2016 Presidential Election
I have chosen to write about the candidate Ted Cruz from the 2016 presidential election. I will be discussing Mr. Cruz’ political stance on immigration, gun control, and gay rights. We also discuss how David Easton, Harold Lasswell, and Hans Morganthan apply to our political parties now in days. The first issue we shall deliberate on is immigration because it has been a hot topic during the debates. The Texas Senator has a website discussing his stance on this issue and what he would do to change it like building a wall to prevent illegal immigrants or terrorist from crossing over to American soil. He also wants to triple the border patrol agents to secure the wall. He has also said that he would put an end to President Obama’s amnesty by rescinding all those that he gave out. He has always been trying to strengthen our immigration system. For an instance, when he filed an amendment that would block illegal immigrants that are living in the United States from ever getting their citizenship, strengthen border security, prohibit federal, state, and local benefits from giving assistants to undocumented immigrants. In an article from the U.S. News Cruz stated that: The amendments filed today to strengthen border security and reform our legal immigration system will not only bring meaningful, effective improvements to our immigration system, but also have a chance of becoming law. America is a nation of immigrants, built by immigrants and we need to honor that heritage by fixing our broken immigration system, while upholding the rule of law and championing legal immigration. (Metlzer)
I believe he has the correct idea in penalizing those who have come into the United States without going through the proper channels. He realizes that we are a country that was found on immigrants and he doesn’t want to block people from coming he wants to limit the amount of people that are coming here without permission and just staying and taking Americans’ hard working tax payer money. There are so many people that come from another country poorer than Mexico that come from great persecution and come legally into the states why can’t people from Mexico do the same. We have to stop awarding people when they break the laws, the laws are there to keep us safe and they are not meant to be broken. David Easton states, “Politics is the authoritative allocations of values.” (Agboaye) I believe he was referring to we as the people may laws based on our beliefs. We fight and try to make changes to reflect on what we think is right or wrong. Ted Cruz is trying to convince the people and get voters behind him and what he beliefs is good for the country. That is the whole point of our elections to choose candidates that have the same beliefs as us because they will look out for our interests. The Second issue is gun control and Ted Cruz stand up for the second amendment and is willing to protect it at all cost. He has continuously fought against Congress legislation to restrict the second amendment. NRA executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said “Ted Cruz is one of our nation’s leading defenders of the Second Amendment. For over a decade, Ted has fought tirelessly to defend our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and his leadership was absolutely critical to our major victories before the U.S. Supreme Court.” (Cruz). Texas Senator has the reputation on fighting to keep the second amendment intact and untouched. I believe he is on the right track, people argue that its guns that are the ones that are killing people and creating more violence. I believe that the problem isn’t the guns its society and the generation of today that feel privileged and entitled that are the problem. The problem is people itself that doesn’t know how to behave or act they want everything the easy way and most of the time that leads to violence. Guns don’t walk by themselves it a human picking it up and deciding to do something wrongful. We need to focus on what is the real problem not blaming something that ultimately we have the choice of using a gun in a harmful way or not. I’m glad we have a candidate that stands to protect our rights. Harold Lasswell states, “Politics is who gets what when and how” (Agboaye). I found a great example of what this actually means in a more simpler way by a blogger name James Hanley he stated:
In a hypothetical state of nature where I am all alone, my choice to climb a tree to pick apples is not a political decision. But if you are also present, and the options that exist are to work together to pick the apples, then figure out how to divide them, or to try to pick the apples surreptitiously, or to try to exert sole despotic dominion over the apples and keep the other away–then we have politics. (Hanley)
I think this is the focal point of what our government is about we have beliefs or ideas and we have a legislation that argues and tries to come to its best conclusion but at the end the most powerful wins sometimes. I believe that Cruz will always stand up to protect the right to bear arms and he will fight the people that are trying to fix it. His reputation has proceeded him and I believe he will keep fighting the good fight when it comes to this. Lastly, we have job opportunities and he wants to do a flat tax rate. According to his website this simple flat tax would: all income groups will see a double-digit increase in after-tax income. The current seven rates of personal income tax will collapse into a single low rate of 10 percent. For a family of four, the first $36,000 will be tax-free. The IRS will cease to exist as we know it, there will be zero targeting of individuals based on their faith or political beliefs, and there will be no way for thousands of agents to manipulate the system. (Cruz).
This tax should increase wages by 12.2, create over 4 million jobs, and boast domestic products by 13.9 percent. He wants to audit the federal reserve to create a more stable dollar. When the dollar fluctuations small businesses and American exporters get hurt. So establishing a rules-based monetary system could restore stability to the dollar which in return rise economic growth. Ted Cruz has introduced the America Energy Renaissance Act to help expand LNG export and end the crude oil export ban. He has opposed budget increases that failed to bring more meaningful spending reforms. He has a track required of trying to keep the economic growth of the nation in good standing and he was fought the Obama Administration several times. He wants to improve our economy not break it into poverty by trying to support Americans’ that won’t do anything for themselves. If you continue to cripple the American people by giving them more help to stay poor than to actually get a job and just take away from the working class, then our nation is at a lost. Ted Cruz has the right act when it comes to making more job opportunities without spending more and more money to the national debt. Hans Morgenthan states “Politics is power struggle”. For an instance, Ted Cruz is a republican and our current president is a democrat and as of this moment the democrats have more power right now because we have had a democratic party in the white house for more than 7 years. Ted Cruz cannot make changes because the people that have the power right now are democrats and they have the majority votes in the supreme court even in legislation. To evoke change you have to have the power and ted Cruz is trying to give the power back to the republican where I believe it should be. In conclusion I hope this has shed some light in some hot topics regarding the 2016 presidential election. I believe Ted Cruz is the right candidate and his views on these three issues are on the right track. I think the three scholar’s ideas on what politics is, is on point.
Works Cited
Agboaye, Dr. Ehi. "Class Notes ." January 2016. lecture.
Cruz, Ted. https://www.tedcruz.org. n.d. web. 28 April 2016.
Hanley, James. "www.ordinary-gentlemen.com/2010/12/21/what-is-politics." 21 December 2010. What is Politics? Web. 28 Arpil 2016.
Metlzer, Rebekah. "http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/05/08/ted-cruz-seeks-to-ban-illegal-immigrants-in-us-from-citizenship." 8 May 2013. www.usnews.com. web. 2016 28 April.