The American presidential campaign is about sleazy sex. About name-calling. About fact checking. Tabulating who told the most lies. About demographics: white, educated, under-educated, women, suburban women, blacks, Latinos. It’s a horse race! Who’s leading, who’s falling behind!
What about issues? Are there any actual issues?
Yes, there are.
One of the most important is that perennial: taxes. Cut them or raise them. Who is going to pay more or pay less? The two candidates have actually taken the perennial party positions.
Hillary Clinton is for raising taxes on the rich (moderately) and cutting them for the middle class (infinitesimally).
Donald Trump is for cutting them. Especially for the wealthy. And, it’s worth noting, especially for himself and his family. He wants to cut the inheritance tax down to zero. That wraps the lobbyist for the policy, the politician who wants to implement it, and its beneficiary, neatly into a single person.
‘Fairness’
Trump claims that when rich people have more money, they will invest fervently, producing huge, amazing results, especially creating jobs. Dogs chase balls. Cats leap at dangling strings. Something profoundly similar happens when Republicans hear the words “tax cuts”.
OPINION: Trump for dummies
Clinton wants to raise taxes on the rich. The reason she gives, and what Democrats in general cite, is “fairness”.
Read more: Taxes and the US election: The rich can’t be trusted with money