Presidential Election 2016

Submitted by tara.pina on

This year, there has been one of the most absurd elections in American History. Donald Trump, businessman, TV Star, and multi billionaire, was not expected to make it this far; and no one expected him to surpass Ted Cruz, and the rest of the republican nominees. Yet here he is, facing off against Hillary Clinton, an epic clash between republican and democrat. However, here at SJHS most students only know that Donald Trump is very, very rich, and wants to build a wall. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you will know much more about a man who will be running our country by the beginning of next year, so let's jump right on into the topic of Donald J. Trump.

Donald Trump is most known for his heavy right side ideas, like banning muslims from entering the U.S. However, a not as well known fact is that he has some very left sided opinions. He’s openly came out for equal rights for gays and lesbians in the workplace, but also has came out against the supreme court ruling that same sex marriage should be legal in every state. In some ways, Trump is a walking oxymoron. He wants to lower business taxes and taxes for the wealthy, but also wants to end government corruption and money in politics. I think it is key understanding this idea before we more thoroughly dive into Trumps policies.

As stated above, Donald Trump has some very different policies than most republicans, and even conservatives. His most known policy is immigration reform. He wants to control the border, kick out illegal immigrants, completely stop the flow of Muslims entering America, and build the a wall so other immigrants cannot enter America. He want’s to put Americans first, a trait he thinks Hillary Clinton does not have, and constantly barrages her with her idea of ‘globalism’. We’ll get more into globalism in the next article, about Trumps opponent Hillary Clinton. Trump strongly supports the right to bear arms, but says we should make it much harder for the mentally ill to buy a gun. He is pro-life, except in some situations including rape, incest, or if the baby is harming the mother. He also claims when he is president, he will increase metadata usage, the act of the government monitoring social media and personal affairs of muslims and potential terrorists. Trump has said he will completely eliminate radical ISIS, especially here in America.  He agrees that every American should be able to have high quality affordable healthcare, but not controlled by the government. He’s said that he will repeal and replace the affordable care act(more commonly known as ObamaCare). He want’s to keep jobs in America, and make it easier to produce, manufacture, and hire here at home. Trump also has a more liberal idea about education, he wants to make college more affordable, and not have our children swimming in student debts. Since he thinks global warming is a hoax invented by China, he continues supporting the increase of fracking, and expanding the coal industry. He believes veterans should have the care and support they need, saying, “Veterans should come first in the country they fought to protect, and under a Trump Administration, they will.” He wants to expand government spending on the military, even when America spends more on their military than the next 8 most successful countries combined. He wants to cut wasteful spending, especially in the healthcare system. He has made many derogatory comments to many different groups of people, varying from illegal immigrants to women. This has caused him lots of problems on the campaign trail.

So now we know about Trumps policies, but who really is the man with the earth changing hair? Donald was born in Queens New York, to his parents of Frederick and Mary Trump. He was quite the energetic kid, so his parents sent him to The New York Military Academy at the age of 13. He did very well at the academy, both socially and academically. By the time he had graduated, he had became both an athlete and a student leader. After he had finished High School, he went to the Fordham University and Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1968 with a bachelors in economics. He followed his father into the career of real estate development, and even took over the business in 1971. He renamed the business to the Trump Organization. He took over the industry, and was called the “Emperor of the Business Place”. He was nominated for President of the Reforms Party, however his views on whether or not President Obama had actually been born in the U.S. forced him to decline. It was this same problem that made him not run for president in 2012. Finally, he decided to become serious about running for President in 2015, and the rest is just history.

So, now that we’ve learned about the man himself, Donald Trump, what about the other option? Hillary Clinton is a woman who is not new to first, and this year she hopes to become the first female president of the United States. I have found there are more stereotypes and myths about Hillary Clinton here at SJHS than there are about Donald Trump. They believe she belongs in prison, and is responsible for the murder of many, including the murder of the 4 Americans in the Benghazi attack. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you will know much more about a woman who could have possibly been running our country at the beginning of next year, so let's jump right on into the topic of Hillary R. Clinton.

Clinton is a very progressive democrat, and holds mainly democratic opinions. However, like Donald she also has some views that aren’t widely shared by most democrats. She supports fracking, a way of getting oil from the ground that many democrats do not support, to suppress global warming. She also supports the death penalty, in very rare cases, but she does support unlike most democrats. She was also a republican in the 1960’s, and was very active in republican groups, and anti-gay movements. While she still holds some of republican ideals, she became a democrat in 1968. Most of her views on things are democratic now, including, lowering student debt, criminal justice reform, campaign finance reform, improving the health care coverage and costs of the Affordable Care Act(ObamaCare), and women's rights are just a few. She wants to reform immigration policies, but in the opposite way as Donald. She wants immigrants to have the same rights, and equal citizenship as any other American. She’s pro choice, saying “Politicians have no business interfering with women’s personal health decisions.” She wants to increase gun control, making it much harder for people to get guns by going through multiple background checks to make sure guns don't “...fall in the wrong hands.” On foreign policy, Clinton says her top priority will be to defend our country, and its values. She has a very progressive view on taxes, and thinks the wealthiest pay much too little in taxes. She thinks the middle class needs to pay less, and she wants to close corporate tax loopholes. She wants to give tax relief to families that are struggling with cots from college, healthcare, etc. She now fully supports gay marriage, and the Supreme Court's ruling on marriage equality. She wants affordable health care, and wants to further improve on the Affordable Care Act. She wants to raise the minimum of wage, and make it easier for the middle class to live their daily lives. She wants to fight ISIS, but not by directly going to war. She wants to increase education and job training for police, and use methods such as body cameras to make sure the innocent are safe from those who should keep them safe. She believes that climate change is real, and wants to take steps to protect our planet. She wants to work to ensure everyone has a fair chance to world class education, and must support teachers and give better training and wages to them. FInally, she thinks supporting our veterans is a responsibility for all of America, and wants to give them high quality care, so they can be comfortable in the country they fought to protect.

Hillary Diane Rodham was born on October 26, 1947 in the suburbs of Chicago Illinois. She was born of two parents, Hugh Rodham, and Dorothy Emma Howell Rodham, as the oldest of three children. She has two younger brothers, Hugh Jr. and Anthony. She became active in politics after being inspired at a speech from Martin Luther King Jr. She attended Wellesley College, and graduated in 1969. She then went to Yale Law school, where she met her soon to be husband, Bill Clinton. She graduated from Yale in 1973. She then enrolled at Yale Child Study Center, where she took courses on children, medicine, and one more year of postgraduate study. She was first lady of the State for years, first lady of the country, and the Senator of New York. She ran for president against President Obama, but quickly withdrew when it became apparent President Obama would have the majority of the vote. She then served as Secretary of State under President Obama until 2013. She faced controversy when 4 Americans were killed at a post in Benghazi, however she was not found responsible in both investigations. She ran for president once again in 2015, and got the democratic nomination against opponent Bernie Sanders in June 2016. She once again faced controversy when we learned she had used a private server to send federal emails. However, in both FBI investigations, after she voluntarily gave all emails to the FBI, she wasn’t found of breaking a single law, and the rest is just history.

These past 18 months have been some of the craziest in America's political history. We’ve had everything from email scandals, racism and sexism, to saying that the other opponent belongs in prison. But above all, this year has had controversy. If there’s one thing that we have learned from this past election, it's that the people of America are all unique in their views and opinions. Whether you’re a diehard conservative Donald Trump supporter, or a liberal Clinton supporter, we’re all Americans, and we must come together and accept that Donald Trump is our next president. As Bernie Sanders said, “This campaign isn’t about Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders, or any other candidate who sought presidency. This campaign is about the needs of the American people...”

Information used for part 1 and 2:

http://www.ontheissues.org/Hillary_Clinton.htm

http://www.biography.com/people/hillary-clinton-9251306

http://www.biography.com/people/donald-trump-9511238#synopsis

http://www.ontheissues.org/Donald_Trump.htm

 

Attributions
Article by Alex Yoder