ELON UNIVERSITY’S COLLEGE REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS SQUARED-OFF WEDNESDAY NIGHT
by Rebecca Wetherbee
Oct. 9, 2008
Elon college republicans (from left to right) Barron Thompson, Summer Nettleman, Nick Oschner and Daniel Jessup
Elon University’s college Republicans and Democrats debated last night on America’s education system, environment, economy and war in Iraq and foreign policy. Each team was composed of four students, two from Elon’s undergraduate school and two from Elon’s law school, who explained and defended the policies of their candidates. Chase Rumley, executive president of the student government association, moderated the event.
The debaters’ dedication to their respective candidates was fierce and unabashed, though often their responses were reminiscent of the prolific political commercials on television this time of year—the content was driven more by criticism of the opposing candidate than by the plans and policies of their own.
The war in Iraq and the economy proved to be the most divisive topics, but consequently inspired some of the most powerful rhetoric on behalf of the debaters. Daniel Shutt and Nick Oschner revealed their parties’ plans for handling the Iraq War.
Oschner, a republican, promised that McCain had a plan which would ensure victory for the American people. “We can’t make America safe by withdrawing in defeat from Iraq,” he said.
According to Shutt, Obama’s plan is decidedly different. “We’ve got to begin responsibly withdrawing our troops from Iraq,” he said. “The first day that Barack Obama takes office, he will give the military a new mission: to end the war.” As far as a timeline, “military experts tell us we can get our troops out in about 18 months,” Shutt said.
The debaters agreed that diplomacy is an essential part of good foreign policy, and Obama plans to follow in the footsteps former presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan. “Sit down with your friends and your enemies,” Shutt said. “Tell them what you want and use carrots and sticks to reach your objectives.”
This idea of round table diplomacy is equally appealing to McCain who, according to Oschner, wants to start a discussion between American and Iranian diplomats.
Elon college democrats (from left to right) Daniel Shutt, Amanda Duberman, JC MacCallum and Sapriya Khazanie
Daniel Jessup defended McCain’s ideas for strengthening the economy. “We actually need to go in directly and buy the houses mortgaged and refinance that way,” he said. “The treasury department has to buy those loans from individuals and the bank.”
Jessup emphasized McCain’s desire to keep taxes low. “He’s going to cut the corporate tax rate from 25 to 35 percent,” he said.
Obama, on the other hand, plans to cut the most taxes for individuals. “The Tax Policy Center has said that Obama’s plan provides three times as much tax relief for families,” said Amanda Duberman. “Ninety-five percent of families are going to get tax cuts. No family or individual making more than $250,000, [will] see a raise in your taxes. They’re going to go down.”
Jessup, however, was skeptical about Duberman’s claims. “Senator Obama has a record of raising taxes, so now we’re supposed to believe that he’s going to cut taxes on 95 percent of Americans? I don’t think so,” he said. Jessup also accused Obama of defending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during their financial decline because his campaign was one of the main recipients of their political contributions, which Jessup says amounted to over $200 million during the course of their existence.
Regarding the nation’s wave of foreclosures, both candidates agree that the top priority is to keep Americans in their homes.
Summer Nettleman described McCain’s environmental policy as one which prioritizes energy independence. Nettleman cited the Lexington Project, a brainchild of the McCain campaign which will “expand domestic oil as well as natural gas resources, by, yes, drilling.” she said. “Drilling the outer continental shelf, because in the continental shelf alone there are 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.”
Nettleman also described McCain’s competitive environmental programs such as a $300 million prize for the invention of a more effective battery for hybrid electric cars. Additionally, if consumers purchase a zero-emission carbon vehicle, they will receive a $5000 tax credit as part of the Clean Car Challenge.
Obama agrees that the U.S. should promote responsible production of domestic oil and natural gas. “We want to increase natural gas production in places like Montana, North Dakota, Arkansas, Alaska,” said JC MacCallum. However, “Obama requires that 10 percent of electricity come from renewable sources by 2012, and an increase of 25 percent by 2025,” he said.
That is not Obama’s only long term goal—he also hopes to reduce America’s carbon emissions to 80 percent below the country’s rate in 1990 by the year 2050. McCain has a similar, though less ambitious goal, to decrease carbon emission to 60 percent below 1990 standards. “However, he recognizes that these things take time.” Nettleman said. “They don’t happen over night. You have to be realistic with how they’re actually going to work.”
When it comes to America’s education, democratic debater Sapriya Khazanie was quick to criticize the Bush administration’s act No Child Left Behind. “The problem with No Child Left Behind is that it left money behind,” she said. “The Bush administration did not properly fund No Child Left Behind. In an Obama/Biden administration we will create an environment where we address the issues that were not addressed in the initial drafting of the legislation.”
Obama also plans to create an American Opportunity Tax credit which would give citizens $4000 to put toward higher education.
According to Barron Thompson, McCain believes that “everyone with an intellectual aptitude, interest and career goals should be able to attend a four-year university.” The key to making tuition affordable is to redistribute money wasted on pork barrel spending into education. “We need to simplify and increase higher-education tax benefits… We need to give parents and students real tax incentives,” Thompson said. “We need to shift some of this to above-the-line tax deduction and get a dollar for dollar return on investing in education.”
Khazanie thinks tuition funds could come from yet another source—military funding for the Iraq War. “We spend $10 billion a month in Iraq,” she said. “That money can be reallocated to scholarships.”
There are a number of issues surrounding education on which the candidates agree: it is essential to recruit more teachers at a higher pay-rate; the government needs to invest money in community colleges and technical institutions; and financial aid applications need to be more simple and straight-forward in order to get more people to take advantage of them.
Professor Safia Swimelar’s POL 389 class on International Human Rights will be screening a number of films over the next two months. Students will explore issues such as civil liberties, privacy rights, and the role of artists and dissidents in the protection of human rights. 
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