By: Conner Williams
Editor-in- Chief

There’s no doubt that much of the two Democratic candidates’ political rhetoric (and personal antics) are aimed towards younger generations. After Obama’s overwhelming success that was directly related to his use of social media and web analytics that allowed his team to create targeted messages to voters, Sanders and Clinton have developed platforms that largely spread through the use of social media communication. The two have certainly gone to extraordinary lengths to present themselves as relatable to younger generations, but just what do they stand for? Despite many media outlets portraying political figures as celebrities, there’s still the actual policies to focus on. Here are the Democrats on the top five issues, as per their campaign websites.

Bernie Sanders – berniesanders.com

1. Income and wealth inequality – closing the gap between the upper and lower economic classes
2. Tuition and debt free college – ending for-profit student loans and subsidize tuition through taxes on Wall Street speculators
3. Campaign finance reform – repealing the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling and outlawing Super PACs
4. Rebuilding infrastructure through increased jobs – investing $1 trillion over 5 years to “modernize our infrastructure”
5. Higher wages for workers – increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour nationwide

Hillary Clinton – hillaryclinton.com (issues are listed in alphabetical order on website and may not reflect level of importance)

1. Alzheimer’s disease – providing a cure for the disease by 2025
2. Campaign finance reform – overturning Citizens United, eliminating unaccountable sources of money, and establish a federally-funded system to match small donations
3. Campus sexual assault – providing support to survivors and increase prevention programs
4. Climate change and energy – creating jobs in clean energy, install 500 million solar panels, and bringing greenhouse gas emission to 30 percent below the 2005 levels
5. New College Compact – refinancing current student loans at lower rates, enforce affordable tuition rates, and ensuring no student “has to borrow to pay for tuition, books, or fees to attend a four-year public college in their state.”

Many of the programs proposed by the Democratic candidates have been shunned by those on the right because of their inevitable cost to the taxpayers. Reducing college tuition, addressing greenhouse gas emission standards, and rebuilding the infrastructure do call for a significant investment in the future. And that’s the way we should be thinking of it: as an investment, not a cost. Investing in education, infrastructure, healthcare, and other public-interest programs will benefit huge denominations of people. Economically speaking, building a giant wall will do nothing to improve the American economy, even if Mexico were somehow coerced to pay for it. We need to address large-scale economic issues that affect people all across the country from all denominations and levels of income. The catch, however, is that the Democratic candidates promise that much of the bill for these investments will be footed by those at the top-end of the income spectrum.

Contact the author at journaleditor@wou.edu or on Twitter @journalEIC