Election 2016: The Pros and Cons of Voting for Bernie Sanders

WHY HE SHOULD BE PRESIDENT

By Gracia Sanchez

Bernie Sanders might be the first socialist to go this far in the presidential nominations. His policies are especially appealing to young voters. With his idea of free higher education, immigration reform and gun policy, he is mainly gaining the support of millennials.

Many of Sanders’ followers are behind him because of the idea of free education, given that many can’t afford college and sink into student debt before they even begin their careers. Sanders wants to provide students with a public college and university education without paying a single cent. He believes that all students deserve to receive free education.

This would relieve many students from low-income families of having to take out loans or work throughout their years of college or university, enabling them to focus more on their studies.

One of his most heart-warming policies includes immigrants. About half a million are being deported every year.

It’s cruel and inhumane, especially to the children, and the leader of this country should not be supporting this policy. Sanders has campaigned that he will fight for the undocumented community and for the rights they deserve. He speaks for the dreams of many who have waited years for a chance at immigration reform.

His stance on gun policy is also strong, Sanders has established that he will reduce gun violence by banning almost all firearms and closing the gun show loophole. He also voted in favor of expanded background checks when buying a gun, so weapons won’t fall into the wrong hands.

With his huge popularity on social media and the support of the younger generation, this shows just how strong an impact he has had so far.

WHY HE SHOULD NEVER BE PRESIDENT

By Arleeny Escarcega

Bernie Sanders’ proposals to make the country better if he were elected president look effective enough, specifically his ideas of free college tuition for all, increasing the payroll tax and Medicare for all. I supported him before, but after looking into his policies, I’ve changed my mind. Researching his policy plans exposes how difficult it would be to implement them.

John Hudak, deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management, and Kenneth Thorpe, a health economist at Emory University, have weighed in on Sanders’ ideas.

In their opinion, his policy of incorporating new payroll taxes might actually do more harm than good. He plans to increase the current 2.9 percent payroll tax rate to 6.2 percent, according to his website. Business owners might simply pass these losses on to their employees.

Thorpe’s research has found Bernie’s plan would cost almost double of what Sanders has proposed.

His “Medicare for all” idea is based on the assumption that states will continue spending the same amount on Medicaid that they currently spend. However, the Supreme Court ruled the federal government cannot mandate states to spend money on programs. Therefore, Sanders “Medicare for all” would fail in part because of Medicaid (the federal-state program) being eliminated, according to Paul Starr, professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University.

Going after millennial voters, Sanders wants to provide free public college and university education by passing the costs on to Wall Street, a move he expects would create $300 billion in revenues.

Sounds grand, but his supporters forget that students from upper middle class and rich families would also qualify.

Inevitably, those students could end up taking seats from other students in need. There is no guaranteed enrollment for those who qualify. If the “free college tuition for all” idea fails, then Sanders could be forced to raise taxes elsewhere.

It’s not really free if taxpayers are forced to shoulder more of the costs. Prioritizing students who can’t afford college would be a better way to go since they will benefit most.

Young voters aren’t turning out to vote as much as Sanders had hoped, and that is one of his biggest setbacks. They do well in promoting Bernie Sanders’s political views but they don’t do as well in casting their votes for him. Perhaps millennials are realizing Sanders’ ideas will actually make things worse for them, rather than improve their quality of life.