This is how Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders compare on the most important issues.
On foreign policy both candidates support the nuclear deal with Iran and seem to view
the world much the same way as President Obama, who prioritizes smart power and diplomacy
over military force. But Hillary’s vote authorizing the Iraq war still haunts her,
while Bernie Sanders was one of the most outspoken critics of the Bush administration from the
start and voted against the Iraq war. Hillary Clinton, though, has been First Lady, Senator,
and then Secretary of State, so she may have more on-the-job foreign policy experience
than anyone who’s ever run for President. As Madam Secretary, she helped make the call
to take out Osama Bin Laden and travelled to more countries than anyone else in history,
playing a central role in rebuilding the International Community's’ trust in the United States
after the damage caused by the recklessness of the Bush administration.
When it comes to climate change, Sanders wants to create a nationwide tax on carbon and methane
emissions, while Clinton wants to get America generating at least 33% of its electricity
from renewable energy sources by 2027--that’s up from just 13% in 2014.
Both are strongly in favor of comprehensive immigration reform to create a path to citizenship
for the millions of undocumented workers living in the shadows, and for protecting and expanding
the work already done by the Obama administration.
Income inequality is Bernie’s signature issue. For starters, he wants to raise taxes
on the wealthy and make corporations pay their fair share, and many of his other policy proposals
are focused on tackling this issue as well, like his call to raise the federal minimum
wage to $15/hr. Hillary has responded by proposing more restrained progressive policies, like
raising the federal minimum wage to $12/hr instead of $15. Clinton’s economic credentials
are bolstered by her husband’s Presidency, which led the country to arguably the best
economic times in our history--we even had a budget surplus for four whole years under
Bill Clinton.
On health care, both candidates have a history of fighting for universal health care. Bernie
has been outspoken about the need to guarantee health care as a right of all Americans by
creating a Medicare for all single-payer system, something every other major developed country
in the world already has. Clinton used to favor a Single-Payer system too, but she is
now in favor of defending and strengthening Obama’s signature achievement, the Affordable
Care Act, to achieve universal health care.
On Social Security, both candidates vow to defend the popular system from Republican
attacks, and ultimately expand it, although Bernie’s plan goes significantly further
by calling for an end to the cap so that everyone who makes over $250,000 a year pays the same
percentage of their income into Social Security as everyone else.
On jobs, Bernie speaks frequently about the problem of unemployment, especially among
young African-Americans and Hispanics. He’s proposed investing $1 trillion over 5 years
to modernize America’s physical infrastructure to create and maintain at least 13 million
jobs. Hillary has called for a national infrastructure bank and wants to increase funding for scientific
research, while also focusing on job training and helping small businesses grow.
Hillary Clinton has embraced the fact that she will be America’s first female president,
and has made women’s issues -- like closing the gender pay gap -- central to her campaign.
But Bernie is just as progressive on women’s issues and joins Hillary in calling for quality
affordable childcare for all families and for providing guaranteed paid family leave.
Both candidates are calling for major reforms to our criminal justice system, including
reigning in the private prison industry, ending the war on drugs, and encouraging best practices
among our nation’s police officers--like body cameras on every cop.
Tragedy after tragedy has led Clinton to make gun violence one of the central issues of
her campaign and is one of America’s most progressive politicians on this issue. Bernie
on the other hand, does not mention guns a single time on the issues section of his campaign
website and has struggled in the debates to justify some of his past votes against gun
control, although he does argue in favor of moderate steps, like increased background
checks.
Bernie has called for tuition at all public colleges and universities in America to be
free, and will fully pay for his plan by imposing a fraction of a percent tax on Wall Street
trades. Hillary’s plan is less radical, but still aims to make college more affordable
by cutting costs, lowering interest rates and making community college tuition free.
There are strong differences on trade. Clinton supported her husband’s passage of the North
American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 and supported the current Trans-Pacific-Partnership
as Obama’s Secretary of State, although she has since reversed both positions. Sanders
has been consistently against trade agreements that he argues have hurt U.S. workers and
small farmers in Mexico and Central America.
And lastly, the issue of campaign finance reform has both candidates calling for an
overturning of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, but Sanders has
been the most outspoken member of Congress on this issue and is laying out a vision for
future elections to be publicly financed. This is really important for American democracy
because it would kill two birds with one stone by severely weakening the political influence
of the wealthy and special interests, while simultaneously attracting better people to
run for congressional office, instead of turning them off the way the current system of never-ending
fundraising and begging for cash does.
In the end, Hillary and Bernie, like Hillary and Obama in 2008, are fairly similar on the
issues. For this, Bernie deserves credit for influencing the national debate and pulling
Hillary’s campaign to the left. While Hillary would make history as the first female President,
Bernie would be the first President without a declared religious faith, which is a lesser
known, but almost equally important milestone in American politics. Of course Hillary has
much more experience on the national and international stage, but Bernie has executive experience
as a mayor and has had success passing legislation through Congress. As a blunt speaking Independent,
Bernie has built a career by bucking the party system to take the most principled position
on every issue, while Hillary is a loyal Democrat who is essentially running for a fifth term
of the Obama/Clinton dynasty which has delivered the 16 most consistently productive, peaceful,
and dominant years in modern American history.
Let me know in the comments below who are you supporting for president, and why?
Like this video if you found it informative. For TDC, I’m Bryce Plank, thanks for watching.