The First Presidential Debate
The first presidential debate between the most prominent candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, was held on Monday, September 26th, and it’s safe to say that it got heated. The beginning of the debate was fairly tame, with neither of the candidates lashing out at each other. Trump and Clinton addressed topics such as expanding the number of jobs in our country, how to bridge the gap between races, and cyberwarfare.
As for creating more jobs for Americans, Clinton favors small businesses and tax increases for the wealthy, while Trump favors the reduction of taxes, what Hillary referred to as “Trumped-up trickle down economics”.
Neither of the candidates seemed to have a solid plan for the huge race issue our country is currently facing. Although Trump did mention that the stop and frisk policy has done wonders, both candidates agree that the relationship between communities and their police forces needs to improve.
Everyone is on some sort of social media, and there has been a number of hacks on not only individuals, but government agencies and businesses. Terrorism, as well, has become a main focus of recent elections, and this one is no different. The candidates argued over how to deal with ISIS prevention, with Trump going as far as blaming Hillary and Obama for their growth.
The second half of the debate saw tension growing between the candidates. When asked about this, Dakota Miller, a 2016 Lincoln graduate who now attends Concordia, stated, “I feel the debate was a complete mess. Instead of comparing policies, the two candidates had a mud-slinging competition with each other. It gave very little information about each candidate other than they love bashing each other.”
A student at Lincoln shared their thoughts as well, saying, “It went better than I expected. I was expecting more outbursts from Trump and Clinton to be more boring. I also think that it still could have gone better, but this was the first debate.
Whatever your opinions of politics are, staying informed is important. When asked whether they thought it was important, the Lincoln student said, “Yes, because I live in this country and want to make sure the people representing me are representing me in a good way.”
Dakota Miller agreed with this stating, “I believe it is crucial to stay involved in politics because the policies and candidates have influence over everything in your daily life. Even buying a candy bar is influenced by politics because you have to pay tax on the candy. Many Americans are highly uninformed when voting, and they pick a candidate that they've heard more of or are of the party they are affiliated with.”
Despite the candidates warring views, and whatever the outcome of the debate, the lesson is that understanding the problems facing our country is important. Many students at Lincoln will be able to vote at the upcoming election on November 8th, and staying informed, even if you don’t like politics, is a good idea.
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