Voting Made Easy

This may be the most important post I've written in a while, in that it may—and arguably should—influence people's behavior. Please read it carefully and thoroughly.

Following is an "edited quote" from a respected journalist who I'm not naming so as to avoid as much bias as possible. I thought this was an excellent and unusually clear assessment of the American political situation and voting options, so I'm passing it along more or less intact.

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There has never been a time in American history when the alleged personal traits of candidates mattered less. As we head into 2016, each party is quite unified on major policy issues, and these unified positions are very far from each other. The huge, substantive gulf between the parties will be reflected in the policy positions of whomever they nominate, and will almost surely be reflected in the actual policies adopted by whoever wins.

Democrat:

• Maintain the basic U.S. social insurance programs — Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — in essentially their current form, while also preserving and extending the Affordable Care Act.
• Retain the tax hikes on high-income Americans that went into effect in 2013, and possibly seek more.
• Preserve the 2010 financial reform laws designed to rein-in big financial firms
• Move forward on climate policy, through executive action if necessary

Republican:

• Destroy Obamacare, make deep cuts in Medicaid, and probably try to convert Medicare into a voucher system.
• Cut taxes on the wealthy while slashing programs that aid low-income families.
• Roll back 2010 financial reform laws, eliminating both consumer protection and the extra regulation applied to large, “systemically important” financial institutions.
• Block efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The differences between the parties are so clear and dramatic that it’s hard to see how anyone who has been paying attention could be undecided even now, or be induced to change his or her mind between now and the election.

One thing is for sure: American voters will be getting a real choice. May the best party win.

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So what the pundit is saying is that you, Ms/Mr voter, have a very clear choice. It does not matter who becomes the candidate: the position above are those of his/her party, and those are approximately the things that will happen under the next President.

So make your choice based on the above. It's simple, clear, unambiguous. Which set of actions or reactions do you think best serve the interests of America and/or yourself?

Please use Comments, below, to say if you think any of the above positions are mis-represented or biased, or if other points of difference or similarity between the parties should be included.