No Republican is the best Republican? Honest question, is English your first language? I mean ideally, we don't even see Trump even in the GE, so the person who would be best as the R Nom would absolutely be Rubio.

Cyrus I agree on Rubio being their best candidate, in relation to appeal and professionalism.

I get the impression Rubio's already thinking ahead to 2024 though.

Hell, I'm thinking ahead to 2048, so I wouldn't blame him.

The least worst Republican is John Kasich, followed by Rubio.

@kingcyrus yes english is my first and only language. I was using poetic licence to make a point that republicans shouldn't be in office at all.

A single party authority has no place in the US, reedeer.

Kuta, that is why I put "feasible" in there. Kasich just doesn't stand a chance, where at least Rubio can put up some numbers against all the other Rep. candidates, as well as the Dems in a GE.

@bo_sox48 I wouldn't mind having some opposition to democrats, but intelligent opposition.

I think Paul Ryan's ideas on welfare are actually better than anything I've heard from Democrats...

Reedeer, it isn't fair to say that no Republicans are intelligent. Maybe a few, especially the prominent ones (I'm looking at you Trump), but just because you don't agree with them on any number of issues hardly makes them unintelligent.

You hear from the loud minority when it comes to Republicans. There are definitely a fair chunk of wackos but the moderates in the party are not a whole lot further right than Hillary is.

And, by the way, if Hillary wins the nomination, please remember that the only reason she's getting dragged left on social and to an extent economic issues is because of Bernie Sanders. She's right of center no matter what kind of shit her campaign offices and the rigged DNC tell her to say.

I like Bernie, but I understand basic economics. No, no I don't like Bernie......

^ that. Good guy, but I'd never vote for him.

I like Bernie (a lot, entirely honestly), but his attempts to portray himself as hero of the poor relies too heavily on villainizing both the rich and the conservative leaning individuals, especially at a time when the best plan to help poor people comes from a conservative-leaning elite.

"the best plan to help poor people comes from a conservative-leaning elite."

I don't agree with that.

Emphasis on the word "a."

Who are you talking about? I'm curious because I'd like to read about it.

TrPrado, trickle down economics is a lie. It doesn't work. Iron Law of Wages destroys the lives of labor.

i like bernie, but i like rand more
shrug

@kingcyrus I have held many intelligent conversations with republicans its just that most republicans that I have met have Ideas that have no scientific backing, like if we give tax breaks to the rich, it will trickle down to the poor, whereas in reality, if we give the poor tax breaks, the money goes directly to them. Right now the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. if republican policies are put in place, then that trend will continue. If we elect sanders, then we might have a chance at trying to stop it.

reedeer: I believe that solving the wealth divide starts with education, and it's a two sided issue. The first part is putting a system in place that helps people succeed. The second is getting people to stridently value education. Both will be tremendously difficult to accomplish, but long term, it has a better chance of succeeding than just giving more money to people who don't know how to manage it.

Also, before raising taxes, I'd be interested in seeing what happened if we actually collected all the taxes that were owed.

Trip considering the importance you place on education do you believe that your country is need of a reform of its educational system?

From top to bottom, but that alone will do nothing if the people themselves place no value in it.

Philly, as much as I like it, has the highest rate of deep poverty than any city in the US, so I see the issue every day. My neighbor across the street has nine kids and I've never seen one of their fathers. She parents her kids through threats of violence, and takes them no where. There's two very nice parks blocks away, but all her kids do is run up and down the street all day while she smokes blunts with her friends. She's not unique.

Even if we had the greatest education system on Earth, those kids like that would still be fucked.

What is it about basic economics that leads to a dislike of Bernie? Unless by basic economics you mean economics where you ignore externalities and market failure completely.

It's clearly a cycle that people get stuck in. Birthrates for poor families are higher, too, meaning more people every generation are stuck in those situations. There are a lot of things that can be changed that can help (not fix) it such as state funded child care, universal healthcare, subsized adult education programs, etc. But the issue is more complex and those things only help they dont start the process. I dont have an answer and I dont think anyone does. How do you convince people what an education is worth? Especially when its currently unaffordable for a lot of families and people living in poverty are rightly disillusioned by the current systems? Where can change truly start?

Fixing the education system would be a big help in convincing people to make the sacrifice. Without a visible path to success it will be impossible. How that gets done, I have no idea, but I think it will have to be a combination of gov't funding and grass roots support in the neighborhoods.

Go Rand Paul