This article is an audacious attempt to break down policies of both major party candidates, particularly policies on hot-button issues this election season. It's an attempt for voters, especially young voters, to make an educated decision this November. Each candidate’s policies have been taken from a combination of the stances taken on the debate stage and also listed on their respective websites. After the breakdown of each of their policies under a certain issue, I have tried to give an objective stance on whose policy is better. For any issue on which I could not give an objective stance, I have left it up to readers to decide.
Happy Voting!
Common terms and definitions:
Deductibles: essentially, a tax break based on liabilities such as homeownership, childcare, etc.
*** = common with the other candidate.
Taxes:
Hillary Clinton
Incomes over $5,000,000 will see an increase in taxes: 39.6 percent to 43.6 percent.
“Capital gains” — profit from the sale of a property or investment — will see an increase in taxes from 20 percent to 24 percent.
Household incomes over $1,000,000 must pay an effective tax rate of at least 30 percent.
Tax on “carried interest”: Closing the loophole that allows investment bankers to claim capital gains as a deduction.
Double child tax credit. Essentially, a deduction based on how many dependent children you have.
New $1,200 credit for caregivers.
Middle-class families would essentially see no changes in taxes, but the wealthiest Americans would see their taxes increase; lowest bracket of Americans will see their taxes reduce.
Where do we want to put the money? Subsidized education and paid family leave.
How much will it add to the national debt? $200,000,000,000 (200 billion)
Donald Trump
Tax Rates on Married/Joint Tax Filers:
<$75,000: 12 percent
$75,000-$225,000: 25 percent
>$225,000: 33 percent
Single filers: half these rates
Cap deductibles at $200,000/year.
Childcare deductibles: Up to the average cost of childcare in each state.
Cutting personalized deductions.
Increase taxes for those making between $60,000-$100,000 a year.
For most people, federal income taxes would either stay the same or go down.
Tax cuts are also heavily concentrated on the wealthiest individuals.
Closing the carried interest loophole***
How much will it add to the national debt? $2,000,000,000,000 (2 trillion)
So who has it right?
Donald Trump’s Plan: Road to Recession
Analysts believe that trumps plan will increase the Debt-to-GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio. This would create uncertainty in the marketplace and would start a road to recession.
Hillary Clinton’s plan: Stability
Experts say that Hillary’s plan will keep the Debt-to-GDP ratio stable; if it does increase, it will not be as dramatically as under Trump’s plan.
Winner: HILLARY CLINTON
Foreign Policy: Specifically, terrorism
Hillary Clinton
Intensifying drone strikes and other air campaigns.
Drone strikes and foreign occupation have been linked to spikes in terrorism.
“Stepping up” support for local Arab and Kurdish fighters to protect civilian interests.
“Diplomatic strategy” aimed at resolving the conflict in Syria and Iran’s sectarian conflict.
“Taking out ISIS’s stronghold in Iraq and Syria, working with our allies to dismantle global terror networks, and hardening our defenses at home.”
Promoting interception of terrorist recruiting on social media and the Internet (essentially, cyberwarfare)***
Donald Trump
“Rebuild a depleted military,” even though U.S. military spending in 2016 was $596 billion, more than the next eight nations combined.
End strategy of nation building and regime change.
The U.S.’s foreign policy has been characterized to “democratize” other nations, especially in the Middle East; however, our occupations have often lead to serious problems, such as the creation of a terrorist hotbed in the Middle East.
Create a refugee policy that takes into account the security of the American people.
Defeat the ideology of radical Islamic terrorism.
This implies that terrorism is linked to fundamentalist Islamic ideals, which is NOT true. Terrorism is a strategy, not the work of lunatics.
“Suspend, on a temporary basis, immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.”
This is likely to fuel terrorism recruitment; fear is exactly what terrorists want to breed.
“Establish a Commission on Radical Islam to identify and explain to the American public the core convictions and beliefs of Radical Islam, to identify the warning signs of radicalization, and to expose the networks in our society that support radicalization.”
Who does it better?
Neither candidate directly addresses the problems and both would fuel terrorist intentions. Clinton’s plan is fuzzy at best; Trump’s would heavily fuel terrorist strategy. Neither plan would “defeat ISIS.”
Winner: NEITHER
Education:
Hillary Clinton
On college:
Subsidizing community college.
Families making less than $125,000 a year will have to pay no tuition in two or four-year colleges or universities.
Accountability on the parts of states and the institutions themselves to keep college affordable.
$25 billion fund for historically black colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions and other minority-serving institutions.
Where’s all this money and subsidy coming from? Well, increased taxes, but on the richest Americans.
What problems do we foresee?
Is that much free education possible without raising taxes on anybody but the wealthiest Americans and cutting taxes on the poorest? Shouldn’t the middle class be paying more to account for these subsidies?
Donald Trump
School choice: Alternatives to public schools designated to families based on location especially if those public schools are not good; mostly targeted at low-income families.
Add $20 billion to school choice programs.
Distribution of the grant will favor states that grant school choice, encouraging other states to participate.
Provide school choice to every one of the 11 million school-aged students living in poverty.
The problem with school choice:
Tax dollars would be funneled into private schools rather than the improvement of existing public schools.
Programs would encourage schools to be competitive and work to attract students.
Would create a competitive gap between schools; wealthiest families with the means to transport their children to the top-tier schools leaving poorer students in less good schools.
Doesn’t really do anything to solve the problem of education for low income students.
On College:
“Work with Congress on reforms to ensure universities are making a good faith effort to reduce the cost of college and student debt in exchange for the federal tax breaks and tax dollars.”
Ensure that the opportunity to attend a two or four-year college, or to pursue a trade or a skill set through vocational and technical education, will be easier to access, pay for, and finish.”
Who’s right?
Both plans pose problems fundamentally but also idealistically, depending on which side you’re on.
Winner: UNDECLARED
The Second Amendment: Gun Rights
Hillary Clinton
Closing gun show and internet loopholes that allows irresponsible people to get hold of guns.
Defense of the second amendment but with regulation.
Stricter background checks.
Keeping weapons of war off the streets.
Anyone on a terrorist watchlist should not be able to own a gun.
Taking on gun lobbies that are soft on irresponsible actions.
Keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, violent criminals and the severely mentally ill.
Donald Trump
No infringement on second amendment rights, period.
Nominate supreme court judges that will favor and uphold Second Amendment rights.
Expansion of Project Exile: Crime reduction strategy first implemented in Richmond, Virginia.
Targeted felons who carried firearms and prosecuted them in federal courts with harsher sentences and offering no bail or early release.
Sought to deter would-be offenders.
What’s the problem with all this? Mass incarceration is already too big — this will only increase and flood prisons.
Was it effective? At first, yes, but now homicides are coming back up in places like Richmond.
“Empower law-abiding gun owners to defend themselves. Law enforcement does a great job, but they can’t be everywhere all of the time.”
Mental health reform.
National right to carry firearms in all 50 states.
No regulation of what types of guns or magazines law-abiding citizens are allowed to own.
Who’s Right?
This is a more subjective issue. However: the biggest fault with Donald Trump’s plan is to put in Supreme Court Justices that are far right-leaning. It's impractical. Any appointments made to the Supreme Court must go through the judicial process, and it's unlikely that Congress will allow such a Supreme Court judge to be put in power. Judges are traditionally centered, with left or right tendencies, but not full leanings.
Winner: HILLARY CLINTON
Immigration
Hillary Clinton
“Pathway to citizenship.”
Humane enforcement of immigration laws.
Enforcement of DACA and DAPA — laws protecting immigrants and their American born children who would be citizens.
Close private immigration detention centers.
Support immigrant integration.
Donald Trump
Build an impenetrable physical wall on the Mexican-American border.
“Mexico will pay for the wall.”
“Anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country.”
“Move criminal aliens out day one, in joint operations with local, state, and federal law enforcement. We will terminate the Obama administration’s deadly, non-enforcement policies that allow thousands of criminal aliens to freely roam our streets.”
“End sanctuary cities.”
Triple ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents on the border.
Anyone who enters the country illegally is subject to deportation.
Ensures that countries take their people back once they are deported.
Suspend issuance of visas to immigrants from countries where adequate screening cannot occur.
Targets Syria and other Muslim nations, which are often places where adequate screening cannot occur.
Who’s Right?
Donald Trump’s proposals to have “Mexico build a wall” are inherently impractical and will not happen. No such legislation will be able to make it through Congress. Furthermore, he calls for an immense increase in ICE presence — three times as much — which would call for a massive allocation of funds to the ICE where that money could be used for internal law enforcement. A massive deportation of citizens and protection that large-scale from the ICE is also impractical and will also not get through Congress. Even Clinton’s plan is fuzzy at best, offering no concrete solutions for “comprehensive immigration.” This matter is subjective.
Winner: UNDECLARED
