3rd party responses:
Bill Weld and I promise to submit a balanced budget to Congress in the first 100 days in office #debate— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
A balanced budget demonstrates our commitment to young people. Politicians' debt is unfairly a burden on younger generations. #debate— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
Kudos to Chris Wallace for bringing up the topic they don't want to talk about: wasteful spending and debt. Wish we had more than 4 mins!— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
The whopper of the evening, @HillaryClinton: "I'm not going to add a penny to the debt."— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
Not addressing the debt related to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security is NOT an option.— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
Entitlements! With under a minute to go!— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
There's total denial of the entitlement issues here. And they could be the biggest issues facing our country. America deserves better.— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
1/ Why America should elect Bill Weld and me:— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
2/ Fiscally conservative— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
3/ Socially inclusive— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
4/ Skeptical of our military interventions— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
5/ The only advocates for free trade— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
6/ We'll stop the polarization, call out both sides, and bring America together— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
7/ The only ticket to include successful governors (and former Republican governors of Democratic-leaning states, at that)— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
8/ Honest, transparent, and honorable— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
Bill Weld and I are the alternative you can be proud of— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
They're in #Vegas so let me ask- are you really willing to gamble with our future on these two? #debate— Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) October 20, 2016
Why has the debt ballooned? Reckless wars for oil. Tax cuts for the rich. Economic meltdown. Caused by Democrats & Republicans. #debatenight— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 20, 2016
We need to ensure that the rich pay their fair share of taxes again. #debatenight— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 20, 2016
Climate change is the greatest threat to humanity. We need to green our energy, transportation, agriculture and entire economy. #debatenight— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 20, 2016
We need to put communities in charge of their police, instead of police controlling their communities. #debatenight— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 20, 2016
It's critical that we acknowledge the rights of Indigenous people from whom this country was stolen. #debatenight— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 20, 2016
We need a cabinet-level position to ensure that Indigenous people get the rights and recognition they deserve. #debatenight— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 20, 2016
We've seen how media monopoly created Donald Trump and helped the DNC sabotage Bernie Sanders. #debatenight— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 20, 2016
90% of US media is controlled by just 6 corporations. We need to use anti-trust laws to break up media monopolies. #debatenight— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) October 20, 2016
I've seen the economic destruction that authoritarians bring to their countries. @realDonaldTrump would do the same to America. #debates— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) October 20, 2016
Being serious about the national debt means having the courage to reform entitlements. Both of these candidates fail that test. #debates— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) October 20, 2016
Are you satisfied with what you saw tonight? Or do you believe it's time for a new generation of American leadership? #debates— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) October 20, 2016
#debates No one is asked to pay taxes...it isn't volunteer.— Darrell Castle (@DarrellCastle) October 20, 2016
#debates My closing statement is - It is a sad time for America.— Darrell Castle (@DarrellCastle) October 20, 2016
Commentary:
First, before I really get into the discussion here, I want to point out that in this debate, we spend nearly 20 minutes arguing about scandals and not even 10 minutes on the national debt...this is telling...
Now, here's what each candidates plan would do to the debt: massively increase it!
Trump's response: "Well I say they are wrong" but he alludes to magically creating jobs and other indefinite answers to address real economic concerns, and does not acknowledge that his trade protectionism would in fact harm, not help the economy. Trump failed to even address the question at all with anything but continued rhetoric and no actual substance.
Clinton says, amazingly, she won't "add a penny" to the national debt.This is downright false, and if she really believes that her economics actually make sense, that's very concerning. If she doesn't...then she is ok with outright lying.
Trump avoided actually answering the question on entitlements, other than blasting Obamacare (rightly so) but avoided answering on medicare, medicaid, social security, et al, other than saying that his wonderful plan would make it a non issue, even though as noted repeatedly, the data shows that his plan would increase spending, increase the debt, and exacerbate, not fix, the problem.
Clinton would increase taxes and spending, but would not consider any cuts. This would have been a conversation greatly enhanced by third party voices. Neither candidate here seems interested in cutting entitlement spending or even really addressing the problem.
I want to point out again, that in this debate, we spent nearly 20 minutes arguing about scandals, and not even 9 minutes discussing (if you want to call it that...) the national debt and entitlement programs. The problem wasn't even really addressed or discussed, and Trump outright dodged it, while Hillary continued more of the same. This is a vital issue that should not be ignored, and yet, we ignore it and hope it goes away.
As to their closing statements...I don't have anything to say that hasn't been said, but this and the other debates would have been far better with third party voices involved. Trump and Clinton have managed to avoid substantial discussion of the issues, and have bickered and fought rather than presented actual discussion. They have both lied, twisted facts, misrepresented data and statistics. I think Chris Wallace did try to ask some hard questions, but was presented with candidates who fundamentally did not want to discuss policy or answer questions. This debate only confirmed that the two parties are both substantially flawed, and we need to move outside the duopoly and seek better ideas, better policy, and stop accepting the status quo.
No comments:
Post a Comment