This federal
election is making me sad. It appears that we will be faced with a choice
between the two most disliked candidates in modern American politics. I have
heard it likened to being given a choice between a megalomaniacal fascist and a
deceitful career politician who still does not seem completely comfortable
talking to humans.
 | |
| Photo Credit: Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty; Sean Rayford/Getty |
Although he
is staunchly conservative, The Blaze contributor Matt Walsh summarized the
disillusionment of many Americans regardless of their political ideology:
They’re both elitist progressives. Both pathological liars. Both morally bankrupt. Both narcissists. Both entirely unconcerned about the issues and willing to take whatever position assures them more power. Both Statist. Both authoritarian. Both tyrants, the only difference is that Trump actually ran on a platform of tyranny – promising to murder women and children and squash dissent. etc. – whereas Clinton has to pretend she’s not a tyrant. That means Trump will have a mandate for tyranny that Clinton will, much to her chagrin, not be granted.
Since all of
this can get rather depressing, let’s play a game. I have created fill in the
blank statements taken verbatim from the “positions” section of the candidate’s
official websites and you get to pick whether it is Hillary or Donald based
upon the wording and stances portrayed. Think of it as nominee mad-libs.
________________________
will “expand coverage for millions of Americans” and “improve value and quality
care for Americans.”
_________________________
“will broaden healthcare access” and “improve the quality of care available to
all Americans.”
Category 2 -
Prescription Drug Costs
“Prescription
drug spending accelerated from 2.5 percent in 2013 to 12.6 percent in 2014.
It’s no wonder that almost three-quarters of Americans believe prescription
drug costs are unreasonable. _________ believes we need to demand lower drug
costs for hardworking families and seniors.
______________
insists “Congress will need the courage to step away from the special interests
and do what is right for America. Though the pharmaceutical industry is in the
private sector, drug companies provide a public service.”
Category 3 –
General Veteran Care
___________________
believes “Today’s veterans have very different needs than those of the generations that came before them. The
VA must adapt to meet the needs of this generation of younger, more diverse
veterans
___________________
believes “Veterans must have access to a system that puts their needs first.
But in order to build such a system, prepared for the unique and growing needs
of the twenty-first century, we cannot simply throw more money at the problem…”
_____________________
“A VA with 20th century technology cannot serve 21st century service members
and their needs.”
_______________________
wants to “Create a new framework for VHA health care delivery by refocusing,
reorganizing, and streamlining the VHA to best serve veterans in the 21st
century.
Category 4 –
Veteran Care for Women
“The fact
that many VA hospitals don’t permanently staff OBGYN doctors shows an utter
lack of respect for the growing number female veterans. Under __________ ‘s
plan, every VA hospital in the country will be fully equipped with OBGYN and
other women’s health services.”
__________
will “ensure women equal and respectful, going beyond simply modifying
facilities and increasing the number of OBGYNs employed by the VHA, to include
expanding provider training, ensuring culturally-competent VHA staff and
policies, and providing other gender-specific health services
Category 5 -
Gun Violence
_____________
will “fight to improve existing law prohibiting persons suffering from severe
mental illness from purchasing or possessing a gun”
_______________
believes that "all of the tragic mass murders that occurred in the past several years have
something in common – there were red flags that were ignored. We can’t allow
that to continue."
Category 6 -
Taxes
___________
“This plan does that with needed tax relief for all Americans, especially the
working poor and middle class…” and “This plan also reduces or eliminates
loopholes used by the very rich and special interests…”
___________
will “provide tax relief to working families and small businesses” and
advocates “closing tax loopholes and expenditures that benefit the wealthiest
taxpayers.”
Category 7-
Trade with China
___________
believes that, “such currency manipulation, in concert with China’s other
unfair practices, has resulted in chronic U.S. trade deficits, a severe
weakening of the U.S. manufacturing base and the loss of tens of millions of
American jobs.”
___________
wants to “level the global playing field for American workers and manufacturers
by aggressively combating trade violations. Establish and empower a new chief
trade prosecutor reporting directly to the president, triple the number of
trade enforcement officers, stand up to Chinese abuses, and crack down on
currency manipulation that hurts American workers.”
Obviously
the candidates do vary and while their end goals may be similar in some cases,
their chosen methodology of bringing them to fruition varies. Given the amount
of work that must be outsourced to staff, I doubt either of these candidates
would fare any better at identifying their stances than you did. Wake me up
when November ends.
Answer Key
(does it really even matter...)
Category 1 -
H, D
Category 2 -
H, D
Category 3 -
D, H, D, H
Category 4
-D, H
Category 5 -
H, D
Category 6 -
D, H
Category 7-
D, H
Sources:
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