The public discussion of public policy and what constitutes good government is usually at a childish level.

In trying to discuss this with anybody sensibly, I ask the following questions.

What are the basic principles of the candidate in terms of government, its role and of economics?

Is the candidate trustworthy?

Is the candidate experienced and competent?

The actual statements of the candidate on extraneous issues are irrelevant. All of the experienced candidates will say what they believe the audience wants to hear and how they want to hear it. Watch Hillary. She uses a Southerny accent in the South, a Midwestern one in the Midwest and tries to be polished in the Northeast.

Characterizing voters for different groups with broad, simplistic descriptions is inaccurate and not true.

imagine if it was Trump besting Romney. And what the meltdown would look like on CB.

I would not have thought this, but after Nevada, I now believe, absent something shocking to be revealed, that Trump's nomination is inevitable and unstoppable. It comes with a lack of unity within the party.

My family polled a bunch of professionals, good income earning and well-educated persons. The reasons for support include anger at their party for compromising with the Dems, anger over the exportation of jobs through free trade and the inability to win fights with the Dems. People don't believe the establishment candidates and don't like the inaction on immigration. They don't agree with Obama's take, which is solely linked to filling the Democratic Party coffers.

Republicans against free trade? Join the dems.

And do they forget that Trump is actually a democrat.

And that he favored immigration before he opposed it?

Tell these people to go F themselves because they are the ones ruining this country.

Well the GOP has lost all of the social issues and doesn't have any on the agenda which seem like winners.

Let's be against evolution. Yeah, that's a winner.
Let's continue to sound the drum against abortion. Another loser.
Gay marriage? Lost.


Immigration?


So now we battle over subsidized healthcare, subsidized college costs and taxing the remaining 55% of taxpayers who pay income tax to hell for an every expanding list of services.

Yeah, I agree policy trumps those other issues.

Unfortunately, aside from Hillary and Kasich (the two people connected to Clinton's budget), every plan put forward is fantasy.

Cruz/Carson: flat tax
Bernie: If there ever was a more whopper of a plan...
Rubio: Least regressive plan among the GOP, only cuts the top rate to 35%. But eliminates cap gains, inheritance tax. Fantastical.

welp, Kasich sure didn't win Texas.

I didn't expect Kasich to win in Texas. He was just the one republican I like best. The really important motivation for me was to vote against Trump. It was pretty clear Cruz was going to get the most votes. This site shows it by county, which is interesting. My county still gave it to Cruz, but at a lower percentage than state-wide.

http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/texas

Trump was third in Dallas county.

What makes you so high on Hillary's budget plan? I find her plan repulsive.

In terms of the Forbes Single Rate Tax, it would be a good plan if it were adopted but there is a lot of animosity toward a fair minded income tax structure. For some reason, progressives find it fashionable to say the top 25% which already pay 55% of the total tax burden must pay more. Really, how is that fair?

Rubio's is fantastical?

Additionally, Reagan showed you must start somewhere because you will always be negotiated down from where you start.