THE ISSUES OF THE 2016 ELECTION ARE VASTLY DIFFERENT FROM 2008

…2016’s most important voters.

 

Millennials could decide this election.

 

It is interesting that now that the GOP race seems to be down to the key top three candidates.  Now we need to look at what these three have to offer the American public.  Yes, at this time, I am totally counting out the other tier of candidates such as John Kasich or Ben Carson.  One of them could become competitive after the southern states have their Super Tuesday primaries and caucus’.  But as of South Carolina, it seems to realistically be down to Trump, Cruz and Rubio.

 

So, just what do these three candidates have to offer the American voters?

 

Well, the man leading the polls, Donald Trump he wants to tear everything down and start over.  According to him everything from trade, the economy, immigration, the military, the Vets, infrastructure, foreign affairs, education, taxes, elections campaigns, abortion, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, they all either need to be started over or majorly modified.  His demagoguery succeeds because he addresses the hopes and fears of much of the Republican upset base.  According to Trump, it’s amazing that this nation has been able to survive without him at the helm.

 

As for the Texas Senator Ted Cruz, he wants to take the country back to the gilded age and revise the nation’s failed economic policies.  He is for total deregulation, major tax cuts, and turning back the clock on social changes such as a woman’s right-to-choose and same-sex marriage. Cruz doesn’t offer much more than doom and gloom and nothing that sounds new or promising.

 

Rubio is just a young, bright politician that has been running for president for the last 5 years.  Rubio wants to be everything to everyone and he has put everything on the line for this election.  He isn’t even going to be the Florida Senator if he doesn’t win the presidency.  He’s already decided not to run for re-election, and he’s only a first-term senator.  (The word has it that he knows he probably won’t get the nomination, but it sets him up for a possible VP pick or to run for the Governor of Florida..)

 

If John Kasich doesn’t run out of money he might get into the running when he gets to some of the more industrialized states.  But by then, Trump may already have sewn up the delegates.  Right now it’s just a waiting game.

 

At this point, it does look like it will be Trump versus Clinton in the general election.

 

But based on Hillary being in the public eye for so many decades, for years the opposition has continued to offer up negative issues against her to make her seem untrustworthy.

 

The only positive issue going for Democrats is that Trump, who would be anything but a steady hand in the White House, the passionate anti-Trump sentiment could boost turnout and give Democrats a sweeping victory.

 

As of today, unfortunately for the other candidates, a majority of Republicans now believe Trump will be the nominee.

 

But then on the other side, what about Bernie Sanders?

 

Well, Sanders’s and Trump’s message are basically the same.  They both say the system is rigged to favor the rich and powerful. Trump offers himself as the strongman, while Sanders promises a “political revolution.”

 

Together, these two have only done one thing for both of their parties.  They have shown that the establishment leadership of both parties has lost touch with large segments of American voters.

 

If Hillary is the chosen one, and if she should be swept into the White House, it would not be because the Democratic Party had done a better job in relating to their members.  Both parties are deficit in that area.

 

What it would probably mean is that most Americans believe that the idea of putting someone like Trump in the White House would be unthinkable.

 

There is a new generation out there that this would be their first time to vote.  The younger women voters no longer feel the need to support the feminist (like Hillary) that paved the way for their current freedom.  The younger men today aren’t having to deal with a military draft, but many of the both young men and women are having to deal with high unemployment and/or heavy college debt.

 

The world for these voters is very different from what the Baby Boomer generation had to deal with.  This is shown to be true by the current support of Bernie Sanders by these younger generations.  These idealistic younger voters see that they don’t want Wall Street and the older generation running the show.  They see that universal health care would have been very welcome in their own families and they see that their parents may have been hit with the income inequality that Bernie consistently talks about.  In other words, it's time for Bernie's "Revolution".

 

They also see that the conservative ideas that are promoted by the Republicans sound more like keeping everything “status quo” instead of offering potential improvements for their futures.

 

It will be interesting to see who actually shows up when the general election comes around and who we will all have to choose from.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016