Last night’s Democratic debate was described by some as boring, pedantic, and even a flat-out waste of time. I have to disagree. While the debate was focused on foreign policy and issues related to national security, it and the previous debates have clearly highlighted the reasons why the Democratic nominee is virtually guaranteed to win the 2016 election.
How can I be so sure? Because of these issues which were addressed, at least in part, by Clinton, O’Malley, and Sanders and will serve as the main points of interest as voters head to the polls next November:
Sane, Rational, Reasonable Gun Control
Despite the propaganda and outright lies flowing endlessly from the NRA, polls continually show that a majority of Americans favor some form of added controls on gun purchases, such as universal background checks.
Clinton said she rejects the idea that the more guns in the hands of Americans, the safer we are:
“We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism.”
Sanders remarked:
“An overwhelming majority of the American people say we should strengthen the instant background check.”
And like it or not, the NRA and their gun fetishizing zombies are gonna have to face that fact that more controls on guns are coming, and they will be here sooner rather than later. If they have a problem with that, perhaps we can interest them in one of the flights leaving the country every hour on the hour.
Wage And Tax Equality
All of the Democrats support raising the minimum wage, and that will happen, I believe, by no later than 2018. The new minimum wage will be $15 an hour, and if McDonald’s wants to charge an extra 10 cents for a burger to offset the raise, then so be it. We’ll all survive.
On taxes, Senator Sanders had the best line of the evening:
“Tell the billionaire class, they cannot have it all. For a start, they’re going to start to pay their fair share of taxes.”
Healthcare
The GOP wants to kill Obamacare. End of story. The Democrats, in my opinion, will push for universal health care, probably in the form of Medicare for all; a creation of a Medicare Part E. E would stand for “everyone.”
Higher Education
Marco Rubio thinks we need to train more welders because they make more than philosophy majors. (They don’t.) He and other members of the GOP have called the American higher education system “outdated.
No, what is outdated is how we make college students run up enormous student loan debt that burdens them as they are starting out in life.
Higher education should not be for the privileged few. It should be a guaranteed right for all. Expect a Democratic President to push for universal higher education for all, at little or no cost. It’s past time for this to become reality, as it already is in most of the Western world.
2016 Looks Good For The Good Guys
On those four issues alone–sensible gun control, wage and tax equality, healthcare, and higher education–lie the blueprint for Democratic victory in 2016. But we cannot get complacent. We all have to do our part and vote. When we do, we will be cementing a permanent progressive coalition that will last for decades to come.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.