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The 2016 presidential race takes off with more candidates officially declaring their candidacy for the office of president.  First it was Republican Senator Ted Cruz, declaring last month and now it’s Republican Senator Rand Paul.

Additional Republican candidates are expected to announce in the coming weeks.  The Democratic filed has only one candidate and that is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is expected to announce her candidacy sometime this month.

Many progressives want current Senator of Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren to challenge Clinton for the nomination as they view her as to close to Wall Street.

As the campaign on both sides of the political spectrum begins to take shape, let’s hope we can get an honest and spirited debate that centers on the concerns most Americans care about and not divulge into non-essential issues that do nothing to move the country forward.

In March Gallup that Americans continue to name the government (18%) as the most important U.S. problem, a distinction it has had for the past four months. Americans’ mentions of the economy as the top problem (11%) dropped this month, leaving it tied with jobs (10%) for second place.

The media needs to focus on asking questions in a honest manner and not take sides or give one candidate a pass but challenge other aspirants to the White House.

The real focus should be how will these candidates end the dysfunction which permeates in Washington?

Last week the Labor Department released the Unemployment report for March and the findings were not good.  The report showed, only 126,000 jobs were created and the labor participation rate is at the lowest level, unseen since 1978. If the labor participation rate were the same as it was in 2009, the real unemployment rate would be around 10%.  What are both parties answers to the stagnate employment picture in this country?

The Federal Reserve of Atlanta reported that they expect the GDP for the first quarter of this year to be zero growth.  The question which needs to be asked, what will be the economic policies of both Democrats and Republicans if they become president?

How will they jump start the economy of the United States, so all have a chance to move forward economically.

How will the candidates reduce the huge federal debt which has increased $8 trillion dollars since 2009, and is now a staggering $18 trillion dollars?

How will the candidates tackle and reform America’s entitlement programs which left unchecked will consume the vast amount of the federal budget leaving little for anything else?

There are a host of problems the country is facing economically; the question is how these candidates will tackle the economic problems of the U.S.

Finally, how will the candidates handle the challenges overseas? With ISIS and other terror groups running uncheck around the globe how will the new president tackle these issues?

How will the new president handle the crisis in Europe, Asia and especially the Middle East?  We always hear how they criticize the other person but what vision do they have for the United States.

Let’s have a spirited debate, but unfortunately we will only get the same partisan attacks and bumper sticker campaign promises that do little to solve the countries problems.  America deserves better!