Being a first-time voter myself, it is so exciting getting to exercise my right to vote. Unfortunately, most people are not political science majors, and maybe don’t have the time to follow the news surrounding our fast-paced government. I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked this week alone “Who should I vote for”, all the people in my life know that I keep up to date with the presidential race, so they assume I know who they should vote for in the primary. I just have to say, never ever ask someone who you should vote for. Candidates are like haircuts, if you ask someone to pick your haircut, you may end up with one you don’t like. If you ask your friend to pick your haircut, they could pick a bob, but you may not like that for you, you have unique features that need to be emphasized, and this cut won’t do it for you. And to make things worse, your hair will take a minimum of four years to grow back. So for the sake of your hair, and your individual voice in this democracy, pick your candidate, and don’t ask someone to pick for you. To make things easier for you, I decided to make an updated list of the current candidates, and where they stand on key issues that are commonly found to be the most defining factors when making a selection. Hopefully, this will help you on your journey to find the best candidate for you.
Joe Biden
Vice President Joe Biden, from Delaware, is a 78-year old democrat. About 63% of Joe Biden’s donations come from large companies such as Morgan and Morgan. Biden is a practicing Catholic, and a fun fact about him is he participated in an anti-segregation sit-in when he was in high school.
Climate Change
Biden takes the view of climate change as a risk for the community. He also ties in with terrorist attacks with climate change. He states that when we have a climate crisis our military is preoccupied assisting other than in return, we become susceptible to terrorist attacks. Biden supports the Green New Deal like Warren. However, Biden plans on creating new technology within America that will become greener than what we have and will lower our carbon footprint, he doesn’t state what this will look like, but he does promise that he will enforce mandatory deadlines to meet by 2025. Once we fix the issues here, he wants to take our findings globally to preserve the planet, and this will create several new jobs within this sector.
Health Care
Biden, naturally, wants to build off Obamacare, a system in which he co-created, and plans on keeping private insurance plans to not eliminate all options. Biden does not support Medicare for all, and his reasoning is that this will force the removal of Obamacare, and he would rather build this plan than to start over. He plans on creating a system where people who make over 400% of the poverty level, will receive a tax that ensures no increase in the payment on their insurance that will provide better coverage for those with Obamacare. For the Pharamcidicals, Biden plans on investing in creating cheaper “generic” prescriptions that will challenge the big industry. For women’s reproductive health, Biden has no plan, and this because he is not pro-choice, being that he is Catholic. However, he does want to work with the House in creating better legislation around domestic abuse.
Economics
Biden plans on investing in making better union jobs, this will be done with his Green Deal, but also, he plans on making the next great Railroad Revolution, and this will also spark more jobs. Biden discusses plans on investing in our public education system, which will allow greater amounts of graduations, however, he doesn’t plan on financing colleges or secondary education programs. And lastly, Biden plans on revitalizing the housing rental system, and this will make it difficult for landlords to evict tenants.
Bernie Sanders
Senator Bernie Sanders, from Vermont, is a 78-year-old democrat. Around 55% of Bernie Sanders’s campaign contributions come from individual Americans, with the rest being from large companies. Senator Sanders is a practicing Jew, and a fun fact about him is he is a socialist and an independent in the Senate.
Climate Change
Sanders also supports the Green New Deal, like Biden and Warren, he plans on expanding new research which in return will create new jobs. Sanders wants to invest more money into public transportation so that there will be less of a need for personal cars within highly populated areas. With transpiration being a key issue, Sanders also plans on creating more railways that will cut on the cost and production of semi-trucks. Sanders wants to invest $16 trillion into the removal of fossil fuels entirely once we find a new and better alternative.
Health Care
Sanders has always been extremely passionate about providing nationwide free healthcare for everybody. His plan would be mandatory and would eliminate private insurance companies. Sanders promises that in his single-payer plan, Americans will never be charged more than $200 a year for their prescriptions. Although this all may sound great, no plan within his website states how all of this will be achieved. This isn’t me trying to downplay a candidate, this is just information that is important to know since candidates are usually expected to have detailed plans before claiming office. If this doesn’t faze you, that is no problem, it should just be publicly known. For women’s reproductive health sanders plans on fully funding Planned Parenthood, as a part of his healthcare for all systems.
Economics
As everyone can recall Bernie saying, “Tax the rich”. Sanders supports making all forms of secondary education free, along with eliminating 45 million Americans student loan debt. Sanders will make daycare and preschool free for everybody, along with providing more funding to public education. Sanders dreams of providing more affordable housing by investing $2 trillion to building more homes. Again, although these things all sound amazing, it is hard to see how it will all work out with the only plan being, taxing people who make more than those under the poverty level.
So, there you go, here is a list of all the current candidates for the 2020 primary election, just as a disclaimer, when I started this article there were eight candidates still. Hopefully, you got a better understanding of all the candidates and where they stand on some of the most important issues to young Americans. If you still need some more information you can click on the links provided in their names. My goal is to help you find a candidate that marks all your checkboxes and fits the best for your needs. Not everyone is the same, and it is important in the primaries to vote for someone that matches your voice and can change issues that affect you specifically. When we get further into the election year the choices become limited, and it’s hard to express your concerns at that point, so while there is still time, show the Democratic party who you support so that they can help others with the same concerns. By not voting you are throwing away your voice, and ability to make changes to things you don’t like currently. So, if you don’t vote you can’t complain my friend. Anyway, make sure to vote! And if you don’t know when it’s time to vote, read my other article about all the important dates that you need to know, here.