You may have as many reservations as you want about Republicans–and I know you do–but no Democratic Presidential candidate is ready to deal with the most important economic of our generation: the mounting and crushing debt that the United States has accumulated. The US Debt Clock estimates our debt to be at 19.01 TRILLION dollars as of February 8 and a terrifying 64.828 trillion for the total debt in this country. Because of the foolhardy and perilous decisions our parents’ generation have made, soon, interest on the debt will be the government’s biggest expense. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders seem to completely ignore this issue and at the same time want to expand government spending that our generation will have to carry on its back. That spending will painfully contract in power as interest payments suck the oxygen out of the proverbial room. But one candidate seems to be willing to actually solve this existential issue: John Kasich.
John Kasich, for those of you who don’t know, is Ohio’s two-term governor and former Congressman. During the Clinton administration, A young Kasich was the architect of the 1997 budget deal which Clinton and Bush later overturned for partisan reasons. Nevertheless, he went on in 2010 to be elected to the governorship of Ohio, defeating his democratic opponent and incumbent Ted Strickland in 66 of the Buckeye state’s 88 counties. In a matter of 6 years, Kasich has turned his state around to become the 11th best performing in the Republic, employment has increased 6.5% and personal income a whopping 15.5% while net losses have been recorded in the whole United States since the beginning of the Bush presidency and decline has persevered through the Obama years despite strong economic growth (which has been spearheaded by increasing income inequality).
Hillary Clinton often publicly complains about how this Presidential race isn’t being determined by record. But if it were, to Ms. Clinton’s dismay, John Kasich would win. He doesn’t only have legislative experience as a congressman who served for 18 years, but as a governor with 5 and a half years of executive experience on his belt, in business as a former business executive and, unlike every single other candidate but Hillary Clinton, in foreign policy, having served in the House Armed Service committee during his entire congressional tenure, which dwarfs Ms. Clinton’s 4 years as Secretary of State. During his stay in congress, he championed legislation that everyone in America now can stand behind but at the time were brave and bold decisions. He was behind the Republican deal-making that led to the 1994 Federal assault weapons ban (the NRA gave him an “F” rating, you’ll be happy to hear) and unlike many, voted and legislated harsh measures to sanction the Apartheid regime of South Africa, actions which eventually led to the release of civil rights champion Nelson Mandela.
But favoring equality and championing civil rights has always been in Mr. Kasich’s playbook. His lieutenant governor is a woman. Following the tragic and unlawful death of Tamir Rice in Cleveland, the governor, incapable of interfering with the legal process that failed to indict the officer responsible created a statewide commission to tackle the issue of the divide between citizens and the law enforcement organizations that are supposed to protect them.
And if you’re worried about a Republican repealing Obamacare, Kasich actually implemented the Affordable Care Act in his state, despite Tea Party opposition and has since expanded MedicAid, the healthcare program for the poor.
The environment is a really important issue for WIS students, as it should be. While Mr. Kasich is not necessarily a hero of ecology, he has been unafraid to take unpopular measures to clamp down on fracking in his state and has acknowledged many times the existence of climate change and has actively taken measures to protect his state’s national parks and Lake Erie’s water quality.
Many at WIS worry that Republicans don’t fight for everyone and their actions would put strains on income inequality (Which by the way has never been worse than since Obama took office). Never fear, John Kasich is here. The son of working class Eastern European immigrants wants to increase tax breaks to America’s working poor, a key component of fixing the budget in his mind. None of his tax proposals increase any taxes whatsoever on the federal level and he is willing to make tough and unpopular decisions such as reducing the growth of MediCare and other benefits (but he won’t go after your grandmother’s check). A champion of supply-side economics, he would increase military spending slowly over two terms as President to keep the country moving forward, innovating and strong against an increasingly dangerous China, Russia and other nations seeking to deter the rise of liberty worldwide.
His plan to balance the budget is brave, bold and inspiring. He is the only candidate out there who is standing up for our generation, and he’s 63 years old!
But forget policies and politics, John Kasich differs from angry Bernie Sanders, boisterous and lying Donald Trump, politicking Hillary and nutjob Ted Cruz by his rhetoric of compassion. He is unafraid to stand up for the meek and vulnerable and invokes God to talk about a need for compassion and charity to help Americans who are hurting. He also runs a classy campaign–perhaps the most classy of them all. Unlike Sanders who has promised to not run attack ads but eventually has sold out and started assaulting Secretary Clinton, Kasich chastised a super PAC which claims to support him and ran an attack ad against Marco Rubio. So strong was his fury at the action that the Super PAC gave in and took down the ad. You may call it good politics but the result is the same.
Most of you probably won’t break through the social pressure in this school to vote Democratic, but for those of you who want a candidate who will stand up for our rights to live in a prosperous America, will challenge income inequality, encourage us to help our neighbor and stand up for everyone, I urge you to vote for John Kasich and to support his bid for the presidency.
PS: Since I started writing this article, a couple Bill Gates have been added to the debt.
By Henri-Nicolas Grossman