A little radicalism needed

For years Donald Trump has made comments about possibly running for president, and many, including myself, never took him seriously. He is a surprisingly reactionary, and is not what anyone would describe as politically correct.

However, at the moment he is front runner for the Republican nomination, but that makes sense after seeing political approval ratings plummet in previous years; according to a Gallup poll, presidential approval is currently at just 30%, and congress is at a mere 7%. I think this also explains another surprisingly extreme candidate.

Bernie Sanders has come out and called himself a socialist, and with our Country’s historical view on socialism that is not something that one would think would win him votes. However, in recent years national poverty has been a serious issue and many believe that Sanders could be one to bring an end to it.

Sanders proposed a radical proposition that surprised many, raising minimum wage to $15.00 and hour. This would be a huge change for our nation.

Many argue that raising minimum wage would cause many companies to hire fewer people or find other alternatives, such as grocery stores that have automated checkout machines.

However, I think it could work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment in 2014 dropped to between 5-6%, while the poverty rate is still at 14%. This means that 10% of people working do not earn a living wage. I think that if someone has a job they should be able to live off of it.

Another one of Sanders focuses helps explain why he has had such a large following of younger people, eliminating college debt. His plan includes many things, including eliminating tuition for public universities, and substantially lowering interest rates on student loans.

In past years student debt is rising considerably, in fact according to the Wall Street Journal it has risen over twice the rate of inflation, to a total of $35,000 per student. When nearly 70% of students graduate with debt, this is affecting the most of the working class and is a problem that must be dealt with.

So far, both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have revealed themselves to be extremist candidates. However, if you look at Sanders website, under issues you will see 17 things listed with explanations behind each; on Trump’s, you will see 5. Bernie Sanders’ has radical plans for how he wants to fix the U.S., and at the moment, I think we could use some radicalism.