn’t even officially running. Despite this, the Democratic presidential race is full of “if’s” and has plenty of time to change so only time will tell.
Sanders’s experience and genuine passion to do what’s best for the 99% are definitely two of his main selling points to voters. His ability to stay in touch with his voters and speak extensively about his detailed plans to solve problems the average American faces is what appeals to potential supporters. During the second Republican debate Sanders’s Twitter was live tweeting comments on how none of the subjects of the debate really talked about issues that most people are concerned with. “Have you heard anyone use the word "poverty" yet? 47.7 million Americans living in poverty. No discussion,” (Sanders).
I agree that Donald Trump is without a doubt, a terrible candidate. Despite this, there is one upside to Trump running. The sound bites of his racist, sexist, and generally ignorant remarks have raised everyone’s interest in the 2016 primaries. Some criticize the fact that the Republican debates have become a reality TV show, it also draws in others who hope to see what other ignorant comments Trump is going to make (Diamond). To add onto Zach’s point about Trump being sexist and how out of line his comment on sexual assaults in the military was; it ignores the fact that not only women are the victims of sexual assault. In fact, because of the disproportionate number of men in the military compared to women, the number of men who were sexually assaulted in the military in 2013 was 14,000 which is less than the 12,000 women who were assaulted (Brown). Trump’s comment is not only horrifically sexist, but also ignorant. Don’t even get me started on how insensitive it is given the trauma people have from sexual assaults and even from just serving in the military. So while there is the upside of popularity for the election because of Trump’s bid, it is not worth listening to his outrageous and ignorant comments.
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-national-democratic-primary (Pollster)
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/20/what-does-bernie-sanders-need-to-do-to-beat-hillary-commentary.html (Macias)
http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/09/17/441004967/bernie-sanders-live-tweets-gop-debate-gets-bored-goes-home-early (Sanders)
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/17/politics/republican-debate-winners-losers-donald-trump/ (Diamond)
http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/05/01/3433055/dod-men-mst/ (Brown)
I am in complete agreement with Tera, and the way she writes about Donald Trump. She told of the way he lives his life, making racist comments, and finally being extremely sexist against women. I would like to add that he has some serious ego issues, and he is the antonym of the word “humble”. He often goes on about himself constantly, saying “nobody builds better walls than me”, and he says want he wants to say, insults who he wants (Time Magazine). He has additionally made rude and sexist comments to women, as Tera explained. He often portrays women as inanimate objects, who should, “stay home and look pretty” (independent.co). He is always seeming to offend women, saying that we are lower than men, and we should just do whatever it takes to make men happy in the world (which disgusts me and is a monstrous thing to say) (independent.co). My question to Trump is, how does he expect to win any votes from women who want to live in the now, where men and women are considered equals?
Adding on to Tera’s point that he has made racist comments, he has been racist towards Mexican-Americans for years, and does not seem to be stopping (MSNBC.com). Part of the role of president is to lead the people and be trusted by all the population, but he cannot succeed at filling up the whole role as president as he offends much of the population. When asked about the Mexican immigrants, he said, “They’re (the Mexican immigrants) bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people”. Not only did he make racist comments about Mexican immigrants, his excuse was that “his passions outweighed his common sense” (MSNBC.com). Come on Trump! Not to mention that Trump is a terrible leader, and really has no good experience where people working for him have been happy to do so (fortune.com). He owns a few lines of clothing as well as has his focus in real estate (in NYC and elsewhere). Leaders have to work with a team, not insult groups of people and do whatever they want, that is called a dictatorship (you may remember Hitler and various Kings in Europe?). If you are looking to lead a country with hundreds of millions of people, how can anyone vote for you if you do not think before you do something? I mean we learned that basic rule in elementary school. Overall, Trumps actions and words offend me (and many others around the country), and (bouncing off of Tera), I will move to Canada if he is elected as President.
http://fortune.com/2015/07/02/donald-trumps-3-biggest-leadership-mistakes/
http://time.com/3992363/trump-narcissism/
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/why-donald-trumps-racist-remarks-matter
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/heres-all-the-sexist-things-that-donald-trump-has-ever-said-10452180.html
MORGAN K:
I agree with the ideas expressed by Wyatt Anderson on how Bernie Sanders goes in depth on his campaigning agenda and is taking a stand to reach out to a diverse audience. Sanders is bringing to light the many struggles of women and racial minorities. As Mr. Anderson said, Bernie brings up more topics of what he would like to see as president in many different areas and all topics are different from the next. He has a genuine lifestyle to him that many politicians lack and that makes him a primary candidate. While popularity in the media is not in Sander’s favor at the moment, he is slowly climbing in polls to be almost tied with Clinton. As of September 10th, 2015 Sanders was only 9.4 percent behind Clinton in a poll for the 2016 Iowa Democratic Presidential Caucus(Elections).
I fully agree also that Sanders is very firm in what he wants for our country if he were to become president. I support the argument Mr. Anderson made about how Sanders is a strong supporter and advocate of women’s rights and women’s health in an election so dominated by Republican candidates. On Sanders’ website, he stated, “Many of the achievements that have been made for women’s rights in the 20th century have been under attack by the Republican party — denying women control over their own bodies, preventing access to vital medical and social services, and blocking equal pay for equal work” (Sanders). Sanders wants to shed light on such a topic and fully intends to keep the women’s right to abortion between her and her doctor, not make it the government's business. Mr. Anderson also stated Sanders is a candidate to watch, and I think I am not the only one to agree with that!
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-iowa-presidential-democratic-primary (Elections)
https://berniesanders.com/issues/fighting-for-womens-rights/ (Sanders)
What an exciting discussion already! It was incredible and eye-opening to see all of the opinions of my peers on who they were excited (or frustrated) to see running for the Presidency. I find it very wonderful that there are so many new faces coming to the candidacy, and I want to learn about them all. Today, I want to talk about one of the different candidates that Courtney mentioned in more detail. I feel like I have a refreshed view of who the candidates are and what they stand for, particularly because of the GOP’s second debate last night.
Courtney did a wonderful job outlining a few candidates whom she saw. I looked into her comments about Carly Fiorina more deeply, however, and found that I agreed with them highly. Courtney’s main point about Fiorina is that Fiorina won’t stand up for climate change, staying out of the conversation and saying nothing about how the Earth is changing. From what I saw, Courtney, Mrs. Fiorina is not just apathetic about climate change; she is adamant against it. In an article in 2010, Fiorina was listed as a part of the “Dirty Dozen,” a coalition of voters who consistently go against climate change and clean energy, no matter their party affiliation (OnTheIssues). Mrs. Fiorina still believes that climate change is not worth it today, calling out California’s environmental protection policies as a “useless drag on the economy” (Timm). Besides this fact, I would like to mention that Mrs. Fiorina wants to defund Planned Parenthood and stop abortion via her pro-life stance, which is a stance I saw coming, but do not agree with (Diamond). Mrs. Fiorina is a very viable candidate for the Presidency, but I found her pretty rude at the debate last night and I do not agree with her views.
I would like to thank you, Courtney, for intriguing me in Carly Fiorina’s campaign. I did not know originally that she was fired from HP or that she was not a career politician (Cooney). Although I do not agree with Fiorina and would not vote for her, I found her fascinating to study. If there is one thing I stand with Mrs. Fiorina on, it is that she will not stand with what Donald Trump says about her. She can stand up for herself and her image, and that is a necessary asset of a Presidential candidate.
https://www.carlyforpresident.com/ (Carly Fiorina)
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/17/politics/republican-debate-winners-losers-donald-trump/ (Diamond)
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/carly-fiorina-california-drought-climate-change (Timm)
http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Carly_Fiorina_Environment.htm (OnTheIssues)
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/why-was-carly-fiorina-fired-n356731 (Cooney)
As I read all the exciting opinions of my classmates on who they are most excited for in the presidential election of 2016, the person I would have to agree with most on is Mr. Zach Diedrich. While I am very excited about him running under the Democratic campaign for the election, I also think it is a long shot for him to win it (Polls). However, his polls have gone up in the past couple weeks, so hopefully he gets closer with every debate!
Bernie Sanders shows how much he truly cares for the people of America in the decisions he makes; for example, like Zach said, when President Obama signed the Affordable Healthcare Act in 2010, Sanders secured $12.5 billion dollars to community health centers who now help over 25 million Americans (Sanders). He also states clearly on his website his views on how he is pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, and pro-women's rights (Sanders).
Also, like Zach stated in his previous blog post, I agree with him on his views of Donald Trump, as well. Trump only shows his opinions on immigration. On his website, he doesn't even have any other views to show. Not only is he extremely sexist, and doesn't think women have the capability to do anything; he also thinks that there should be a literal wall on the borders of America and Mexico so immigrants wouldn't get over here so easily (Trump). The very foundation of this country was based off of English immigrants, like Zach says, we are the "great mixing pot" of the world. We hold so many different ethnicity's, and to break that bondage would be substantial to our country.
To quote Zach, "Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are polar opposites of one another." And, like I said in my last post, I think most of America would flee to Canada (or any other country) if Donald Trump were elected as the president of the United States.
https://berniesanders.com/issues/ (Sanders)
http://www.trump.com/ (Trump)
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_democratic_presidential_nomination-3824.html (Polls)
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