Bryony Crocker
Duckworth
Gov 2305
12 March 2016
Who Will They Choose?
It’s 2016 and about that time we declare a new president of the United States. This year’s presidential candidates are quite unique and controversial; currently we have two democrats in the running, and only three republicans remaining after many drops out, still, there are 5 candidates going strong, fighting for the chance to be the next leader of our country. The Democratic Party candidates are Hillary Clinton, former US secretary of state, and Bernie Sanders, US senator, the Republican Party candidates, I will be talking about are Ted Cruz, US senator, and businessman Donald Trump.
Starting with the Democratic side, almost all of us know Hillary Clinton as the former first lady of the United States, when she was married to Bill Clinton, but now it’s her chance to be the real first lady by possibly being elected the first female president. Hillary Rodham was born and raised Park Ridge, Chicago her father, Hugh, a hardcore republican, and her mother Dorothy had provided Hillary with a stable middle-class life. Hillary’s mother did not have the best childhood growing up, and this had sparked a flame in Hillary to fight for women’s rights and children’s needs everywhere. Hillary became heavily involved with social justice activism at Wellesley College, and was elected to be the first student speaker at her graduation. (Hillary’s Story) Hillary graduated from Yale Law School, but instead of joining a big law firm, she decided to go work for the Children’s Defense Fund. After moving to Arkansas, not only did she co-find Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, but there she also married Bill Clinton, whom she had met in law school. Becoming the first lady of Arkansas helped Hillary focus on her goals of improving education and health care access. In 1992 Hillary Clinton became the first lady of the United States; using this to her advantage she was able to fight to reform our health care system. Successfully Hillary Clinton was able to provide health coverage to over 8 million children with her Children’s Health Insurance Program (Hillary’s Story). After losing the presidential election in 2008, President Barack Obama asked Hillary to be his secretary of state, which she accepted. Now onto the issues, if Hillary Clinton became president she would attempt to make community colleges free, and have students be able to attend a public four-year college debt free, this would be a 350 billion higher education plan in which she would fund “by closing yet-unspecified tax loopholes for the wealthy” (Wellford). Clinton also has a plan for increasing the amount of jobs with a 275 billion infrastructure/stimulus plan, this money would be used to improves roads, bridges, railways and airports, she plans on paying for this with an “unspecified business reform” (Wellford). Right now Hillary Clinton is the top runner on the democratic side with 1,606 delegates.
Bernie Sanders is the other candidate for the Democratic Party, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York he attended Brooklyn College and the University of Chicago, after graduating Bernie decided to move to Vermont, where he got a job as a carpenter and made documentary films. In 1981 Sanders was elected the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, under his leadership Burlington boomed, major steps were taken in affordable housing, progressive taxation, child care, women’s rights and environmental protection. Bernie Sanders has always been working for the middle class, hoping to shrink the gap between the rich, and the rest of the population. Dubbed the “amendment king” for passing more amendments than any other member of congress (Meet Bernie Sanders), Bernie Sanders has quite a few issues he wishes to address while in office, the most important is the economic inequality going on in America today, he wants to take a whack at this by raising the income tax for people earning over $250,000 a year, he also said he would raise other taxes for those with higher incomes. Another thing Bernie Sanders plans to do while in office is launch universal healthcare that is provided by the government, estimated cost at 13.8 trillion over the next ten years, this would be funded by the dramatic increases in our taxes. Education wise, Sanders wishes for free tuition at all public colleges and universities, a project that is estimated to cost 70 billion a year, which again would be made possible by our increased taxes (Desjardins). While Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have a few views in common, many people tend to say that Sanders has more of a socialistic approach to fixing things.
On to the republican candidates, we’ll start off with Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a local favorite. Ted Cruz is strongly fueled by his family to make a difference, both his parents made it on their own, starting with what little they had and have turned it into the American Dream. This conservative politician grew up in Houston Texas, and attended Princeton University for his bachelors, then continued on to Harvard Law School. In 2000 Cru worked as an adviser on the presidential campaign of George W. Bush, in 2003, Ted Cruz became the solicitor general of Texas, and argued multiple cases in front of the Supreme Court, and in 2012 he was elected into the US Senate (Mead). Some of the issues that Cruz believes in are that we should move towards a flat tax, 10 percent for incomes over $36,000 a year, and a 15 percent business flat tax, which would tax consumption (Desjardins). Ted Cruz also wishes to have a mandated balanced budget, because he believes it’s the best way to cut down our debt. Since Cruz is a conservative his views are slightly different than those of the democratic candidates, he believes there should be strict limits put on abortions, and that the states should have the right to define what marriage really means. Ted Cruz is one of our more conservative candidates, and believes in more traditional values for this country.
Last but not least, we have the one and only Donald Trump, who has been all anyone has been talking about lately because of his more, blunt approach. Born and raised in Queens, New York, and a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance, Trump is probably one of the least politically qualified candidates, but he is a very wealthy businessman, with many real-estate properties in the United States and internationally. His reality TV series “The Apprentice” became the number one show on television and made ratings history, he is also one of the highest paid public speakers. Trump also has over 15 bestsellers, with one, The Art of the Deal, being considered a business classic, and one of the most successful business books of all time (About Donald J. Trump). Donald Trump has been a familiar name in the household for a while now, so it’s easy to see why he has so many supporters, even before he decided to run for president, it was rare to meet someone that didn’t know who Donald Trump was. Some issues that are important to Trump are, probably the most talked about his stance on illegal immigration, he wants deport all undocumented individuals, temporarily ban all Muslims from coming into our country, and he also wants to build a wall, to keep illegal immigrants from continuing to come into our country, he plans on making Mexico pay for this wall, but realistically I don’t think this is going to be done, because it seems a little farfetched. Also on the topic of taxes, he has a tax reform plan that will include fewer brackets, and lower tax rates (Desjardins), he says the highest rate would be 35 percent on those making more than $447,450 a year. Some of Donald Trump’s methods of politics are slightly unorthodox and controversial, and that’s why there’s so much buzz about him at the moment, people are interested and intrigued by how wild he is compared to the other candidates, which in term benefits him and makes him stand out.
As we are getting closer and closer to the final presidential election, all of these things are becoming increasing important for all of us to understand, especially the younger, new voters. The decision we make a few months from how is going to map out how our future, and the history books are going to look. It’s a scary thought, but any one of these candidates has the opportunity to change how we see our country in a few years, that’s why it’s so crucial to have an understanding of the election, and not only that but knowledge of each candidates viewpoints on important issues. After reviewing all of the candidates I feel like I have a better grasp on what I want for the future of my home.

Works Cited
"About Donald J. Trump." TRUMP: Make America Great Again! Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
Desjardins, Lisa, and Nathalie Boyd. "What Does Donald Trump Believe? Where the Candidate Stands on 10 Issues." PBS. PBS, 2 Feb. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
Desjardins, Lisa. "What Does Bernie Sanders Believe? Where the Candidate Stands on 10 Issues." PBS. PBS, 2 Feb. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
Desjardins, Lisa. "What Does Ted Cruz Believe? Where the Candidate Stands on 10 Issues." PBS. PBS, 2 Feb. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
"Hillary's Story." About Hillary Clinton: Campaign Bio. Hillary for America, 2016. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.
Mead, Wendy. "Ted Cruz Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
"Meet Bernie Sanders." Bernie Sanders RSS. Bernie 2016, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
Wellford, Rachel, and Lisa Desjardins. "What Does Hillary Clinton Believe? Where the Candidate Stands on 12 Issues." PBS. PBS, 5 Feb. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.