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A Breakdown Of The 2016 Election Issues For People Who Are Clueless About Politics

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Gun Control

Hillary Clinton believes that arming more people is not the most logical response to terrorism. She wants harsher background checks, and doesn’t believe that “weapons of war” have a place on our streets. She is on record as saying, “if you’re too dangerous to get on a plane, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America.”

Gary Johnson supports individual freedom and gun ownership rights, with a common-sense business approach. He doesn’t thinking outlawing guns is the answer, because then only outlaws will have guns as law-abiding citizens will be the first to hand them in. He doesn’t own a gun, but supports the constitutional right to own a gun as part of a free society.

Donald Trump believes that the second Amendment is every American’s “first freedom.” He doesn’t want extensive background checks or gun-free zones. He doesn’t want to add new rules to those who buy or sell guns, because “We have to get back into looking at what’s causing it. The guns don’t pull the trigger. It’s the people that pull the trigger.”

Abortion/Women’s Health

Hillary Clinton is pro-choice. She believes the government should continue to fund Planned Parenthood, and supports the ACA’s affordable birth control measures. She believes abortion should remain legal, but should be “safe and rare.” When asked if she believes that life begins at conception, she answered, “I believe that the potential for life begins at conception.”

Gary Johnson believes that the decision to have an abortion should only lie with the woman involved. He calls himself pro-choice and thinks that abortion policy issued should be left to the state. He basically thinks that it’s a personal decision that the government is ill-equipped to answer, which isn’t surprising as this mindset is a basic libertarian principal.

Donald Trump says that he is pro-life, and wants to defund Planned Parenthood. He believed in the services offered to women with cervical cancer and breast cancer, but he would rather “shut down the government” than fund it because he is anti-abortion.

Economics

Hillary Clinton wants to raise the minimum wage to $12. She’s all about higher wages and maternity leave. She wants to reduce corporate power and reign in compensation for Wall Street and the big banks.

Gary Johnson is against adding to national debt because it’s further bankrupting us. He criticizes the $20 trillion debt doubled under Bush and Obama, saying they “enjoyed control of Congress.” If he were president, he would cut or limit federal spending because his whole philosophy is limited government.

Donald Trump wants to refinance existing debt and bring back jobs from China, Japan, India, Mexico, Brazil—basically everywhere. He wants to stop big companies from moving out of the United States and bring back money from other countries. He thinks that bringing jobs and manufacturing back is going to cut costs, save social security, and save Medicare.

The Environment

Hillary Clinton wants to combat climate change, and is particularly concerned about Florida in this regard. She wants to enforce laws and Obama’s clean power plan that lay groundwork for green energy jobs. During the Flint water supply crisis, she stated that, as president, she would have ordered a federal response to make a move.

Gary Johnson believes in private property rights. He has never supported eminent domain (the right of the government to take away private property for public use with compensation) as governor and wouldn’t as president. He believes property rights are the foundation of this country. He supports the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) because he believes it plays an important role in keeping the environment and citizens safe.

Donald Trump believes that eminent domain is something that we need, and has made a large portion of his wealth from it. He wants to cut the EPA , because he considers what they do to be a “disgrace.” He doesn’t believe in their regulations, and when asked who’s going to protect the environment, he said, “We’ll be fine with the environment. We can leave a little bit, but you can’t destroy businesses.”

Foreign Policy

Hillary Clinton wants to reform the immigration system to promote equal citizenship within her first 100 days in office. She wants to encourage education on the English language and stop regulations that split families whose members have differing immigration statuses. In regards to our foreign friends, she accepts most of the current framework with our allies.

Gary Johnson believes we have important domestic issues to worry about. He wants to stay in the U.N., but out of foreign interventions. He thinks we should be allowed to do business with any country, but he doesn’t want us involved with other country’s internal issues. In light of the Syrian refugee crisis, he stated that “we need to take our share.” He opposed the Iraq War, our attempt to build the Afghan nation, and our involvement in overthrowing the government in Libya. He did, however, support going after Al Qaeda after 9/11. Overall, he believes “American foreign policy should seek an America at peace with the world.”

Donald Trump is notoriously hostile towards foreign nations. He thinks China is our enemy, North Korea should be dealt with via nukes, and he wants to build a wall to keep Mexican people from coming into our country. Despite all this, he maintains a relationship with with Putin. This close relationship with an authoritarian president has many voters concerned. He’s also famous for hating immigration, which he justifies this by flaunting his passion for America. He once stated, “I love America. And when you love something, you protect it passionately–fiercely, even.” He basically plans to renegotiate terms with most of our allies.

LGBTQ Rights

Hillary Clinton supports the Equality Act, and plans to continue Obama’s pro LGBTQ actions. She wants to end conversion therapy and back the Pentagon’s decision to allow LGBTQ people to serve our country openly. She also wants to upgrade service records of those who were dismissed from service because of discrimination.

Gary Johnson supported making same-sex marriage legal, after “a great deal of deliberation, discussion with the gay community, and a conclusion that government has no business choosing who should be allowed the benefits of marriage and who should not.” He also advocated to end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that prohibited openly gay people from serving in our military.

Donald Trump has always opposed marriage equality, most notably displayed in his embrace of the nation’s most anti-LGBTQ law, North Carolina’s HB2. He has said that he would sign a First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) that would allow a Kim Davis-style discrimination. He says he’s a “traditional” guy, and he would rather support domestic partnership benefits instead.

[via OnTheIssues]

Image via Trevor Collens / Shutterstock.com
Image via Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock
Image via JStone / Shutterstock.com

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Lucky Jo

Lucky Jo is a former and current TSM writer who likes her men how she likes her coffee: way too hot and unforgivably bitter. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 2016, proving that C's do in fact get degrees. She now spends her days working for a social media marketing agency, hiking with her dachshund, and trying to bring back the scrunchie. Hate mail and goat memes can be sent to [email protected].

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