March 15, 2016: Ohio Primary, Trump vs. Kasich

A Brief History

On March 15, 2016, American voters in the Presidential nomination process have a huge (“yoooooge!”) day on March 15 when voters go to the polls in extremely important states such as Ohio, Florida, and Illinois (as well as Missouri and North Carolina, which are also important states).  The elections held on this day may well be decisive in determining who exactly the party nominees are for the Democrats and Republicans.

Digging Deeper

Ohio, although not the biggest state, is known as a “swing state” that could easily go for the candidate from either party, and thus becomes critical in the general election.  For Republicans, Ohio is known as a virtual necessity to win if a Presidential candidate is to be successful.

This time around the Republican field in Ohio is led by businessman Donald Trump, an unconventional candidate with a populist appeal, and the sitting Governor of Ohio, John Kasich, an establishment politician with a history of working for Lehman Brothers financiers.

Trump has championed the American middle class and his proposals include protection of jobs, cracking down on illegal immigration, and tax reform beneficial to the middle and working class even though it could raise the taxes of rich people such as himself.  Trump has stated opposition to foreign entanglements unless a clear objective is identified and relentlessly pursued.  He opposed the disastrous war in Iraq that has destabilized the Middle East and nearly bankrupted the United States.  As such, anti-Americans have even threatened Trump physically.  Below is a video of an attempted attack on Trump at a rally in Ohio followed by a video of the same would-be attacker desecrating the American flag on an Ohio college campus:

Meanwhile, Kasich claims to be pro-jobs for working people, but has been an enemy of unions and attempted to remove municipal and state employees from those eligible for collective bargaining.  This means police, fire, and municipal workers would not be allowed to negotiate and would have to accept whatever the city would offer them!  His anti-working class programs are designed to help the rich and diminish the opportunities and station in life for the poor and working people.  Kasich also supported the Assault Weapons Ban and strongly advocated for the war in Iraq.  While working for Lehman Brothers, Kasich was paid over $600,000 in 2008, his last year working for them.  Kasich has been the Governor of Ohio since 2011, and although he proudly crows about job creation in his state, the truth is these jobs are largely low paying and part-time jobs much worse than the jobs they replaced.  Kasich also has questionable positions on raising the tax on “fracking” (which would raise our energy costs and stifle drilling operations) and has advocated for the privatization of prisons, a potentially disastrous move.  Kasich has not been particularly supportive of the police, and is in favor of forcing police to wear body cameras.

Other Kasich ideas that hurt working people and the middle class include the elimination of the Ohio estate tax (which only affects the richest of the rich people) and abolishing the Ohio income tax.  Before you get huffy about the income tax, remember that it is a progressive tax that taxes rich people at a higher rate than working and middle class people, and that taxes that would replace it would put a larger burden on the middle class and relieve the rich of some of their tax burden.  (Think carefully before you give the rest of your money to the government so that rich people do not have to.)  Trump opposes these anti-worker and middle class initiatives.

John Kasich has virtually no chance at receiving the Republican nomination for President, while Donald Trump is easily the most popular choice and most likely to attract disgruntled Democrats.  A vote for Kasich in the Ohio Primary is a wasted vote. 

Question for students (and subscribers): Who did you vote for in the Ohio Primary?  Please let us know in the comments section below this article.

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Historical Evidence

For more information, please see…

Trump, Donald J.  Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again.  Threshold Editions, 2015.