A Voter's Guide to the GOP Primaries
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- Created on Monday, 29 February 2016 17:31
- Written by Alex Pinkham
Around the Northeast Kingdom - The first day of March also marks the first day of a new stage of the presidential election cycle.
The people of Vermont will have an opportunity to make their voices heard during the presidential primary elections on Tuesday.
There is a two-way race between, former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders, the Democratic frontrunners. But the Grand Ole Party has a wider range of candidates from which to choose. And with such an extensive range of viewpoints that voters can choose from, here is a guide for voters.
GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has made his view on immigration quite clear with his proposed idea of building a wall on the border between the US and Mexico.
"They are going to come and go through the wall, but they are going to come and go legally,” Trump said. “And that’s what I want, and that’s what a lot of people want, obviously, because they agree with me."
Trump has also proposed tax reforms that will apply to single people making less than $25,000 per year, who will not pay income taxes under the plan. The same conditions would apply to married couples with a combined annual income less than $50,000.
Trump has also said that he wants to keep jobs in the US and stop the practice of offshoring jobs to other countries, such as China, which offer cheaper labor costs. He also says he wants to protect US companies from sharing technology with their Chinese competitors.
Like Trump, Ted Cruz, a junior senator from Texas, also says he wants to expand border security. But Cruz has also spoken about reining in the power of the federal government by removing such agencies as the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Cruz would also repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with an expanded version of Medicare and Medicaid.
"We need to repeal every word of it, and then pass common sense health care reform that makes health insurance personal, portable, and affordable and keeps the government from getting between us and our doctors," Cruz said.
Cruz says he plans to investigate Planned Parenthood, which made headlines last year after it was found to be illegally selling fetal tissue to stem cell research groups. And in his social policies, he has also said he does not support gay marriage, on the grounds that, he says, it infringes on traditional marriages. Cruz says he thinks the US needs to fight against the Islamic State in the Middle East and stand with Israel until the threat of ISIS is eliminated.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio has also focused on the border problems throughout his candidacy. He has said that America is a sovereign country, and we need to be in control of whom we are letting in.
"There is no nation on earth that’s more compassionate on immigration than we are,” Rubio said. “We accept a million people a year in the United States, legally every year. Mexico doesn't do that, no other country in the world does that, but we are a sovereign country, and we have a right to control who comes in, when they come in and how they come in."
Rubio has also said that he wants to cut government spending. Like other candidates, he proposed cuts to the Affordable Care Act that, in his words, costs the US trillions of dollars. Rubio has also said we need to side with Israel to fight ISIS and destroy the enemy.
He also says wants to stand up to China and Russia and support the US’s allies that may be threatened by the two entities. Rubio is a strong supporter of pro-life policies.
Ben Carson, a former neurosurgeon from Maryland, has said that he supports securing the national borders, but he also supports the people who come in legally and help to promote the idea of the “great American melting pot.”
Carson says he wants to cut government spending by removing programs he sees as inessential. He plans to analyze all government agencies and cut ones that are not as necessary or useful. Carson also opposes the Affordable Care Act from a medical standpoint because he says that it has taken away power from doctors and their patients.
Carson says he plans to take foreign policy head-on by making the military stronger. He has said that he plans on declaring war against the Islamic State as soon as he enters office.
Governor of Ohio John Kasich says he has a strong focus on standing up to Russia and China as they continue to make other countries fear aggression, he says. He also says we need to fight and defeat the Islamic State by working with North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Kasich says he wants to remove federal funding from Planned Parenthood, and he says that it should receive less priority for grants from the Department of Health. Kasich has also said that the Affordable Care Act needs to be reformed and replaced, and it should focus on providing quality coverage over quantity of people covered.
