I'm amazed by these two lines in the debate open thread, which I assume accurately represent the candidate’s positions:
Sanders: in the year 2015 we should look at a college degree the way we looked at a high school degree 50 or 60 years ago, as a ticket into the middle class.
Clinton: disagrees with free college for everybody because she doesn't think taxpayers should be paying to send Donald Trump's kids to college.
I find Clinton's answer disturbing. Let's assume that it's not just a gotcha soundbite. In that case, either she hasn't thought it through or she doesn't realize that what she supports is fundamentally different from what Bernie proposed. Here are my reasons.
1. Trump is a taxpayer, too. All of the proposed funding methods will result in Trump paying way more than his kids' share of the cost, even if his kids go to a public college instead of a private one.
2. Means-testing for tuition assistance is a huge barrier to attending college. I don't have statistics here: I base this on how painfully hard it was to fill out the forms, even with a college education.
3. Taxes pay for everyone to attend public high school, whether rich or poor. Would Clinton argue that Trump's kids should have to pay to attend a public high school?
There was a time there was no free public education in this country. Then there was free elementary-level education. Then there was free high school education. After WW2, veterans got free college education, which really jump started our country’s economic success.
Bernie's fundamental idea is that in the modern world, a college education is the ticket to the middle class and should be available to anyone who wants it, just as we recognized long ago that a high school education should be available to anyone who wants it.
Clinton either hasn't thought through her position or doesn't agree with this fundamental idea. Her proposal comes down to incrementally changing the existing system, rather than broadening our view of public education from the high school level to the college level.
And that's an example of why I support Bernie. Clinton is offering practical solutions but apparently does not believe that we need to fundamentally change the way we think about the problem. People argue that anything we do in the short term will have to be incremental. I understand that, and so does Bernie. I submit that only the person who clearly understands a problem has a chance of really solving it. Only someone who sees what the goal should be will push for the right incremental changes and enough incremental changes to reach that goal.
So why should Trump's kids get free high school education? Because everyone should. And that’s why they should be able to get a free college education as well.