Informed Weekend: 10 Links I Learned From This Week (Vol. 23)

Here are the ten(ish) links I learned from this week:

  1. Presidential Election Update
    1. Bernie wins West Virginia
    2. Trump wins West Virginia and Nebraska
  2. Only 4.7% of eligible voters have so far cast a vote for Donald Trump (Vox)
  3. The controversy over Donald Trump’s tax returns, explained (Vox)
    1. Further Reading: What We Can Learn from Donald Trump’s Unreleased Tax Returns (The Upshot)
  4. Who does (and does not) support Trump
    1. Conventional Wisdom: Donald Trump’s Messy GOP (FiveThirtyEight)
    2. GOP voters picked Trump. Party leaders aren’t falling in line. Here’s why that’s surprising. (The Washington Post)
    3. Paul Ryan Signals His Surrender (The Atlantic)
    4. A Republican Truce in the Making? (The Atlantic)
  5. A Legal Victory Against Obamacare – For Now (The Atlantic)
  6. Wonder why prisons stay full when crime goes down? Here’s the real reason. (The Washington Post)
  7. The 21 greatest graduation speeches of the last 60 years (Vox)
  8. Would Clinton really appoint a cabinet that’s half women and half men? (The Washington Post)
  9. Can Trump Win a Data-Free Campaign? (The Atlantic)

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"Paul Ryan..." by WisPolitics.com (CC BY-SA 2.0)

“Paul Ryan…” by WisPolitics.com (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Why We Support John Kasich

Before John Kasich dropped out of the Republican presidential race, students in my spring course shared why they supported his candidacy. Students were given the opportunity to complete a candidate statement for extra credit where they were asked to write a 300-500 word statement about which candidate they supported and why. They were required to focus on two to three policy issues on which they agreed with the candidate on.

Out of the students who completed the extra credit, 33% supported John Kasich, 32% supported Bernie Sanders, 15% supported Donald Trump, 12% supported Ted Cruz, and 8% supported Hillary Clinton. Every few days, I will post some of their statements to this website in order to a) highlight their work and b) to provide some context on how today’s college students feel about the 2016 presidential candidates.

Here’s the schedule for the postings (in alphabetical order by candidate):

Today, we will hear from four students who personally support John Kasich.

Response 1, Garth R. 

Out of the five remaining choices for president, the candidate I support is Governor John Kasich because he supports changing the Social Security system. Governor Kasich has specifically supported reducing the amount of benefits that are taxable from 85% to 50%. I support this because there are a lot of problems with the system right now and many believe the system will go bankrupt in the near future. If there are less taxes on the benefits, this would obviously give people more money to use and soften the blow of any cuts made on the system. Money from the general trust fund would be used to replace funds that are no longer available for the Medicare trust fund due to the tax cut.

Another change to the Social Security system Kasich has proposed is establishing Personal Retirement Savings Accounts. This plan proposes the ability to put two percent of an individual’s payroll taxes into the private sector. This will give Americans options with their money. The plan does not replace Social Security, but it gives people a choice to diversify their payroll taxes. Many people believe that they will never receive Social Security checks; this plan would provide safety for Americans in case the system goes bankrupt.

I also support Governor Kasich because of his fiscal policy: specifically, his policies on the U.S. budget deficit and corporate taxes. Kasich has a proven record of reducing budget deficits on the federal level and in Ohio. He has been the only presidential candidate to propose solutions that do not increase the deficit level. Kasich will make spending cuts and return a lot of power regarding spending of transportation, education, and other programs back to the states to eliminate wasteful resources spent on bureaucratic agencies. This will allow states to spend resources in a more innovative and useful way tailored to the individual state’s needs. For over 15 years now, presidential administrations have increased government spending and just passed it along to the next administration. Other candidates have only introduced spending plans that will continue to dig America into a bigger hole.

Governor Kasich has also proposed reducing the corporate tax from 35% to 25%. I support this plan because a lot of people, regardless of their political identity, are angry that U.S. companies are moving jobs overseas. Some candidates have proposed setting up trade restrictions and tariffs to try and make it more expensive for companies moving jobs overseas. However, this may only hurt consumers by forcing companies to raise prices to counter the tariffs. A better way to incentivize keeping jobs in the U.S. would be to reduce the corporate tax. A big reason companies try to move facilities and jobs overseas is because the U.S. has one of the world’s highest corporate tax rates. Instead of increasing tax rates and making it harder for companies to hire, we need tax cuts so companies can hire workers and stimulate economic growth.

Response 2, Nick S. 

The candidate I choose to support in the 2016 presidential election is John Kasich. I have multiple reasons for wanting to support him; however, two of my strongest reasons are a result of his stances on energy and education. Kasich addresses multiple points with respect to energy in a speech documented by WMUR 9 ABC news station [1]. First, he stated that he believes that man has impacted climate change, but he’s not sure to what extent. Second, in terms of energy resources, he believes that we need everything that is available, including traditional sources of energy such as oil, gas, and coal as well as renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind energy. I agree with Kasich on both of these points. I think that climate change is a course of nature that will inevitably take place; however, I agree with Kasich in that I believe we have had a strong impact on our climate. I don’t believe this impact is a positive one but I also believe it is hard to find the truth due to the politicization of scientific results. Additionally, I agree that all current sources of energy should be utilized. I think that the oil, gas, and coal industries are necessary to continue serving our needs as we are heavily dependent on energy, but I also feel that continuously working to ensure that these industries are being clean and efficient is important to leave as little of a ‘footprint’ on our environment as possible. I think that renewable resources are a great investment of time and research but are not developed enough to support our needs entirely right now.

Kasich also has firm beliefs about education. In an education summit reported on by The Columbus Dispatch [2], Kasich stated that he believes in local control and high standards for education. I agree with Kasich on this point because I feel that non-local control of education results in a physical and emotional gap between the policy makers and the ones who follow their policies. Someone hundreds of miles away making decisions for a specific school district doesn’t have the time to focus on problems that are faced by students and their families in those districts. If the decision is left to someone who is local to the area, they will be much better equipped to handle the situation properly because they would already be familiar with local education conditions. Additionally, I believe that high standards must be set so that our students can achieve the greatest of their abilities.

Response 3, Meghan S.

In today’s climate, I believe that Social Security and foreign policy are the most important issues to be tackled in the 2016 elections. I will support John Kasich in this cycle because of his common sense approach to these issues.

Social Security as we know it is broken; the current model is unsustainable because of system abuse and the simple fact that people are living longer. In 2015, Social Security payments accounted for 24% of our total operating budget. As the former Chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee, Kasich led the effort to balance the federal budget and cut taxes to allow us to begin to pay down some of our national debt. Upon being elected Governor of Ohio in 2010, the state faced an $8 billion dollar deficit and $0.89 cents in the rainy day fund. Kasich made hard decisions, balanced our budget, and grew our rainy day fund to over $2 billion dollars. He did this by restructuring government programs, which I believe needs to start with inflated government assistance programs.

With the rise of violent non-state actors, our country faces a kind of enemy we have never experienced before, most notably with ISIS. Many candidates have talked about cutting defense spending which is the exact opposite of what I believe we need to be doing when facing such an aggressive threat. Kasich is the only candidate to have laid out a spending plan for the next eight years in office, by calling for an increase of $102 billion dollars in defense spending. Last February, he took a bold approach and called for the creation of a combat coalition to fight ISIS. It is important to note that this plan was formulated before it was politically advantageous to wade into a policy war without yet being a presidential contender. Kasich, relying upon the 18 years he spent serving on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, recognized a growing threat and crafted a plan before it was politically safe to do so. It is this brand of bold leadership we need to eradicate an even bolder enemy.

I support current Governor John Kasich for President because I have personally seen what he has accomplished in Ohio and believe he can bring this change to our other 49 states.

Response 4, Zoe W.

I value the lack of drama in governor Kasich’s campaign as compared to those of some of the other candidates. I especially support his stance on immigration because he has taken a relatively progressive stance on this controversial topic without being too bold. I agree that immigrants are viewed extremely negatively in this country and not necessarily for good reasons. He publicly rejects the demonization of law-abiding and hard-working individuals and differentiates between people breaking laws and living off of the resources of others and those looking for opportunity and willing to pull their own weight. He talks about the generalization of all immigrants as the former and has worked on humanizing the issue – it is not immigrants but human beings that people hear about and see in the media. I support this position because while I do not support people evading taxes and cheating the system created in this country, I believe there are good, honest people immigrating to this country who for whatever reason are not able to obtain legal citizenship immediately. I don’t think it’s fair that these people should be deported to impoverished countries where they have no chance at improving their quality of life, simply because American’s have a skewed view of how immigrants interact with our system.

I support John Kasich’s stance on higher education. He would like to see more students graduate from the higher education system and has initiated a 100 percent performance-based funding formula in Ohio that promotes keeping college costs low and strengthening Ohio’s workforce. I support these actions toward making higher education more accessible because although I don’t think college and graduate school are necessarily for everyone, I think equal access is extremely important. Being educated beyond the high school level is becoming increasingly important in the workforce today, and his actions thus far have shown a trend toward a more inclusive system starting at the state-level, which can be more faithfully regulated.

 

What about you? Why (or why not) did you support John Kasich?

*Responses shared with written permission from the authors. Replication in any form, without permission from the author, is prohibited

"John Kasich" by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

“John Kasich” by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

References

[1] DiStaso, John. “Kasich: ‘I Think We’ve Lost Some of Our Spirit’.” WMUR.com. WMUR 9 ABC, 23 Oct. 2015. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.

[2] Rowl, Darrel. “Kasich Talks at Education Summit in New Hampshire.” Dipatch.com. The Columbus Dispatch, 19 Aug. 2015. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.

Why We Support Ted Cruz

Before Ted Cruz dropped out of the Republican presidential race, students in my spring course shared why they supported his candidacy. Students were given the opportunity to complete a candidate statement for extra credit where they were asked to write a 300-500 word statement about which candidate they supported and why. They were required to focus on two to three policy issues on which they agreed with the candidate on.

Out of the students who completed the extra credit, 33% supported John Kasich, 32% supported Bernie Sanders, 15% supported Donald Trump, 12% supported Ted Cruz, and 8% supported Hillary Clinton. Every few days, I will post some of their statements to this website in order to a) highlight their work and b) to provide some context on how today’s college students feel about the 2016 presidential candidates.

Here’s the schedule for the postings (in alphabetical order by candidate):

Today, we will hear from three students who personally support Ted Cruz.

Response 1, Jacob B.*

I support Ted Cruz because he has demonstrated time and time again that he will fight for the Constitution, limited government, and free market capitalism. First and foremost, Senator Cruz supports a pro growth flat tax that is projected to raise incomes exponentially, end loopholes that connect millionaires, stop massive corporations abuse, and is border-adjustable. Currently, the United States is one of the only countries that double-taxes its foreign companies when they attempt to repatriate money back into the US. It is estimated American companies have anywhere from $2 to $5 trillion dollars overseas, and Ted Cruz’s tax plan substantially reduces the repatriation tax burden. As a result, companies will repatriate their earnings back into the U.S., and the result will be cash and investment flowing into the United States. Also, Senator Cruz is a big supporter of ending the cronyism that exists in Washington, D.C. and he, like me, believes the way to end government cronyism and corruption is making the government smaller and taking control away from unelected bureaucrats in Washington.

Another issue that Ted Cruz and I agree on is marijuana. Senator Cruz has taken a wait-and-see approach with recreational legalization in Washington and Colorado and believes in leaving the legalization decision to the states and enabling “laboratories of democracy.” I wholeheartedly agree with those stances because they both utilize our federalist system and empower the states.

On immigration, Ted Cruz is a strong supporter of legal immigration and believes that legal immigration is a fundamental pillar of our nation’s heritage. On illegal immigration, Senator Cruz believes in building a wall, tripling border security, and that border security is national security. He argues that, illegal immigration costs the federal government and the American taxpayers billions each year, hurts American low-wage workers, and has strong ties with our nation’s drug epidemic. A wall may be farfetched, but they have been proven to work in other countries. Personally, I’m in favor of any policy that helps the American worker, taxpayer, and keeps the American people safe. Ted Cruz also strongly opposes amnesty, a view that I agree with him on, and believes in enforcing our laws. I also support Cruz’s proposed defunding of sanctuary cities because, as he says, they defy federal immigration laws.

On foreign policy, Senator Cruz takes a Reagan-eque approach in the sense that he believes peace can be achieved through American strength. I agree with this stance wholeheartedly. Cruz has been a sharp critic of the current administration’s strategy, citing the failures in Iran, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, and the South China Sea, and has declared that America and the rest of the world are at war with ISIS. Cruz also pledges to tear up the “catastrophic” Iran Deal on day one of his presidency and says America will stand unapologetically with Israel.

Response 2, Jacob M.*

I support Ted Cruz because he supports reforming the criminal justice system. In particular, Ted Cruz wants to implement various reform policies to address specific issues. I support him on this issue because there is too much inconsistency in today’s criminal justice system, which has led to a number of issues such as overpopulation in prisons and over punishment of citizens throughout the United States. We need to get back the principals behind the creation of the criminal justice system, and I think Ted Cruz’s reform policies will help us achieve this. In Ted Cruz’s essay of reforming the system, he calls for addressing the main issues of “over criminalization, harsh mandatory minimum sentences, and the demise of jury trials” (Reduce Federal Crimes and Give Judges Flexibility, Ted Cruz, 4/27/2015). Some of Ted Cruz’s policies to address these issues require that all criminal offenses be put into one title of the Code and to pass legislation requiring courts to treat a single criminal act as one crime with one punishment, even if the act is punishable under multiple statutes. Policies like these will help eliminate the over criminalization and overpopulation in prisons, as well as make the criminal justice system more efficient and fair.

I also support Ted Cruz because he supports reforming Social Security policies in the United States. With the approaching retirement of the Baby Boomers, reform is needed to address social security payments and the generational difference in population size. There is simply not enough money to pay for the big retirement payouts that are about to occur. Ted Cruz has proposed a number of policies to reform the system that may be difficult for the younger generation in the short term but are undoubtedly necessary in the long term. Ted Cruz proposes that Social Security and Medicare payouts remain in place for retirees, while there is a gradual increase in the retirement age for younger workers, which helps ensure tax revenues. The growth in benefits will match the inflation rate, and a portion of the tax payments made by younger workers will be set aside for their own personal accounts. Even though these policies require some sacrifice for the younger generation, these policies will help ensure Social Security payments can be made and continue going forward.

Response 3, Xiaohan Y.*

I support Ted Cruz´s presidential bid because of his opposition to abortion except when it is necessary to save the life of the mother. I support Ted Cruz´s position on abortion because I likewise believe that abortion should be illegal in most cases due to my strong conviction that life begins at conception and that protecting innocent human life at all phases of its development is a legitimate function of the government. Ted Cruz has promised to appoint Supreme Court Justices who will vote to overturn its previous 7-2 decision in Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide. Like Ted Cruz I believe that Roe vs. Wade was wrongly decided. Ted Cruz and I share a strict constructionist view of the U.S. Constitution and therefore we both believe that interpreting the constitution should be based solely on what it explicitly states. Hence, we both reject the notion that the Constitution conveys implicit rights. There is no mention of abortion and also no explicit mention of the right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution. Therefore, the logic on which the majority decision in Roe vs. Wade was based is faulty from the viewpoint of strict constructionists such as Ted Cruz and myself. Thus Ted Cruz´s strong pro-life stance as well as his vow to appoint conservative Supreme Court Justices who will vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade constitute a significant reason underlying my support for Ted Cruz´s 2016 Presidential bid.

Second, I support Ted Cruz because of his strong support for the Second Amendment and his concomitant opposition to gun control. Specifically, he supports the right of individuals to carry concealed guns in public to protect themselves. I concur with Ted Cruz´s position on his support for gun rights in general as well as his specific support for allowing individuals to carry concealed guns in public because I believe that people should be allowed to carry concealed guns outside of their homes, and that the public-at-large will be safer when criminals know that their potential victims might be armed. These issues positions are substantiated by the empirical evidence. States that prohibit its residents from carrying concealed guns in public have violent crime rates above the national average (¨GUN FACTS¨). According to an analysis of the data during the time span of 1980-2009, the gun homicide rate was actually 10% higher than the national average in states with stringent concealed carry statutes (¨GUN FACTS¨). All of the facts underscore my support of Ted Cruz´s position on the right-to-carry concealed gun laws as a rational means of reducing violent crime.

 

What about you? Why (or why not) did you support Ted Cruz?

*Responses shared with written permission from the authors. Replication in any form, without permission from the author, is prohibited

"Ted Cruz" by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

“Ted Cruz” by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Footnotes

  1. ¨GUN FACTS.¨ gunfacts.info. GUNFACTS, n.d. Web. 4 April 20

Informed Weekend: 10 Links I Learned From This Week (Vol. 22)

Here are the ten(ish) links I learned from this week:

  1. Presidential Election Update
    1. Ted Cruz Suspends his Campaign for President (The New York Times)
    2. John Kasich Drops Out of the Presidential Race (The New York Times)
    3. Bernie wins Indiana (The New York Post)
  2. Explaining Trump’s Supporters
    1. The Mythology of Trump’s ‘Working Class’ Support (FiveThirtyEight)
    2. A Surprising number of Americans dislike how messy democracy is. They like Trump. (The Washington Post)
    3. Why Republican Voters Decided on Trump (FiveThirtyEight)
  3. Looking forward to November
    1. Will it be Clinton or Trump in November? Here’s what’s wrong with most predictions. (The Washington Post)
    2. 2016 should be winnable for Republicans. But can they win with Trump? (The Washington Post)
    3. Americans’ Distaste for both Trump and Clinton is Record-Breaking (FiveThirtyEight)
  4. No, it’s not new that some working-class and poor whites vote Republican (The Washington Post)
  5. The clockwork rise of Donald Trump and reorganization of American parties (Vox)
  6. Think America’s terrified of Donald Trump? Check out how the rest of the world is reacting (Vox)

 

"John Kasich" by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

“John Kasich” by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Why We Support Hillary Clinton

Students in my spring course were given the opportunity to complete a candidate statement for extra credit where they were asked to write a 300-500 word statement about which candidate they supported and why. They were required to focus on two to three policy issues on which they agreed with the candidate on.

Out of the students who completed the extra credit, 33% supported John Kasich, 32% supported Bernie Sanders, 15% supported Donald Trump, 12% supported Ted Cruz, and 8% supported Hillary Clinton. Every few days, I will post some of their statements to this website in order to a) highlight their work and b) to provide some context on how today’s college students feel about the 2016 presidential candidates.

Here’s the schedule for the postings (in alphabetical order by candidate):

Today, we will hear from three students who personally support Hillary Clinton. 

Response 1, Mark K.*

In the 2016 presidential election I support Hillary Clinton. While I support Secretary Clinton for many reasons, including the intangibles of leadership and temperament, there are a few particular policy issues on which our views are especially aligned.

Clinton has long been a supporter of the LGBT community and their efforts to secure equal rights and respect for their relationships. Although her support in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s often came in the form of advocating for same-sex civil unions (and she stated that marriage was reserved for one man and one woman), by 2013 she had officially announced her support for same-sex marriage. I support Clinton’s stance on this policy issue, as I believe that same-sex relationships should be equal to heterosexual relationships in the eyes of the law, right down to the use of the word “marriage”. I also find no fault in Clinton’s evolution on the matter, as I myself have evolved on the issue.

As far as LGBT policy beyond marriage, I find myself particularly impressed with Clinton’s proposal to have the Department of Defense review and correct the records of men and women forced out of the military with dishonorable discharges simply because of their sexual orientation. I find it appalling that individuals who were willing to sacrifice their lives for our country are being denied the respect they deserve because of outdated policy, and so I strongly support Clinton on this policy point.

I also support Clinton because of her stance on criminal justice. She has called for an end to “the era of mass incarceration” and for reform of mandatory minimum sentences. Specifically, she calls for the mandatory minimum sentence for non-violent drug offenses to be cut in half and for the sentencing disparities for crack and powder cocaine to be eliminated – a change that would apply retroactively. I personally think that reforming mandatory minimums is the most direct and effective way to deal with our modern mass incarceration crisis. On the macro-level the prison industrial complex perpetuates class and racial inequality, and on the micro-level it destroys lives and families. To take the simple step of reforming these mandatory minimums would go a long way towards remedying this situation.

Response 2, Meghan W.*

I support Hillary Clinton in the upcoming presidential election because she supports the equality and marriage of all Americans. Some people are against same sex marriage because of religious reasons; however, this government was not set up for one specific religion. It includes everyone, and Hillary Clinton supports everyone’s beliefs and decisions. Even though gay marriage was effectively legalized this past June, inequality still exists in America. I support Hillary Clinton’s intentions to end conversion therapy, work to pass the Safe Schools Improvement Act, and work to pass the Student Non-Discrimination Act. I support her stance and future goals because I believe in the equality of gay Americans. Starting these initiatives early on for children will lead to a more accepting environment. Children learn most of their morals and values early on in life, so if they are taught to be accepting toward other gay children, perhaps they will grow up and be accepting of those gay adults who choose to get married.

Hillary Clinton also supports a just immigration system. She wants immigration reform that provides a full and equal path to citizenship while treating immigrants with the respect and dignity that every human being and citizen should receive. Specifically, she will continue to support the DREAM Act and the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act. She will also work to end family detention of immigrants and close down private immigrant detention centers because she believes that these institutions may over-incarcerate immigrants. I support Hillary Clinton’s stand on the issue of immigration because I believe that every human being, not just Americans, has certain rights. America is an immigrant country; without immigrants it would not be the way it is today. Respecting and treating them fairly is the just thing to do, on the grounds that they are humans entering the melting pot of America.

Response 3, Xinyue P.*

Firstly, I support Hillary Clinton because she supports increasing access to higher education. Specifically, she emphasizes that tuition costs should not be a barrier for students to obtain a college degree. She introduced the New College Compact, which would allow the federal government to provide grants to states and cut interests rates for student loans. I support Hilary Clinton’s position on this issue because tuition loans have become a barrier for students who want to pursue a higher degree. Students with tuition loans face much pressure, since they must work hard while they are in school and find a job to pay off their loans after graduation. These issues cause more and more students to choose not to enroll in college. Adjusting student loans will lessen students’ and families’ financial burdens and more and more Americans are able to pursue a higher degree.

Secondly, I support Hillary Clinton, because she supports immigration reform. Specifically, she states that immigration reform is a crucial part of keeping families together and letting millions of workers come out of shadows. Clinton will work to provide comprehensive immigration reform, defend President Obama’s DACA and DAPA actions, expand access to affordable health care to immigration families and promote naturalization. I support Hilary Clinton’s position on this issue because immigration issues are very important for American economic development. Immigrant families have enriched America for many years, yet they live in fear of deportation. Moreover, immigrants face much discrimination. Immigrants receive lower pay and less health and social benefits. These situations force lots of talented immigrant families to leave the country, having a negative impact on American economic growth. Providing comprehensive immigration reform can help solve both economic and family issues in America.

Thirdly, I support Hillary Clinton, because she supports gun control. To be more specific, she has proposed legislation for comprehensive federal background checks for gun users and closing gun sale loopholes. I support Hilary Clinton’s position on this issue because more and more American families suffer from gun violence. If the government wants to improve gun regulations, it would be efficient to start with the sale of guns and instituting background checks before purchase. Through the comprehensive background check, the government can find potential dangerous users and refuse to allow them to purchase guns. If the government were to take strict actions on the sale of guns and fix loopholes, there would be fewer illegal merchandise available for purchase.

 

What about you? Why (or why not) do you support Hillary Clinton?

*Responses shared with written permission from the authors. Replication in any form, without permission from the author, is prohibited.

"Hillary Clinton in Hampton, NH" by Marc Nozell (CC BY 2.0)

“Hillary Clinton in Hampton, NH” by Marc Nozell (CC BY 2.0)

Informed Weekend: 10 Links I Learned From This Week (Vol. 21)

Here are the ten(ish) links I learned from this week:

  1. Presidential Election Update
    1. Clinton takes Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Connecticut
    2. Bernie wins Rhode Island
    3. Trump takes Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware
    4. Cruz announces Fiorina as his vice-presidential pick
      1. Ted Cruz just threw a Hail Mary named ‘Carly Fiorina’ (The Washington Post)
      2. Can Carly Fiorina Save Ted Cruz’s Candidacy? (FiveThirtyEight)
    5. A Cruz-Kasich alliance?
      1. Cruz and Kasich devise strategy to keep Trump from clinching three primary states (The Washington Post)
      2. Why Cruz-Kasich Deal Has the Potential to Stop Trump (The New York Times)
    6. 9 questions about interest rates you were too embarrassed to ask (Vox)
    7. North Carolina Restroom Law Becomes a Central Election Issue (The New York Times)
    8. The North Carolina case that could decide the future of the voting rights in the US, explained (Vox)
    9. Why the 2016 veepstakes could be the most chaotic in decades (The Washington Post)
    10. Bernie Sanders says Democrats should get rid of closed primaries. Is he right? (Vox)
    11. Why did Ted Cruz send his dad to Puerto Rico? Marco Rubio’s delegates. (The Washington Post)
    12. The single most important fact about American Politics (Vox)

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"Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz" by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

“Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz” by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Informed Weekend: 10 Links I Learned From This Week (Vol. 20)

Here are the ten(ish) links I learned from this week:

  1. Presidential Election Update
    1. Clinton takes New York
    2. Trump wins in New York
    3. 3 winners and 2 losers from the New York primaries (Vox)
    4. Where they stand: Candidate vs. candidate (The Washington Post)
    5. Presidential primaries delegate tracker, 2016 (Vox)
  2. The controversy over Harriet Tubman, Andrew Jackson, and the $20 bill, explained (Vox)
  3. Three state and city officials facing criminal charges in Flint water crisis (The Washington Post)
  4. Trump Doesn’t have a Monopoly On Intolerant Supporters (FiveThirtyEight)
  5. Obama Immigration Plan Seems to Divide Supreme Court (The New York Times)
    1. Further Reading: What you need to know about Monday’s hearing in the Supreme Court immigration case (Vox)
  6. Welch v. US: a surprise Supreme Court decision will let some federal prisoners out early (Vox)
  7. The most important primary is … wait, Indiana? (The New York Times)
  8. 5 huge challenges that self-driving cars still have to overcome (Vox)

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"Hillary Clinton in Hampton, NH" by Marc Nozell (CC BY 2.0)

“Hillary Clinton in Hampton, NH” by Marc Nozell (CC BY 2.0)

Informed Weekend: 10 Links I Learned From This Week (Vol. 19)

Here are the ten(ish) links I learned from this week:

  1. Presidential Election Update
    1. Clinton and Sanders reach the limits of their patience (The Washington Post)
    2. 2 winners and 3 losers of Thursday’s Democratic primary debate (Vox)
    3. The 2016 U.S. Presidential Race: A Cheat Sheet (The Atlantic)
    4. Republicans have a candidate who could take back the White House. They’re just not voting for him (Vox)
  2. Voter anger is mostly about party, not social class (The Washington Post)
    1. Further Reading: American Anger: It’s Not the Economy. It’s the Other Party. (The Upshot)
  3. Zika Causes Birth Defects, C.D.C. Officials Confirm (The New York Times)
    1. Further Reading: CDC confirms that Zika causes microcephaly, other birth defects (The Washington Post)
  4. In 6 graphs, here’s why young Democratic women don’t support Hillary Clinton as much as older women do (The Washington Post)
  5. The Paradox of Finding Motivation Through Fear (The New York Times)
  6. Graphs that will make you gasp: Status of Women in Political Science (American Political Science Association)
  7. The Best – and Worst – States to Avoid Income Taxes (Bloomberg News)

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"Bernie Bros" by Lauren Ratliff

“Bernie Bros” by Lauren Ratliff

Informed Weekend: 10 Links I Learned From This Week (Vol. 18)

Here are the ten(ish) links I learned from this week:

  1. Presidential Election Update
    1. Bernie wins Wisconsin
    2. Cruz wins Wisconsin, beating Trump
  2. These two maps are incredibly revealing about who’s voting for Trump and why (The Washington Post)
  3. Panama Papers? What are those?
    1. The Panama Papers leak, explained with an adorable comic about piggy banks (Vox)
    2. The 8 most important things to read to understand the Panama Papers document leak (Vox)
    3. The Panama Papers are super awkward for Beijing (The Washington Post)
    4. The Panama Papers show something that Bernie Sanders gets right about the economy (Vox)
  4. One Person, One Vote, Eight Justices (The Atlantic)
  5. Why are so many Democrats and Republicans Pretending to Be Independents (The Washington Post)
  6. The Researchers Who Sank a Bogus Canvassing Study Have Replicated Some of its Findings (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

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"Wisconsin Primary" by tadfad (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“Wisconsin Primary” by tadfad (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Frankenstein’s Monster

Written by Jakob Miller

Back in 2012, something weird happened during the presidential primaries. It was quite a bit like the primary season we’re going through now — fewer candidates, but the same jockeying for position. Nothing odd there.

No, the odd thing was who was supporting who. The doves in the Republican party — the anti-war camp, that is — were largely backing John McCain.

John McCain flags down a bus.
Photo by Medill DC. (CC BY 2.0)

Now, if you’re familiar with Senator McCain, you’re probably quite puzzled at hearing that. If you aren’t, then McCain’s position can perhaps best be summed up by the fact that at the time he was criticizing the Pentagon for not asking for enough soldiers. He was going to send more tanks than they even wanted. A gung-ho hawk, in other words.

So why would anti-war folks back a heavily pro-war candidate? It’s not a one-off mistake. Norpoth and Perkins1 point out that when Eugene McCarthy ran for President in 1968, for example, he somehow got the support of those in favor of the Vietnam War — despite being against it himself.

Instead, it all starts to become clear if you think of people like Frankenstein’s Monster.

Yes I know this is actually Herman.
Photo by ICH. (CC BY 2.0)

Frankenstein’s monster can’t form complicated opinions, just an object and a level of satisfaction. So “FIRE…BAD!” is about the limit there.

The American voting public is about the same. “TAXES BAD! FLAG GOOD!” So if you’re a dove in the Republican Party and John McCain starts criticizing the way the war is being run, you’re thinking “WAR BAD” and he’s saying “WAR BAD”. The actual content of his criticism — that the current war is bad because we aren’t sending enough troops — never makes it across.

Imagine the sum total of all those unsophisticated opinions — this is the zombie army version of the Frankenstein’s monster model, if you like. So we take all the demands for conservative policies (“TAX CUTS GOOD, MILITARY CUTS BAD”, etc.) and we get a general sense of the public’s policy mood: the degree to which the hordes of American voters are droning “CONSERVATIVE GOOD” or what have you.

When you change the temperature on your thermostat, you don’t have a complicated opinion either. It’s too hot or too cold, and you give the knob a twist in the appropriate direction and wait to see how you feel. Repeat that pattern until some acceptable temperature is achieved. The public treats voting the same way: Things feel too liberal out there? That making you mad? Throw a Republican into office and see how you feel now!

Now, this style of voting is not exactly the democratic ideal. The public isn’t sitting and weighing the costs and benefits of one candidate’s policy platform against the others. They might not have any idea what either candidate’s position actually is: but that McCain guy’s mad, and I’m mad, and that’s good enough for me!

You can see this in our current voting cycle as well! We currently have two outsider candidates doing far better than anyone predicted.

Two angry men. Photo by Chicago Tribune, used under Fair Use.

Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are definitely from opposite sides of the aisle – and that’s what makes it odd when voters say things like this:

Daniel Nadeau, 22, of St. Albans, Vt., said of Mr. Trump. “Bernie is my No. 1 choice, and Trump is No. 2. They’re not that different.” New York Times.

They may be bitterly opposed ideologically: but Bernie and the Donald are both angry. They both give voice to pent up political frustrations. And for a lot of Americans, that’s good enough.

Now, if you’re cynical enough that that doesn’t surprise or bother you:

  1. Congratulations on your future career in politics! And..
  2. Consider the implications.

If you’re in an elected office, conventional wisdom would say that you should deliver. If you got in because the public was in the mood for more liberal policy, you had better come up with some liberal reforms if you want to keep your seat.

Buuuuut… If you only got elected because the public was hungry for change, then it’s in your best interest to keep them hungry. If you actually go around delivering on your campaign promises, you’d reduce the public’s demand for liberal policy. All those angry zombies that got you into office would quiet down, and you’d have handed the advantage over to your conservative competitor come reelection time as his zombies get all fired up.2 If the public was paying attention to the details of what you actually did, and rewarding you appropriately, then there wouldn’t be a problem: but Frankenstein Smiley..

America is like a country with a broken thermostat — when we turn the heat up, the furnace has a vested interest in keeping the house cold because of how much it hates the air conditioner. So the next time a politician gets under your skin for not keeping their campaign promises, consider this: would you do any better?

Footnotes

1. Link.
2. Link.