I don't remember whether it was Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders who promised her/his audience free college tuition. Perhaps it was both. An audience member planning to attend or currently attending college would be very receptive to that promise. And anyone stuck under debt for his/her college tuition would be similarly receptive to a promise of debt forgiveness.
Presumably the promise of a free single payer full coverage medical insurance program would garner the same level of support. A promise of a higher minimum wage certainly has an eager audience. We've already seen that.
But when we factor in that 45% of Americans don't pay income taxes, we need to wonder where all that money to pay for these promises will come from. They could tax the rich 100% and it wouldn't cover the cost of all those promises. Someone has to make money before they can pay taxes, and if you remove any incentive to do that and throw in all the free stuff, then there's little reason to work for pay above the minimum wage, however much it happens to be.
What we've become is a nation populated with people with fantasy prone personalities. It's the takers vs the makers with the takers mesmerized by the promises of a politician whose only interest is getting elected.
Post Script: Speaking of fantasy prone personalities, Republicans have plenty of those in their midst, too.
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