I love election season. It might just be the real most wonderful time of the year, that is, if you enjoy mud slinging, absurdly funded campaigns [Trump recently loaned his own campaign $1.8 million — and it’s not even 2016!],  and ridiculous quotes from presidential debates [“The most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.”— Former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee].

So, I guess, yeah! I love election season! Now here’s what I think you should know about the frontrunners for the 2016 election. . . .

We’ll start with the Republicans because, well, they’ve been the most fun:

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush: His crime plan revolves mostly around building more prisons and issuing longer sentences, because punishment over therapy hardens people. What better way to solve our prison industrial complex than with more prisons and stricter sentencing?

Dr. Ben Carson [Florida]: Has minimal business, political, and military experience. Oh, and he claimed that sexual orientation is a choice. Why don’t more people choose to be straight like him?

Businesswoman Carly Fiorina [Virginia]: Here we go! The Republicans are shaking it up and throwing a woman in the mix. I mean, it is about time. . . she wants to overturn Roe V. Wade, which defended a woman’s right to abortion.

US Senator Rand Paul [Kentucky]: Wants to decriminalize marijuana and do away with the common core [bonus points for Paul], but advocates for energy freedom and traditional energy sources — AKA open the floodgates for private and unregulated coal extraction and hydrofracking. Or perhaps he is looking for a return to kerosine lamp lighting? I could get behind that.  

Businessman Donald Trump [New York]: He wants to make some serious cuts to the Department of Education. Because it isn’t hypocritical at all for a man whose networth is approximately $4 billion  to advocate for spending cuts on public services millions of citizens rely on.

Now onto the Democrats! They’ve been slightly disappointing compared to the entertainment the Rs have been providing, but here’s what you need to know:

Former US Secretary of State and Senator Hillary Clinton [New York]: Wants to promote the teaching of the Bible as history and literature in schools and not as religion or science. Hey, Hillary! Go girl! She supported the Defense of Marriage Act Bill Clinton signed [2007], which she recently recanted and claimed to have changed her views on the definition of marriage [convenient, huh?]. And she sponsored a bill in 2010 which would criminalize flag burning. Let me exercise my freedom of speech to say, “Hey, Hillary! Go away, girl!”

US Senator Bernie Sanders [Vermont]: Wants to increase income tax for the wealthiest to 50 percent, pass an employment non-discrimination act, combat the disproportionate killing of black citizens by police, and immediately address the state of the global environment. And his voting record actually matches up to his platforms [that may be a first]. Running this country, however, relies a lot on compromise and a realistic understanding of how legislation will be passed within a deeply divided legislature, both of which Sanders lacks.

But don’t take my word for it — go read up and stay informed! Every vote counts, especially when Trump still holds the lead.

 

The information for this article was obtained from ontheissues.org