As an informed college student who was picked to attend the Democratic debate held Thursday night at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I have some thoughts on what was said by both the candidates.
The debate touched on many issues close to my heart, one of which is about universal health care. Bernie Sanders compared America to other countries where healthcare is guaranteed, like the U.K., where the people spend three times less per capita and 50 percent less than in France. I appreciate the comparisons because America has more wealth than these countries. Shouldn’t we be able to have healthcare available for everyone? Should we really have the highest prescription prices in the world, as Sanders pointed out? A whopping 29 million people without coverage is rather staggering.
While Sanders wants to copy other countries, Clinton felt Sanders should solely focus on ours even though their system works better. Although Sanders wants to build healthcare coverage from the bottom up, Clinton just wants to focus on the 10 percent not being covered currently which makes more sense in her eyes. However, if something isn’t working incredibly well, why finish it? Why not create a healthcare plan that’s great than rather than just mediocre?
To get good healthcare, you need a good job. To get a good job, you need a college degree – which costs thousands and thousands of dollars. The ever increasing tuition rate is a problem for many students including myself. Clinton says she has a compact which would give students debt free tuition, which sounds great compared to what we have now. I’m personally $20,000 in the hole currently so this idea sounds pretty good. Her plan would cost 35 billion.
However, Sanders proposed that, since we bailed out Wall Street, they should pay a tax so public colleges and universities are tuition free. "We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class," he argued. Sanders also mentioned that having a college degree now is like having a high school diploma 50 years ago, which makes going to college almost mandatory if you don’t want to work at Starbucks for the rest of your life. Why should we have to pay such high tuition for a degree that isn’t really an option anymore but more so required post high school? However, his plan is a whopping 75 billion; it seems almost too good to be true.
After college, I’m going to have to get a job in order to pay off this enormous chunk of student loans. However, it’s going to take a lot longer than my male peers since I most likely won’t make as much because of Scott Walker repealing equal work for equal pay. That might change with these candidates, since both are very passionate about putting forth legislation for equal work for equal pay. Clinton said it’s at, "the core of my campaign." I still can’t believe that this isn’t required by every job because it seems so obvious in the year 2016.
Foreign policy was a big issue at the debate. Sanders argued that, rather than creating more enemies within the world – such as in Iran – we should try to "make peace in the world," which sounds almost too polite as a possible future leader of the United States. Although he would talk to Iran and put "pressure" on them, I grew up in a world where war always seems to be the go-to answer since this nation isn’t a pacifist in the slightest. Republicans are criticizing Obama now for not being tough enough; I can’t imagine they would ever let Sanders get in the White House. Clinton does not support these views, saying they have a long way to go before even thinking about the notion of having a good relationship with Iran.
Although Clinton obviously has more foreign affairs experience from being Secretary of State for four years, she still may not exhibit the most wisdom. As Sanders points out, "Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it." Through her voting for this, we lost loads of money, men and morale in the country. She even boasted about getting advice from Henry Kissinger even though he was responsible for killing three million innocent people in Cambodia. I don’t want this country to go through the same ordeal again in terms of another Iraq War, and I feel with Bernie Sanders in office I wouldn’t have to worry about that.
It’s not hard to see why Sanders is so popular; he uses emotional words like "revolution," and he talks about taking down "big businesses" and "taxing the one percent," which are huge buzz words and phrases. I always thought the government would always be the same, and there would be small changes, but nothing as revolutionary as taxing the rich to such an extent. He gives people hope who currently feel that this economic system will never be in their favor.
Clinton doesn’t have as much appeal because her big point is to "get things done" which sounds good, but it also sounds very similar to what other candidates are saying now and have said in the past. She does have the advantage of having more experience with being Secretary of State, but it’s hard to say whether or not she did a splendid job. She also has the advantage of possibly gaining previous Obama supporters since she was a member of the cabinet.
