Blog #1 – Would You Rather.

This years presidential election seems to have everyone really thinking. We’ve got Hillary Clinton as our Democratic presidential nominee and we’ve got Donald Trump as our Republican nominee. Whatever the outcome of this race may be, it’s gonna be a historic one either way. If Hillary Clinton wins, we’re gonna have the first female president of the United States of America! If Donald Trump wins, it’ll be the first time in history that America is led by an actual, real life…talking orange crayon! I don’t know about you guys, but I for one am very excited to see what the outcome of this election is going to be.

With the topic of the presidential race ever-present in our media today, we are also seeing the frequent presence of multiple social, political, and economic issues and the candidates views on these issues on various news outlets and social media platforms. Along with this, both Clinton and Trump also have these issues and their views on them displayed on their websites.

 

Issues being discussed by the presidential candidates as well as news outlets and social media range from the #BlackLivesMatter movement to LGBTQ+ rights to the Flint, MI water crisis. Of those being discussed in our media today, I think the most pressing issues that need to be addressed in this presidential race as well as in our society, are terrorism and gun control.

First off I would just like to share that, when addressing the issue of terrorism, the two presidential candidates only discuss ISIS, and not terrorism on the much broader scale that it covers. Terrorism, unfortunately, occurs everywhere, everyday, and can be committed by anyone, not just Islamic extremist groups. Furthermore, the act of terrorism is not always committed by a foreigner on different soil, it can be committed even by someone who has lived in the targeted area for their whole life. It disappoints me that not just one, but both candidates, subtly and perhaps even unknowingly played into the stereotype of the Middle East in regards to terrorism.

Overlooking this, I found that Hillary Clinton has a fairly thorough plan for defeating ISIS that seems to invoke the least amount of civilian casualties. Clinton plans to fight Jihadist propaganda and intercept ISIS communications, stop gun sales to suspected terrorists, and support Arab forces on the ground to protect civilians. She more or less has the right idea.

On the other hand, Trump’s plan to defeat ISIS is to, “make our military so big, so powerful and so strong that no one will want to mess with us.” (Once again, I’m loving the vocabulary, Donald!) Essentially, Trump wants to go to war with the Middle East…again. Yup, cuz that War on Terror after the 9/11 attacks that led to the deaths of over 2 million innocent Muslims really helped solve that whole terrorism issue, didn’t it?

I’m not sure what we need to do to stop ISIS and defeat both foreign and at-home terrorism, but I know that war is not the answer in this instance.

In regard to gun control, Trump simply stated that he, “won’t let them take away our guns.” In one of his speeches, he began to criticise the executive order that President Obama had put in place regarding gun control. Trump eloquently explained that, “It’s not good — they’re not going to screw with the Second amendment.” While I admire his extensive vocabulary, (seriously, I think he only knows like 6 words,) we need to do something about all the gun related crimes that have been occurring in America.

As of now, the United States of America has the highest documented number of mass shootings and gun related deaths than any other country, and this is definitely not something we should be proud of. We need gun control and we need it now. Stricter background checks and heavier punishments for gun crimes need to be enforced.

I didn’t even mention the multiple police shootings that have occurred almost everyday this year and last.

I’m not saying we need to ban guns, I’m just a little confused. I mean; we can ban birth control, abortion, and gay marriage, but the second we bring up banning guns the conversation turns into, “oh banning things never works. People are gonna find ways to get guns in the end even if we do ban them. There’s no point.” Sure. That makes complete sense.

Hillary, on the other hand, believes that “weapons of war have no place on our streets.”, and explains that she believes that a person who is on the No Fly list should not under any circumstances be allowed to possess a gun. Clinton is also saying that she hopes to enforce stricter punishments on those who commit gun related crimes. Clinton also states that she wishes to hold gun provider’s who have sold a gun to a person who has committed a gun crime with said gun accountable, as well, which has reasonably gotten much controversy.

However, I find myself agreeing with many of the points Clinton has made on the issue of gun violence and gun control.

All in all, this year’s presidential election seems like one big game of would you rather. Would you rather, have someone who has been deemed a frequent liar and untrustworthy multiple times, in charge of our nation, or a politically inexperienced businessman who wants to build a literal wall on our southern border and has even said, in regards to  nuclear weapons that America needs an “unpredictable president”?

This may be the hardest game of would you rather that I have ever played.