General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn 5 words or fewer, what is THE top issue influencing your vote in 2016?
Last edited Mon Jun 15, 2015, 05:39 PM - Edit history (1)
Examples could include, but certainly would not be limited to:
"Wealth Inequality"
"Gun Violence"
"The Gender Pay Gap"
"Marriage Equality"
"Medical Marijuana"
"Global Warming"
"Keeping the ACA"
"Supreme Court Justices"
"The Middle East Wars"
"TPP"
"Black Lives Matter"
Edited the title to reflect a severe grammar rebuke
Some other examples (you are, of course, encouraged to use your own words)
"Immigration Reform"
"Path to Citizenship"
"Dream Act"
"Reduce Defense Spending"
"Abortion Rights"
"Honor the Treaties"
"Space"
"Bees"
"Citizens United"
"Student Loan Debt"
"Defeating Republicans"
Go Vols
(5,902 posts)we can do it
(12,202 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)we can do it
(12,202 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Can't pick just one
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,209 posts)Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)Within 10 years, there is a potential huge economic and employment impact there. Also, it has major infrastructure investment implications.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Hell Hath No Fury
(16,327 posts)which encompasses many, if not most, of those issues you listed.
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)Social Justice is a very reasonable answer, however.
SaranchaIsWaiting
(247 posts)sorry, I can't keep it to five words only! bah!
If the people who run this country are corrupt cheaters, nothing can be fixed. They will grub for more money and influence every waking moment of their lives. Send the lot to the justice system (it will be a packed house with plenty from all parties).
Get some honest people to run the country and amazing things can be done.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)It's killing us!!
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)Exilednight
(9,359 posts)Everything else is secondary. If this planet can not support life, then there is no human race to worry about.
OregonBlue
(7,754 posts)StevieM
(10,500 posts)Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)irisblue
(33,036 posts)to the point
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)A path to immigration, glbtq citizens added to civil rights laws, access to medical care regardless of ability to pay, a livable wage, criminal justice reform, paid leave...
lunamagica
(9,967 posts)Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)How hard is that really?
lostnfound
(16,192 posts)Oh yeah, it did.
Great reminder though, of what matters most.
hamsterjill
(15,224 posts)Women cannot have equality without having control over their own bodies. It's a basic concept.
There are MANY pressing issues in this country, but this one is the one that tears at my heart strings. I see this right being chipped away on a daily basis. I see a younger generation that does not understand what it's going to be like when this right is finally gone. I see an older generation (like me) that remembers blood and death and coat hangers, and remembers the fight to make choice legal.
I do not understand why so many young voters seem to care so little about this issue.
Vattel
(9,289 posts)lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)Sancho
(9,070 posts)stevenleser
(32,886 posts)daredtowork
(3,732 posts)blm
(113,102 posts)Nothing else will matter when the world is struggling to survive from one catastrophic disaster to the next.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Runningdawg
(4,526 posts)Jobs added for fixing infrastructure.
Johonny
(20,895 posts)flamin lib
(14,559 posts)I will vote gun control in the primary (sorry Bernie) and for the the Democratic candidate in the general regardless of who it is.
Man from Pickens
(1,713 posts)everything else is either a subset of this conflict or a sideshow
underpants
(182,925 posts)polichick
(37,152 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)I agree. Corruption is the mother of all the other problems, the cause of our inability to admit to and deal with all our other problems, and your list, Algernon Moncrieff is a pretty good start on the list of all the wrongs in our society that result from the corruption.
I would like to say that I am moved to back Bernie Sanders also because the issues of authenticity in our leaders, of having a leader who represents me and not a bunch of rich people, of trust, of infrastructure repair and improvement, of working together and investing as a nation in the technology of the future that will heal our planet and make our lives better is important to me.
For example, if the Romans could build aqueducts to carry water to Rome in ancient times, and we have rising seas, why can't we, with our scientific and technological expertise, build aqueducts not just in the US but in other areas of the world in which floods maybe in one country along with rising sea levels, and then in another persistent drought are problems. It sounds impossible, but traveling to the moon seemed impossible until we did it.
So I would say battling the corruption that presents us from thinking positively about the opportunities in the future is the biggest issue in 2016. Our corporate elite wants things its way. It wants to harness technology for its gain.
I say let's harness technology and build a future together that benefits all of us and not just the ever-corrupting 1%.
So that's my most important issue: fighting corruption that is holding us back as a nation.
Corruption and the gaining of prestige and power not based on ability and hard work but on social status is the cause of racism, of sexism, of all the social ills and slows our ability to deal with crises like climate change. Corruption pits one against the other. It is behind a lot of our police brutality. Scapegoating of African-American youths is the typical symptom of a society that is breaking down into opposing gangs, and that is how corruption works. It uses gangland techniques to scare all by visibly treating the scapegoats cruelly.
Corruption.
Sorry. Five words or less is not what a discussion forum is about as far as I am concerned.
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)I appreciate your thoughtful answer, and I'm not objecting to detail in the meessage text.
My purpose is trying to see if I can see a central issue that emerges as a driving force. For example, the Monmouth University poll of Republicans (cited in LBN) states that "national security and gun control " are two of the top issues seen among Republican voters -- which strikes me as odd, given that the two candidates that consistently emerge in GOP polls are Scott Walker and Ben Carson -- not the people who leap to mind as being identified with gun rights and national security.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Since we keep getting told he's horribly Republican on gun control, he can steal Republican voters in a general.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)tblue37
(65,490 posts)Lisa D
(1,532 posts)The justices can make or break many of the issues listed in the OP.
kentuck
(111,110 posts)...in order.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)though my GE vote will be determined, pure and simply, based on partisan politics.
irisblue
(33,036 posts)I can't let pass the danger of letting the Rs' appoint any more Justices.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Nothing else can be achieved until we stop Wall St, the Koch Bros, Walmart et al from purchasing our government.
Everything I agree with, should have happened long ago, but didn't and won't so long our government is owned by special interests who are not interested in the needs of ordinary people.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Civil rights goes to reproductive freedom, not getting shot, not getting discriminated against and BEING ALLOWED TO VOTE.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)olddots
(10,237 posts)simple but scary thought .
Brainstormy
(2,381 posts)Is the top issue. It's five words or fewer. Just kidding. I'd say the economy generally is the top issue.
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)I have edited the title.
Hekate
(90,846 posts)AuntPatsy
(9,904 posts)lpbk2713
(42,769 posts)I won't be more specific as long as I'm restricted to five words.
taught_me_patience
(5,477 posts)Replacing Ginsburg with a tool similar to Alito is almost unthinkable.
tk2kewl
(18,133 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)AngryOldDem
(14,061 posts)misterhighwasted
(9,148 posts)Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)bunnies
(15,859 posts)TheKentuckian
(25,029 posts)Vinca
(50,313 posts)Every time they're in the White House it all goes to hell.
TheNutcracker
(2,104 posts)ileus
(15,396 posts)wyldwolf
(43,870 posts)H2O Man
(73,627 posts)Prism
(5,815 posts)Justice for the oppressed.
Justice for the banksters who broke our country.
Justice for the corrupt who rigged our system.
Justice for the sick and the vulnerable who were wrongfully denied help and care.
At the root of all our nation's problems, injustice lurks, the reality that people are not treated fairly. Some people live above justice, and too many live without it.
The politician who understands that and earnestly pursues it is the one who should be President.
pansypoo53219
(21,004 posts)we have to turn left at the top too.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Or, said the other way around, "Revival of the Middle Class."
Hekate
(90,846 posts)Vs. the GOP platform.
Presidential nominees are pledged to support the platform of the party that nominated them at their respective national conventions, so if seriously in doubt, compare the two platforms.
You can have all the fun you want speculating in the primary season, but in the end there can be only one.
I know where I stand. How about you?
bvar22
(39,909 posts)The majority of our "Social Issues" are a subset of Wealth Disparity, (equal pay/equal opportunity for EVERYONE).
Most of the Social Issues would disappear under a more even distribution of wealth & opportunity.
dbackjon
(6,578 posts)Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)cpwm17
(3,829 posts)pangaia
(24,324 posts)Gloria
(17,663 posts)Stopping GOP abuse of women
Citizens United
Medicare and Social Security
Supreme Fart
philosslayer
(3,076 posts)orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)KT2000
(20,590 posts)which includes the theft machine that is wall street
Auggie
(31,204 posts)etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)None of the things that are important to me will come to fruition and some pretty horrible things will.
This is not a cop out answer .... there are more dramatic differences than ever.
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)All the rest will follow if dems are in and repubs are out.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Shrike47
(6,913 posts)We'll never get the other things if we don't.
Environment, abortion rights, economic disparity, SCOTUS, corruption.
shraby
(21,946 posts)OilemFirchen
(7,143 posts)The foundation of everything.
demwing
(16,916 posts)I'll take all five
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)demwing
(16,916 posts)Feel the Bern!
radical noodle
(8,013 posts)If we get any more conservative Supreme Court members, the country is doomed for decades.
CharlotteVale
(2,717 posts)AC_Mem
(1,979 posts)That is what we need to help us get to everything else we need as a country. And I mean, beat them soundly - Washington down to the state/city level. Its the only way.
MuseRider
(34,133 posts)Balance in government
Jobs
Environment
Honesty
All in big, broad scope.
Stellar
(5,644 posts)Police killing unarmed citizens in my community.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)There is no candidate who perfectly matches my position on economic issues...but Sanders is closest. O'Malley is my 2nd choice. There is no 3rd choice I'd support.
Hillary has no path to securing my vote.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)If they win, you get the opposite across the board.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Okay that is more than five words
99Forever
(14,524 posts)Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)I'm just trying to see what issues are diving Democratic/Progressive voters in this election cycle. In 2008, I'd have gotten a lot of "Get our troops out of Iraq", "Prosecute Bush". and "National Health Care."
99Forever
(14,524 posts)I want a progressive government. (Hey, thats 5 words.) In all ways and all things.
angryvet
(181 posts)n/t
YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)bravenak
(34,648 posts)1. Social Justice, Womens rights, human rights
2. Economic Justice
3. Education
4. Peace and War - don't like wars
5. Native American Rights - actually this applies to 1; I just think it needs to be mentioned on it's own
6. Immigration
7. The environment
lostnfound
(16,192 posts)Followed closely by human rights / justice issues.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)I put Citizens United in with wealth inequality - potentially, if you work to solve the latter, it will resolve (over time) the former.
Or one can dream, right?
Panich52
(5,829 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)The candidate, if elected, will have sole launch authority over nuclear weapons.
That, and Supreme Court nominees, have pretty much been my top concerns since I was old enough to vote.
yardwork
(61,712 posts)Six words, two topics, I cheated.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)There is no "ONE." They are all interconnected.
Here are a few of my top issues, in no particular order:
1. Public Education 2. Labor 3. Abolishing the privatization of public services 4. Election and campaign finance reform
Avalux
(35,015 posts)That's why I'm supporting Bernie.
DCBob
(24,689 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)Bonobo
(29,257 posts)StevieM
(10,500 posts)Autumn
(45,120 posts)I'm sick of war and I'm sick of the wealthy doing well while the poor get poorer. Therefore I support Bernie Sanders. That's where I stand.
drray23
(7,638 posts)most democrats are not single issue voters. I believe all the reasons you listed are good ones and they all have to be addressed.
Alittleliberal
(528 posts)thelordofhell
(4,569 posts)MicaelS
(8,747 posts)Stinky The Clown
(67,823 posts)Get that and all the rest will be taken care of.
840high
(17,196 posts)Gothmog
(145,631 posts)cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)hay rick
(7,646 posts)I'm rich, I get 5 million words- nobody, not even the guy standing next to you, is going to hear what you have to say.
Oops, I'm not that rich. I'll try
"progressive taxation" or
"money in politics"
merrily
(45,251 posts)Let me guess--and I won't cheat by checking the edit: The OP originally said five words or less.
3catwoman3
(24,055 posts)Supreme (4) Court (5).
Skittles
(153,211 posts)there, keeping it at five
Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)It is extremely unlikely that we retake the House, and even the Senate looks difficult. We need the President to control the worst Republican excesses.
BainsBane
(53,074 posts)roody
(10,849 posts)ucrdem
(15,512 posts)That's about the shortest way of putting it . . .
Rex
(65,616 posts)Equal rights, civil rights, economic justice, justice in the courtrooms. We all want to be treated fairly and not prejudged beforehand. It is a basic human trait.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)calimary
(81,521 posts)Maybe should be "Reproductive Rights". Because what's happening now is endangering every woman's right to access not only safe and legal abortion when/if needed but also access to contraceptives; access to family planning counseling; access to honest gynecologists advice - since politicians seem to want to practice medicine without a license these days; and access to a plain ol' Planned Parenthood clinic even just to get a mammogram or a Pap smear.
Second would be "Defeating republi-CONS."
Everything else follows thereafter, and all those issues are worthy.
CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)We have absolutely NO DEMOCRACY if our president is bought and paid for by corporate interests.
This needs to end NOW!!!!
JustAnotherGen
(31,924 posts)Rhiannon12866
(206,194 posts)PeteSelman
(1,508 posts)And of course that encompasses a number of those listed.
Bernie Sanders is the ONLY candidate who would finally address those issues in a meaningful way. No one has in nigh on fifty years.
peacebird
(14,195 posts)Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)I think a lot of the rest on your list fall out naturally once you get democracy out of the hands of billionaires and back in the hands of regular people. Money has captured and corrupted our democracy, and our government serves money, not people. Start serving people again, and you'll address everything on your suggested lists, because those are the things people actually need addressed. But we can't get anywhere near any of those as long as money is 'speech' and the richest among us are allowed to flood the discussion with unlimited money.
GeorgeGist
(25,324 posts)mainstreetonce
(4,178 posts)...
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)One_Life_To_Give
(6,036 posts)When your elected officials are Captured, Democracy is Dead.
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)From Grammar Girl:
10 Items or Less
Finally, the simple and ubiquitous grocery store signs that read 10 Items or Less arent the clear-cut abomination that many people believe them to be.
Although Garners Modern American Usage says that 10 items or fewer is the correct choice, other reference books such as Merriam-Websters Dictionary of English Usage and The Cambridge Guide to English Usage note that the admonition that writers should not use less for countable items is relatively new, beginning as the personal opinion of one usage writer from the 1700s, and the Oxford English Dictionary has examples of less being used with countable items going back to nearly the dawn of printed English and continuing to this day. I find it impressive that the first citation of less being used with a countable noun in the OED comes from King Alfred the Great himself. He was the great promoter of English over Latin, and in the year 888, wrote about less words.
Language researchers tend to believe that using less with some countable nouns is natural and that the restriction against doing so is constructed and forced. For example, Mark Liberman reported on the linguistics site Language Log that in real writingboth from Google News and the Web in generalinstances of N votes or less far exceeded N votes or fewer.
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/less-versus-fewer?page=2#sthash.kffcs2rE.dpuf
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)My opponents will pounce. Better to take a stand and stick with it.
JNelson6563
(28,151 posts)But if we get down to bedrock, as it were, there's SCOTUS.
Julie
treestar
(82,383 posts)maxrandb
(15,362 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)nt
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)BKH70041
(961 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)America has slouched its way into many competing emergencies, all of which ned attention and solutions ASAP.
LadyHawkAZ
(6,199 posts)AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)pinto
(106,886 posts)That's six, but the gist of it.
immoderate
(20,885 posts)If we favor science over ideology in all situations, the rest will fall into line. This does not preclude implementing humanistic solutions.
--imm
Cheese Sandwich
(9,086 posts)Proud Public Servant
(2,097 posts)That's 5 words.
TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)nt
StevieM
(10,500 posts)I agree that if we can get rid of the election-buying that we could have a system geared towards helping all people, not just those on top.
But sometimes there is a core ideological problem. There are a lot people who are determined to make sure we are somehow achieving the wonderful word "conservative." That places certain limits on us.
Also, what happens when people just can't grasp certain realities, like the threat of climate change? Even when they believe it is real....they just can't fathom the necessity to make fundamental change.