If you can vote, who will you vote for; if you can't, who would you want to vote for?

I want this to hinge on actual policy, and not insulting.

I voted for Sanders in my state's primary because I understand that 99% of the things he wants to do will never be done. However, he has the integrity to fight for what he believes in, without waver, for the majority of his life. That cannot be said for any other candidate.

I think the real positives to Sanders is:

Reforming Campaign finance.

- Even if Universal health care is impossible, perhaps his push is enough to change of major corners of the ACA, one namely being allowing medicaid to use it's buying power to negotiate prices.

- Universal Education is something I think Republicans can get behind, considering they strongly believe that America should be the strongest country in the world. Having an educated population inherently strengthens our country going forward.

- Infrastructure - Our country is literally falling apart, creating jobs to fix our infrastructure will lead to all sorts of improvements, even in the business world. Better infrastructure leads to lower transportation costs for everyone involved.

- As a personal note; I'm sick of waging war across the globe, regardless of scale. Our military interventions for nearly 50 years have largely make situations far, far worse.


Disclaimer: I've already cast my vote for Bernie in MI.

 

Sanders. He really didn't need to convince me, because all he's done is give a public voice to the issues that have been bothering me for years, and getting worse every day. These problems have been generations in developing, and will require generations to solve, but we can't get there without taking the first step and acknowledge that they're problems to begin with. Voting for Bernie sends that message.

I'm a student of history, and I've found that domestic turmoil can often be understood in terms of three powerful factions, and when any two of them partner up, the third gets trampled on. For example, the Middle Ages in Europe can largely be understood as a push-pull between the monarchies, the aristocracies, and the clergies. When the clergy threw its support to the monarch, absolutism was the result.

In this lens, the current situation in the US can be generalized as a struggle among three competing groups, each with power over the others: the federal government, the corporate class, and the general population. The first two have been in a fiercely incestuous relationship, since corporate cash has been proven to successfully manipulate the voters and essentially decide who serves in the highest offices of the federal government. As a result, the government has steadily handed out massive rewards to their corporate patrons, at the expense of the general population. Only by massing its voting power can the general population retake its government and begin to claw back some of these obscene corporate giveaways and use it to repair crumbling infrastructure and social safety nets.

 

well
my parents are voting for rubio
so
i guess rubio

 

Since my parents really don't want another republican president I would vote for Donald Trump in the republican primaries but vote for the democrat nomeni in the actual election. So far it seems like that will be Clinton so I guess I will vote for Clinton

 

As all of you most likely know, I am a right wing conservative. Even though I am 16 and I cannot vote, my overall candidate I wanted to win was Ben Carson. Unfortunately since he dropped from the race, my second choice is Donald Trump. I would vote for Donald Trump to win the Republican primary for a couple of reasons where I agree with his policies even though I do not agree with him on all of his policies.

Some of the reasons that I want him to win are:

-Education: @Deinen and everyone else. I believe that universal education can be a good thing but in having universal education, you run the risk of diminishing the overall quality of the education. I like how Trump says that higher education and education in general is the most important thing. I believe that it should be on the local level and not on the government level.

-Veteran Affairs: I believe that we as a country need to do a better job taking care of our veterans. They are the men and women who have fought and served for our country to try to maintain peace and stability in the world as a whole. I believe that it is absolutely ridiculous that over 300,000 veterans have died waiting for care from the V.A. and that an estimated 45,ooo veterans are homeless every night.

-Taxes and Economics: I believe that the United States needs to prevent companies from outsourcing to countries such as India, China, Taiwan, etc. so that we can increase the amount of jobs in the country and reinvigorate our economy. I also believe that taxes should be cut down or at least not raised due to many middle-lower class families not being able to make ends meet. I also believe that the government does not do a very good job with using the money collected through taxes. In the words of Ronald Reagan, "Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." Another thing I believe is that the US government needs to lower the overall national debt. Many people would say debt is a good thing and I do believe that it is in moderation but it isn't a good thing when someone has over $19,000,000,000 in debts to others. The only time the US government has ever been "debt free" was back in 1835 during President Andrew Jackson's presidency.

-2nd Amendment Rights: I believe that every citizen of the United States has the right to bear arms and to defend themselves. Every day I am saddened by the news of another shooting but I believe that if every eligible citizen had a firearm (similar to Switzerland) that their would be a decrease in crime due to everyone being armed. If you were to restrict guns and ban them, then only criminals and police would have them which would mean that all of the citizens would be unable to defend themselves if a police officer could not get there in time. I also believe that the police are meant to protect us from criminals and that they are doing their best to maintain law and order in this country.

Some of the policies that I do not agree with or am split on the decision:

-Immigration: I believe that the US should not ban all Muslims from entering for ever but rather that we need to put into place better ways of processing immigrants so that we can maintain stability in the country without banning whole majorities of people from entering. I also believe that Trump's wall idea might be a bit far fetched but that we do need to increase security along the US-Mexico border. As a highschooler, I believe that drugs are a major problem in the US and that we need to

-Foreign Policy: @Deinen and everyone else. This is one of the policies that I am split on. I believe that US military intervention has been a good thing in some situations but in other places, it has made the situation worse. I am very bias on this opinion due to being born there but I believe that one of the places where US military intervention took place and was a good thing was in the Korean War. If the US and the U.N. hadn't entered the conflict I would not be sitting here in the middle of the US writing this opinion. Although since they did intervene, South Korea has gone on to become one of the most prosperous countries in Asia with the help of US financial aid after the Korean War. On the other hand, one of the major areas that I believe US military intervention has made the situation worse is in certain areas of the Middle East.

Health Care: I believe that right now we need to replace Obamacare because it is a mess. I do believe though that universal healthcare could be a very good thing if it does not lower the standard of healthcare and if it doesn't increase taxes (such as redirecting funds from other government programs which do not need as much). As a devout Roman Catholic and as an adoptee, I strongly oppose abortion due to religious and moral beliefs and first hand knowledge of what is possible if your biological mother cannot take care of you and decides against an abortion. In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."

Sorry if this is a bore to read and if you do not agree with my opinion but hey, everyone has the ability to say what they believe even if others try to silence them so I would like to encourage all of you who have similar or different views on this presidential race to chime in and share your thoughts. I ask this because in the words of Thomas Jefferson, "An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic." Have a nice day and may the best man/woman win!

 

I would vote for Donald Trump because he is not controlled by anyone. All other candidates rely on a source to fund their campaign, and afterwards that source is going to influence their decisions.

Also because while he isn't a super ideal candidate, to me he represents a better president than any of the others do. Bernie Sanders makes a few good points, but watching him in debates... Idk, he doesn't seem like a president.

Plus, I am curious about what having someone different in the White House would be like.

 

Later tonight I am attending a rally held by Donald J Trump at UIC in Chicago
If this goes well I would vote for Donald Trump as our next United States President

 

For Trump supporters, why do you support Trump? What is your defense against the claim that he has proposed no substance behind these ideas, despite spouting them?

(Serious replies only)

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 11, 2016, Original Post Date: Mar 11, 2016 ---

Can you explain what you agree / disagree on with Rubios positions?

Can you explain why you'd cast a vote for Clinton, outside of expectations? What positions of hers do you agree / disagree with? How do you believe she would make things better?

 

ok Im going to put why i would vote for him instead of the other republicans
-He is the only candidate that is outspoken enough to get the attention of the american people the other candidates are not going to keep our country as a strong world power as Mr. Trump would
-I would not vote for a democrat because they all seem like Socialists

-thats a little of my thought process

 

i think they like rubio because we're (mostly)republican and agree with most of the stuff he talks about. i don't ever really talk about it but i just know that they are probably going to vote for him. something about taxes.

 

Firstly @Deinen Thank you for making a debate where we actually can be civilized and informative when talking about politics instead of rude and ignorant.

Secondly,

My defense for Trump's claims is that even though most people would say he has no substance to his ideas is that at the beginning an idea is exactly that, an idea. It takes time, thought, perseverance to make an idea a reality. I believe that Trump is a smart enough man to figure out how to make his words and ideas come to fruition. Sure it may take awhile but this is what is special about humans in general. If we have an idea and it fails, we can simply take a step back and look for all of the problems and then tweak them and try again. If Donald Trump is elected, I believe that four years is more than enough time for him to make his words a reality. If four years are not enough than those who are against him can vote him out and bring in someone they believe in. This process is what makes democracies unique. We have the ability where if our leaders do not fulfill their promises, we can elect someone else and see if they do better.

 

Okay, so Trump's ideas are what matters, and plans can possibly follow later. But what about when his ideas are terrible?

- He proposes to spend billions of dollars on a border fence that can be defeated by a $25 shovel.
- He proposes to impose a religious test on incoming refugees. Nevermind the variety of international treaties we've signed (and often sponsored) that this would violate, the Constitution has already weighed in on this issue, and said, "Nah."

So if he makes his words a reality, then the country is that much closer to bankrupt, and the First Amendment is no longer a thing.

 

What, in your opinion, is a strong country? Why does being strong matter?

What is bad about socialism?

Focusing on an idea, the wall - Would it be true that walls built to keep others out, are equally as good keeping people in? At what point does the need of safety trump individualism?

In your opinion, why is illegal immigration bad? Do you think the rate of illegal immigration is tied to our current immigration system, which at best, is wholly inadequate.

 

i love you

if you're going to vote, be educated. don't vote based on public opinion/popularity because that means you're nothing but a sheep. Research the candidates before you support them.

This is the only time you actually quote drumpf when referring to your beliefs, how does he really support what you believe in? How do his plans address these issues? So far he's just said an easily agreeable statement. What's his plan?

The issue with the shootings is that they aren't done by criminals. They're done by people with pent up aggression who have easy access to guns. Criminals will always have guns, we aren't asking the police to give up theirs. Why do people believe the only way to properly defend oneself is to shoot another person? What are you so afraid of? Why must every citizen be their own body guard, when this idea of being one's own body guard only puts everyone around you at risk? These points aside, nobody is trying to ban guns altogether. Not. One. Candidate. Democrats are just trying to make them less accessible to people who should really not be having them, which are the people who have been shooting up schools and movie theaters.

On cops: the legal system as a whole needs to be reworked. Corruption and abuse has been occurring at all levels of it. Cops with obvious prejudices and ill motives need to be weeded out, need to be replaced. Their departments which are encouraging the behaviour need to be properly managed and monitored. The court systems being manipulated by money from private corporations need to be cleaned. The events since august 2014 weren't isolated incidents, they happen across the country. The further you look into it, the dirtier it gets.

You're allowed to personally oppose abortion, but from my assumption, you don't possess a uterus which might require one. Outlawing abortion would not prevent them from happening. Any punishment you might place on getting an abortion won't stop them from happening. When someone doesn't have access to a safe abortion, we end up going back in time. Back to the coat hangers. Abortion is, and always will be, a decision only the person who will be getting the abortion can make. It is not their mother's, father's, sister's, lover's, doctor's, neighbor's, friend's, or legislator's decision, and it definitely isn't yours.

"Let's see what happens" is not a good strategy when hiring the leader of a country.

We aren't hiring an entertainer!!! What is he trying to get our attention for??

Some examples of socialist countries:

• Denmark
• Finland
• Netherlands
• Canada
• Sweden
• Norway
• Ireland
• New Zealand
• Belgium

What's the issue with socialism? Does it not work? Are the above countries under a dictatorship or something of the sort? Let's compare those above listed with countries with universal healthcare:
(x)
how bizarre! they're all there, already doing the thing so many republicans say is impossible. what a concept.

Or perhaps you're afraid there will be an abuse of power, and we'll have as many people in prison as china?
(x)
whoops, we've already got more people in prison than China, and their population is 4.23 times larger than ours!(x)

So what's the issue with socialism? Just curious.

you're right! He's had plenty of great ideas, like Trump Airlines, Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump Mortgage, etc. What has he accomplished?

I love you x2

I'm with Bernie, 100%. Quote anything he stands for, and I agree. Try to dig up receipts, I dare you.

 

Trump, he's the man!

 

@iMelXP Where did I make that spelling mistake?

 

typing error? I was questioning your decision to support him and was asking how his plans line up with and support your beliefs, I didn't insult your intelligence or make a weak grab at a grammatical error.

 

@iMelXP hmm for me all of the places where you quote us and it says "trump" I see "Drumpf"

 

That's an extension I have, the Drumpfinator. It replaces Trump with Drumpf. It's truly beautiful.

 

@iMelXP OH... ok lol, sorry for being a bit sharp with my tone. Thought you were trying to put false spelling mistakes in my writing. My bad.