2016 has finally arrived and baby New Year is a gold-plated, Trump-owned enterprise.
This is sure to be a barnburner of a year for politics, even when you account for the hot bars Kanye will drop on his upcoming album. Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders is gaining on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Iowa — the only place without a commanding lead from Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. Sen. Ted Cruz holds a narrow lead there.
In Louisiana, a Democrat just took the reigns as governor for the first time since 2008 and thankfully fulfilled a campaign promise to extend Medicaid to Louisiana’s working poor on his first day in office. His Republican majority Legislature just bucked tradition and elected a speaker not of the governor’s choosing.
If the next four years are anything like the first day, we truly are in for a ride.
Every political predictor and prognosticator was wrong about Trump’s staying power in the Republican primary race. I, too, was complicit in feeling he would not last long once voters heard his absurd policy positions.
Unfortunately, his firebrand and outright incoherent prescriptions for what allegedly ails America are on course to become a possible tough pill for us to swallow come November.
Trump is finding support because his message of “Make America Great Again” resonates in territories where Facebook arguments over the latest injustice on Game of Thrones don’t mean a hill of beans, but firing up that tractor to harvest those soybeans at 5 a.m. means everything.
Some people who have never met a Muslim, and probably never will, won’t easily understand why it is important for the government to vet people who, through their eyes, all endanger the homeland.
Furthermore, the Pew Research Center found trust in the government is as low as it’s been in the last 50 years. People think it promotes policies favoring the irresponsible instead of the hard-working.
I, in no means, endorse Trump’s rhetoric or ideas, but I understand why supporters flock to his rallies.
The Republicans are not the only ones dealing with an extremist politician seeking to rebut American ideals. Many of Sanders’ defenders cry foul when their candidate is even remotely compared to or referenced in the same breath as Trump.
However, once you remove his Brooklyn-esque hipster varnish, Sanders is an angry man promoting policies for people looking for entities other than themselves to blame for their inadequate lifestyles.
Sorry Sanders supporters, but life’s not fair. Sorry Trump supporters, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to be as practical, reasoned and rational in making life as equitable as possible, either. However, swinging the pendulum too far and creating a culture of entitlement removes the drive to thrive; something a free enterprise system fosters.
Sanders winning the presidency will not be the reason his followers wake up rejuvenated with the American can-do spirit. They have to stop finding every reason to decry our nation as wrong and start finding ways to exalt everything that’s right.
Trump and Sanders are acutely aware their speeches will draw champions to their feet. Proclamations decrying our system as wholly broken make great copy, but do they make for good policy?
I expect people running for office to be realistic, cool headed and almost pastoral in their execution of their faithful oaths to We the People. Simply saying what everyone wants to hear without a concrete plan for action only creates discord. With votes casts the veil no longer conceals and the ineptitude of their fanciful ideas unearths itself.
Running for and becoming the chief executive is a tough job requiring cerebral understanding balanced with an awareness of the various political realities in which one operates. Neither Trump nor Sanders seems to understand this or possess a willingness to bow once they lose.
A vote for either is a vote for chaos. This makes them unqualified to be the leaders of this once and current great nation.
Garrett Hines is a 21-year-old political science senior from Monroe, Louisiana. He can be reached on Twitter @GarrettH_TDR.