At his campaign kickoff, just one supporter was in attendance. In the primary polls, he sits nearly 83% behind the frontrunner. This is the presidential candidate nobody is talking about.
That candidate is Republican Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who launched his longshot presidential bid in September.
As shown in the above Twitter thread, the raison d'etre of the Sanford campaign centers around the issue of massive federal debt, which is nearing an unfathomable $23 trillion. When the campaign passed through Columbus on Thursday, I took the trip and listened to what the presidential hopeful had to say.
“I have had literally thousands of conversations on the Republican side with people who care deeply on the issues of debt, the deficit and government spending.” Sanford said. “As (those people) arrange their family budgets and business budgets, they look at the numbers on the federal level and say ‘something is wrong here.’”
Sanford followed up by saying that if these deficit hawks still exist, then he’ll have a shot at winning the White House. Otherwise, if those individuals have “transported to mars” then his candidacy will be short-lived.
America needs to elect an individual who will handle our nation’s economy as scrupulously as possible. Maybe that person is Mark Sanford, or maybe it’s not. Regardless, our elected leaders need to take charge and right the economic ship. The former governor is right to elevate this issue.
The federal deficit is almost at $1 trillion, the highest mark in seven years. If that number remains unchecked, our nation’s debt will continue to spiral out of control.
What does this mean for you and your family? For starters, if you rely on some form of government assistance, it is possible the amount of aid you receive will shrink. Because of the federal government having to spend an increasing amount of money simply paying interest on the debt, it will have less to allocate toward other programs that keep people alive.
Uncontrolled debt and deficits can also cause everyday items to increase in price, leading to inflation. That is a result of a chain reaction caused by the federal government not repaying debts, making US investment more risky. As a result, businesses will have a higher debt service, which will cause those entities to raise the prices of their goods and services to meet the increased burden of investment.
There are many more reasons to be concerned about our nation’s unsustainable debt, and yet, no one seems to care. Sanford’s campaign sits at 2.3% in the polls, and the amount of Americans who view deficit reduction as a top priority is the lowest in roughly fifteen years.
What goes up must come down. America, let’s act while there’s still time.
Matthew Geiger is a freshman studying economics at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk to Matthew? Tweet him @Mattg444.
