Category Archives: Advice about voting

Reprint – What To Think About as the 2016 Presidential Election Approaches – – 85 days and counting

449 Days And Counting – What To Think About as the 2016 Presidential Election Approaches

Candidate Intent

Why is the candidate running for President? Do they have a history of public service? Do they really have America’s best interest in mind?

Polls/Surveys – Is It Gallup or Undefined

When you hear a percentage mentioned, whether it’s by a candidate, a news station, a publication or blog, make sure it’s attached to a legitimate poll and defines the cross-section of people questioned.  Polls can be skewed to validate a person’s viewpoint. If you poll 20 of your friends, they will say you’re a great person. What happens if you poll exes, are they going to give you the same review?

TV Stations Have Political Leanings

A TV Stations news and the programs they broadcast host people who support their views.  They will also poll people who back their opinions.  Keep this in mind as you watch TV and as you read articles about the elections.  If it mentions a specific TV station survey, again, is it official or slanted?

Make Sure To Fact-Check

Politicians will exaggerate. As everyone knows, America’s first amendment is freedom of speech.  Sometimes candidates will propagate fabrications about other candidates with negative advertising.  Remember, just because the targeted politician ignores it, doesn’t make them guilty. Also, just because something negative is repeated and reiterated and repeated again does not make it true.

Bullies Do Not Make Good Presidents

Theodore Roosevelt’s expression, “Walk softly and carry a big stick”  are words to strongly consider. The loudest person in the room may get the most attention, but this may actually mean that they are the weakest candidate. What candidates have diplomacy and executive qualities? Think about the last 30 years of US Leaders.  Who brought America up and who brought America down?  Then draw your own conclusions.

Intelligent Candidate or Not

It’s true anyone can be President in America, if you’re at least 35 years old and a natural born US citizen. No one ever says it, but in order to be President, you must be intelligent.  As the election approaches, think about the smart Presidents and the not-so-smart ones.  Who did the better job?

Big Picture vs. Extreme Thinking

A President cannot have extreme views.  The old cliché applies here: Are they part of the solution/the present and the future or are they part of the problem/stuck in the past?

Track Record, Track Record, Track Record

Just because a candidate makes a promise doesn’t mean they will keep it. Who has followed through in the past and helped make the United States and the world a better place and who has not?

House of Representatives And The Senate

Keeping election promises also depends on The Congress and The Senate. These offices are very important.  A candidate may make election declarations, but will the Senate and House pass bills, or will they (for political reasons) just block a President who belongs to the opposite party?

Religion Belongs in the Place of Worship

Separation of Church and State. If you want to be Christian or Catholic or Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist or Lutheran or 100’s of other religions, then be them, but candidates should not interject their religious beliefs into the government.

Are you registered?  Contact your local election board if you need to register or if you’ve moved since the last time you voted. Do vote in the mid-term elections.  You can affect the future of your country.  Your vote does matter. And for young voters or just young at heart, here are 10 Reasons why you should vote.

 

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Why Your Vote Matters! – 204 days and counting

Hillary Clinton, John Kasich, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have been traveling across the U.S. since super Tuesday, waving their credentials and debating with each other.

In the last few weeks, candidates have met their fans and supporters at rallies, town halls, fundraisers and meet and greets all across the state of New York.

Tomorrow’s primary is an historical event and could be pivotal for both Democrat and Republican candidates as they vie for the state of New York’s delegates. The remaining primaries and caucuses across the country, which last through the beginning of  June are consequential.

Here are five reasons why you need to get out and vote in the primaries, and in the general election in November:

Important To Vote

Don’t like any of the candidates? Vote for the one you least despise. It’s better than having the one you dislike the most win.  Whoever wins has the power to effect your life.

Government Impact

The government (president, congress, senate, Supreme Court) affects the economy, taxes, education, immigration, transportation, the military, foreign policy, religious freedom, women’s issues, children’s issues, healthcare and many other aspects.

It’s Your Money

The president and other government officials (county commissioners, governor, state treasurer, legislators and Congress) you vote for will decide how to spend your money. Candidates give money to causes you care about: youth programs, the environment, HIV/AIDS, cancer research and others.

If you don’t vote, someone else will. It will influence how decisions are made on matters like pay equity, fairness in hiring, and workplace safety; environmental concerns – the air, the land, and water; crime prevention – laws and law enforcement; safe and affordable homes; traffic patterns; schools, parks and recreation.

The Future

It affects the future. What happens today reverberates down the road. If the economy goes into a recession, it will take decades to rebuild.

History

  • 14th Amendment– All persons born within the U.S. are citizens and guaranteed rights and privileges (1868)
  • 15th Amendment– No citizen denied the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude (1870)
  • 19th Amendment No citizen shall be abridged of their right to vote based on sex.
  • (1920)
  • 24th Amendment – No poll tax is allowed or failure to pay any other tax shall prevent a person from voting (1964)
  • 26th Amendment – All persons 18 or older shall not be abridged of their right to vote (1971)
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965 –Applied a nationwide prohibition against the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on the literacy tests on a nationwide basis.

 

To help you make your decision please follow the link to each candidates website.

Hillary Clinton

Ted Cruz

John Kasich

Bernie Sanders

Donald Trump

Interesting Election Facts:

How many delegates each candidate currently has –  Delegate counter

Voter turnout since 1789 –  Voter turnout

Interesting Presidential Election Facts –  Presidential race facts

Follow the link to the –  Upcoming Primaries

 Image result for your vote your voice 2016

Higher Education Costs – 211 days and counting

With the crisis of ballooning college costs and student debt in the U.S., 2016 presidential candidates are looking for ways to tackle this monumental issue. It is a looming problem that stunts economic growth and makes it difficult for some parents to buy houses, save for their children’s education and their own retirement.

While legislation has been passed to lower interest rates, the current amount for student loan debt is $1.2 trillion dollars. In part, the debt is rising, because there are more students going to college and they’re borrowing more money.

While interest rates have dropped in recent years, the average for each borrower is $29,000.  Students who attend private colleges could owe $100,000 plus.

Below is each candidate’s higher education plan:

Hillary Clinton – The New College Compact

  • Tuition-free community college
  • Debt-free public four-year college
  • Cutting interest rates on federal student loans
  • Government student loan refinancing for borrowers with existing federal loans
  • Making income-based repayment the default plan for all borrowers
  • Expand work study program for students

Clinton would pay for her plan by closing tax loopholes for the wealthy.

Ted Cruz – Deregulate Education

In 2014, Cruz voted against letting borrowers refinance their federal loans with the government.

John Kasich -State Education 

  • Downsizing the U.S. Department of Education and reallocating education funding to states
  • Expanding high school students’ access to courses that provide college credit
  • Tying government funding for public colleges and universities to graduation rates

Throughout the presidential campaign, Kasich has advocated for stronger state involvement in education issues and a reduced role for the federal government.

Bernie Sanders – Debt-free College

  • Tuition-free public college
  • Cutting interest rates on federal student loans
  • Government student loan refinancing for borrowers with existing federal loans

Sanders would fund his program by imposing taxes on certain stock, bond and derivatives trades.

Donald Trump  – No Government Profit

  • Reforming the federal student loans system so the federal government doesn’t profit from student loans
  • Cutting the Department of Education’s budget

Results for each plan

If we followed Senator Ted Cruz’s and Donald Trump’s plans, it would mean defunding all Pell grants, there would be no new federal student loans and no Title IX enforcement. It would cause several colleges to close, due to of the lack of federal money, and less people would be able to attend college.

It would also mean going back to the guaranteed lending, or as it’s known in Washington DC., corporate welfare. However, it should be noted that The Department of Education subsidized the banks when this system was in place.

Governor John Kasich’s strategy places the burden on the states, so there would be pressure for tax increases.

Senator Bernie Sander’s plan: funding free college is unrealistic. The cost is $70 billion per year and, as with other government entitlements, it will drive up taxes and ultimately the national deficit.

Hillary Clinton’s proposal addresses affordability concerns and demands accountability at the institution and state level. However, it doesn’t target relief to the borrowers who need it the most.

Since strategies from the Democratic and Republican candidates are very different, it’s not likely either party would be receptive to the other’s policies. Once again gridlock would halt progress.

College Funding Sources

The Foundation Center 

College Scholarships

US News & World Report College Scholarship Tips

Lebron James and others may pay for your college

How to get strangers to pay for your college

 

 

 

Wah Wah – 226 days and counting

If you can’t take it, then don’t dish it out, and certainly don’t ever run for President of the United States.

Name calling and barb-wielding accusations between presidential candidates have occurred since George Washington became the first President of the United States. He was uncontested and yet, people still found things to complain about.

Naked pictures, cheating spouses, shady business deals: social media has forever changed the shock value of the public’s responses to news. No one is shaken by anything anymore. The up-to-the minute reporting about violence, terrorist attacks, crimes in the U.S. and entertainers’ personal lives has heightened tolerance levels for what is defined as scandal.

We are a jaded nation.

Only Kim Kardashian and a few others can take a naked selfie and have people debate its inappropriateness. No one cares about Melania Trump posing nude or whether Hollywoodlife.com reported Ted Cruz’s infidelities, or about Vanityfair.com’s article about Bernie Sanders misappropriating campaign finances, and all the articles debating Hillary Clinton’s ability to lead as a woman.

What people do listen to is how the candidate responds to these accusations, and whether they actually did anything wrong. Can they shake it off, laugh it off, be tough, and take the beating?

Everyone knows the bickering is a deflection tactic, a way to avoid the actual issues. While some people get swept up in the mayhem, the rest of us are waiting on the edge of our seats in front of our televisions, by our twitter feeds, Snapchats, Instagram posts, blogs, videos and newsfeeds to read, see and hear what a candidate actually has to say about the issues and how they plan  to achieve their promises.

 

 

 

Who’s Ready To Rally? 252 Days and Counting

Where the political landscape stands on this Super Tuesday is in limbo. Candidates are high on hopes that the up-for-grab delegates from each of the 11 states will belong to them.

There will be fodder shed, in particular for the Republican Party whose campaign efforts have seemed more like a High School Student Counsel Election than a U.S. Presidential one. With all the sideshow, up-close-and personal antics, where bickering and airing of dirty laundry has been the rule, they have more than worn out their welcome of their 15 minutes of fame.

Pundits and reporters alike have given their views on what each candidate will need to survive. The Republican Party is trying to regain composure after being Trumpetized. Trump’s constant guilt-free attitude and recent refusal to disavow David Duke has given them fuel to withdraw their support.

Who will rock and rule Super Tuesday isn’t really a mystery. It’s no secret that Hillary Clinton will come out on top for Democrats. Trump will probably still win, despite the hard core humiliation message the Republican Party is trying to send to him.

Republicans, however, should hope for Kasich, as he is their only viable candidate, sane and Presidential in the sea of their insanity.

Prediction: A brokered convention for Republicans

 

 

 

 

 

449 Days And Counting – What To Think About as the 2016 Presidential Election Approaches

There are 449 days until the 2016 Presidential Election. Here are 11 things to think about as November 8, 2016 approaches.

Candidate Intent

Why is the candidate running for President? Do they have a history of public service? Do they really have America’s best interest in mind?

Polls/Surveys – Is It Gallup or Undefined

When you hear a percentage mentioned, whether it’s by a candidate, a news station, a publication or blog, make sure it’s attached to a legitimate poll and defines the cross-section of people questioned.  Polls can be skewed to validate a person’s viewpoint. If you poll 20 of your friends, they will say you’re a great person. What happens if you poll exes, are they going to give you the same review?

TV Stations Have Political Leanings

A TV Stations news and the programs they broadcast host people who support their views.  They will also poll people who back their opinions.  Keep this in mind as you watch TV and as you read articles about the elections.  If it mentions a specific TV station survey, again, is it official or slanted?

Make Sure To Fact-Check

Politicians will exaggerate. As everyone knows, America’s first amendment is freedom of speech.  Sometimes candidates will propagate fabrications about other candidates with negative advertising.  Remember, just because the targeted politician ignores it, doesn’t make them guilty. Also, just because something negative is repeated and reiterated and repeated again does not make it true.

Bullies Do Not Make Good Presidents

Theodore Roosevelt’s expression, “Walk softly and carry a big stick”  are words to strongly consider. The loudest person in the room may get the most attention, but this may actually mean that they are the weakest candidate. What candidates have diplomacy and executive qualities? Think about the last 30 years of US Leaders.  Who brought America up and who brought America down?  Then draw your own conclusions.

Intelligent Candidate or Not

It’s true anyone can be President in America, if you’re at least 35 years old and a natural born US citizen. No one ever says it, but in order to be President, you must be intelligent.  As the election approaches, think about the smart Presidents and the not-so-smart ones.  Who did the better job?

Big Picture vs. Extreme Thinking

A President cannot have extreme views.  The old cliché applies here: Are they part of the solution/the present and the future or are they part of the problem/stuck in the past?

Track Record, Track Record, Track Record

Just because a candidate makes a promise doesn’t mean they will keep it. Who has followed through in the past and helped make the United States and the world a better place and who has not?

House of Representatives And The Senate

Keeping election promises also depends on The Congress and The Senate. These offices are very important.  A candidate may make election declarations, but will the Senate and House pass bills, or will they (for political reasons) just block a President who belongs to the opposite party?

Religion Belongs in the Place of Worship

Separation of Church and State. If you want to be Christian or Catholic or Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist or Lutheran or 100’s of other religions, then be them, but candidates should not interject their religious beliefs into the government.

Are you registered?  Contact your local election board if you need to register or if you’ve moved since the last time you voted. Do vote in the mid-term elections.  You can affect the future of your country.  Your vote does matter. And for young voters or just young at heart, here are 10 Reasons why you should vote.

2016 Candidate Predictions

Hillary Clinton – Democrat

John Kasich – Republican