Are extremists running for president?

Christopher Konicki, Copy Editor

The presidential elections are approaching quickly and many Americans are unsure of the policies that each candidate support. Two front-running candidates of the 2016 Presidential election are Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. The duo are from two extremes of the political spectrum as they both follow very different ideals.

With these titles comes great responsibility – the obligation to represent accurate political ideologies, but not theories under a guise of a political extreme in accordance with opponents of the public.

Some may refer to Sanders as a socialist and Trump a fascist when in reality, neither are part of any those things. They are actually and right wing, respectively. As a result, these two may share differing beliefs but certainly are not either of the extremes.

Certainly the two candidates have their fair share of beliefs that may resemble socialist or fascist ideologies, but neither have much to do with either grouping. As a result of these nametags being used against them, the American people are unsure of their political alignment.

True, it may be argued that Sanders supports policies such as the Affordable Healthcare Act that may be seen as controlling or socialistic, however, these are not nearly as far left to that extreme as many opponents would like the public to believe.

The same is true for Trump: although an adversary to immigration, he is not as remotely far right as historical figures like Benito Mussolini. Characters such as Mussolini proposed an absolute dictatorship under a fascist regime while Trump merely borrows minuscule aspects of the fascist guideline.