The first official presidential debate of 2016 was exciting and substantive, with both candidates going after each other on a personal and professional level. Mr. Trump and Secretary Clinton covered a wide variety of topics, but the truth is that neither campaign wants to talk in great detail about the most serious problems facing our country. They are both politically sensitive and a serious conversation about these issues would make people uncomfortable. The truth is this: America cannot survive another eight years of the status quo. 

The spirit of change swept the nation in 2008 to deliver Barack Obama, a one-term senator from Illinois, into the highest political office on Earth. Barack Obama, who by his own admission has associated with Marxists in college and members of the far left such as domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, has certainly brought a great deal of change to this nation. In the first two years of his administration, President Obama had the opportunity to pass virtually any legislation on the Democratic agenda. With a majority in both chambers of Congress, control of the White House, and a relatively liberal Supreme Court, the Democratic agenda was largely unimpeded. We began to see the kind of “change” Barack Obama would bring. The government has grown to an unprecedented size in 2016, and is now involved in almost every aspect of our lives. To get to the root of the political polarization in America today, we must consider the conflicting world views found in this ideological divide. 

On the left, there is a view that mankind can redeem itself in spite of our flaws and through government we can devise an utopian society that will transcend the flaws in human nature. We can all agree that man is a fallen and imperfect species, but even some of our more harmful flaws such as greed and ambition have been channeled into productive efforts that have significantly increased our standard of living in the centuries since the rise of global capitalism. The Founding Fathers understood that man is flawed and that we need government to secure our rights, but in creating our nation they resolved to bind the government to the chains of the Constitution, a pact between the people that created a government subservient to the people. 

On the right, there is a worldview that sees man as flawed and corrupt, which is why the Constitution was designed to prevent the federal government from reflecting the corrupt nature of the people tasked with running it. Power corrupts, and as a result of the expansion of government we now see a government that is more the master than the servant. Our civil liberties are under assault in the name of national security while the rights of illegal immigrants often take precedence over the safety of the American people. The government has trampled on the rights of the people for years, and burdened American businesses with crushing and job-killing over-regulation and some of the highest tax rates in the world. The millions of Americans who make a living in the private sector are struggling at the hands of a corrupt bureaucracy that steals from the poor and middle class and gives to themselves. Do not be fooled by Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. The national debt grows every day, and no amount of taxes from the rich will prevent the inevitable collapse of this unsustainable system. Every year that the national debt increases, our interest payment on the debt increases. Without austere measures and economic discipline, the debt crisis will cause the suicide of the history’s greatest superpower. Interest payments on the debt and spending on entitlements will take up such a large portion of the federal budget that we will eventually default on the debt or see our defense capabilities greatly diminished.

Admiral Michael Mullen identified the national debt as the greatest threat to national security. Our enemies won’t need to set foot on American soil to see the downfall of the greatest nation in the history of the world because we will already be destroyed from within if we do not return to Constitutional rule. Benjamin Franklin wisely stated that “nothing can be certain in this world but death and taxes.” If Hillary Clinton wins the White House, you will see more of both. More drugs, weapons and illegal immigrants will continue to flow across the border. More people will be killed by gangs, relapsed criminals and radical Islamic terrorists. Iran will be on a path to developing nuclear weapons capacity, and will continue in its role as the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. Luckily, we stand at a crossroads. We can follow in the footsteps of the Roman Empire and watch the world burn or we can address serious structural problems like entitlements, save the country from economic doom, secure our rights and rebuild the American dream.

Davy Bennett is a junior majoring in economics and political science. His column runs biweekly.