The moral foundation that I feel most strongly about is fairness. Everyone has a right to equality in today’s society. Tracking this foundation through the most recent republican debate was difficult because many of the policies and arguments are either not based on fairness at all, or are not constructive arguments at all, and are accusations and attacks at the other candidates.
The most concrete example of equality and fairness in this debate was when Ben Carson and Ted Cruz proposed their plans for a flat tax across the nation. The main issue raised with this policy was the skepticism that this would work at all. The interviewers were pressing Ben Carson on this, asking him how exactly the plan would work, and whether or not he had actually checked the numbers. This was a difficult thread to follow through the debate because many of the candidates were not basing their policies off of this particular value.
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In the most recent Democratic debate, there were two main candidates that stood out to me: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. When the topic of Education and college tuition came up, I was fascinated by their answers. In the New York Times article Hillary Clinton to Offer Plan on Paying College Tuition Without Needing Loans, it is stated that, “Americans [shoulder] $1.2 trillion in student loan debt, and about eight million of them in default.” As a student, this is one of the most important issues facing our nation today. For me a huge component of finding the “right college” or the “perfect fit” is which schools I can take on that will not land me or my parents with a crushing debt.
Though I do agree with Hillary Clinton’s plan to reduce the amount of debt families have to shoulder, her approach is too soft. In the debate, she mentioned how she believed it was good to have students working alongside of college to help pay for it. While I find this idea to be acceptable for many students, this is too much to take on for many others. I have been raised under the impression that school is my full-time job, and that is where my attention needs to be focused. If anything has become clear my senior year, it is that juggling my full-time job (school), a part time job, and several after school activities and responsibilities spreads my focus away from places it sometimes cannot be spared. I should not have to work myself to pieces in order to simply survive college without crushing my family with student debt. The more attractive idea on college tuition is Bernie Sanders’. According to College USA Today’s article, Bernie Sanders issues bill to make 4-year college tuition free, “Under the plan, the Federal Government would cover 67%... States would be required to produce the remaining 33% of the costs.” This would render college tuition to public universities free of cost. This is especially appealing to me because it greatly increases the variety of schools I am able to apply to. One of the points that concern many citizens is how this would affect taxes. On Bernie Sander’s website, this concern was answered, “The cost of this plan is fully paid for by imposing a tax of a fraction of a percent on Wall Street speculators who nearly destroyed the economy seven years ago… If the taxpayers of this country could bailout Wall Street in 2008, we can make public colleges and universities tuition free and debt free throughout the country.” Speaking from the perspective of a prospective student, this proposal is by far the most attractive proposal to me. The people are gradually becoming aware of our disintegrating education system and how it is affecting our nation. It is high time we catch up to the rest of the world and improve our nation through improving the availability and quality of our education. The “Big Sort” is a concept we learned about in class describing how it is human nature to seek out those who are like-minded. This can include anything from sorting ourselves because of political view, lifestyle, hobbies, or even diet. In Tocqueville’s article we read about something very similar. He was saying that there will always be a person or a group who is superior, and people choose to follow them to increase their knowledge or experience. People tend to follow those who agree with or support their own ideas.
This separates us, because this encourages groups to form with opposing ideas that perpetuate the cycle and drive us even farther apart. The concept of the “Big Sort” is supported by Tocqueville’s article, and can be take even more in depth because once we have established these groups, individuality becomes increasingly discouraged. People drift towards these groups because there are no longer any other easy options without the very real threat of being ostracized or crushed by the oppression of the majority. The “Big Sort is gradually growing into a large problem that may result in our country being divided by more than just opinions. I value logic and common sense, and am generally not afraid of stepping in when I believe someone is unintentionally hurting himself or herself. This article, Three Cheers for the Nanny State, focused on the law in New York banning 32 oz sodas. Where this was very controversial because the government seemed to be making decisions saved for your parents, I ended up agreeing with the logic, but disagreeing with the law. As articulated by Sarah Conly in this article, “After all, people can still get as much soda as they want. This isn’t Prohibition. It’s just that getting it would take slightly more effort.”
Citizens of New York can still choose to fill themselves with 32 ounces of soda at a time. I consider myself to be an extremely liberal person and think in many situations the government oversteps their privileges, so I was surprised at how whole-heartedly I agreed with this article. The problem is, while I agreed with the thought to step in, I do not believe an issue as trivial as this should be an issue of the government. If family, friends, or doctors are worried, they should be able to step in and mention their concern. However, this is an issue that does not need to be taken up by the government. In my opinion, people need to learn how to self-regulate and understand their bodies when it comes to soda intake. This article was very fascinating to me because I have always been frustrated about the lack of women in politics, when women are just as capable as men. The popular excuse mentioned in the Huffington Post article Women are Underrepresented in Politics is that it is because women have historically been more family oriented is interesting because that expectation was never applied to males, and as the Huffington post articulated,
“Lawless begins her paper by noting how Chelsea Clinton's pregnancy announcement this April set off speculation that being a grandmother would affect Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions. Vice President Joe Biden, another potential 2016 candidate, has faced no such questions, even though he has five grandchildren.” The times are changing dramatically in favor of women, and why shouldn’t politics change along with them? I am not arguing for a political system where the majority is female because that would be counter-productive for the equality movement. There should be equal representation across the board, and I think that would make politicians much more open-minded and politics much more transparent to the needs and views of the population because there would be more diversity in the minds of the politicians. In order to change this, we need to embrace change and begin to vote female politicians in. This would make the positions seem much more available to females and be a much more feasible goal for them to attempt. Educate our children about equality and how females do not have to be more family oriented and are just as capable as the next candidate. In my opinion, the only candidate that really stood out was Carly Fiorina. While the ten other candidates were stooping to fighting and throwing insults, she stayed above that for the most part. Depending on how we are measuring this, I think the clear winner to this debate was Carly Fiorina. Though her facts were practically nonexistent, she was the most professional of all of the candidates. She spun her comments towards the audience and supporters well, and was very clear and decisive in her opinions and plans. Though there are definitely many of her points that I disagree with, I was most impressed with her demeanor.
From the perspective of facts and accuracy, I think Jeb Bush won the debate. He seemed very collected throughout the squabbling. He was not easily ruffled into twisting facts or desperately trying to back themselves up with incorrect facts. I believe one of the most pressing issues of this election is Civil Rights. This is a fairly general term for many issues that I take a strong stance on, such as gender equality and same-sex marriage. I chose to analyze Carly Fiorina on this issue because though she has some opinions that partially align with mine, some of them also differ from my opinions.
Carly Fiorina's opinion on gender equality is one that I do find myself agreeing with. According to a brief outline of her views found here, Fiorina does "lead on pay standards" and acknowledges that female professionals just aren't treated the same as male professionals. This privilege gap is very prevalent in the work setting and, as CNN says, "women earn 78 cents to a man's dollar". Though they do admit there are various nuances within that blanket statement, "the wage gap persists. One of Fiorina's views that I strongly disagree with is her opinion on same-sex marriage. Though she will permit 'civil unions' between same-sex couples, she is opposed to their marriage. I personally disagree with her statement that, "Marriage is an institution grounded in spirituality between a man and a woman that can bring forth life" (breitbart.com), but I do concede that this issue is strongly based in opinions, which vary from person to person based on their histories. This opens up a question I have for her simply out of curiosity, which is: What forces or experiences have driven her to take these stances? I strongly recommend you consider your answer to this question as well before blindly running into this election. |
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