Issues still matter: it's time to trade in political drama for dialogue.

• Author: Miller, Derek B.
• Position: Worldview

October brings a chill to the air, but many Americans are feeling an entirely different kind of chill as they weigh their choices of presidential candidates for the vote in November. With the election right around the corner, it is time to sift past the noise and distractions that have dominated the mainstream media and dive deep into the issues that really matter.

Throughout this election cycle, we have seen stories focusing on past offenses, denouncing personality traits and perpetuating bad behavior with more publicity. It is important to elect a candidate that stands on solid ethical footing, but where is the focus on the platforms these candidates are running on? We are voting for policies as much as the person, so we should place a little more emphasis on what will happen with education, healthcare and foreign policy with whoever takes office.

Losing ground on trade

One of my biggest causes for concern lies with the approach both candidates have taken toward international trade. Pew Research recently found that registered voters in the United States consider the economy to be the most important issue of the 2016 campaign, followed by terrorism and foreign policy. This knowledge makes the anti-trade stances from both major party candidates that much more surprising and disappointing, as trade is an important factor in all three of these categories. Trade supports economic growth and creates jobs. As companies begin selling internationally, they attain new customers and thus hire more employees to keep up with demand. An estimated 95 percent of potential customers are located outside of the United States, so the opportunities for growth are greater outside of national borders than within.

Not only are there a plethora of economic reasons to support trade, there are diplomatic reasons as well. Trade promotes peace as countries do business across borders and respective economies stabilize and grow. This is not something worth losing ground on out of fear of fair competition.

The anti-trade perspectives adopted by the major party candidates are particularly bad news for the Beehive State. Utah is doing well internationally and was named the ninth best state for export growth by the 2015 Enterprising States Report.

Utah is a trade surplus state to the tune of about $4 billion annually. In 2015, Utah exports grew from $12.3 to $13.3 billion. This 8 percent growth in one year is impressive by anyone's standards, but it is even more impressive...