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The University of Maine College Democrats and College Republicans faced off in a first-of-its-kind political debate at the university Monday. The health care package approved by the House of Representatives late Sunday night was the biggest issue in the room, although topics ranged from immigration policy to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Each side had three members who sat before an audience of several dozen people in the Bangor Room of Memorial Union. The debate, which lasted approximately an hour and a half, saw some heated discussion, but both the Republicans and Democrats stayed relatively focused on answering the questions throughout the event.
The first question in the domestic policy portion of the debate focused on the merits of the health care bill.
“The bill is garbage from the ground up,” said Zachary Jackman, president of the College Republicans. “It just shows that the back room deals and the political favors that Congress owes each other, because they’ve been working there for so long, have from the beginning been more important to them than have the interests of the American people.” Jackman also said he doubted any member of Congress had read the bill in full.
Benjamin Goodman, president of College Democrats, rebutted Jackman’s statement and said the GOP has been unwilling to compromise on the bill, which is projected to lower the deficit, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
“This covers 32 million, that’s 95 percent of Americans. And as for back room deals, the bill not having been read, let’s remember: We’ve had months to read it,” Goodman said.
Jackman also touched on the tax side of the health care debate, which he said will result in people who make more than $32,000 a year paying for 97 percent of the taxes for the bill.
“That was the most absurd misrepresentation of facts that I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” Democrat Ross Wolland replied. “Of course people who make over $35,000 a year pay for 95 percent; they’re the people who have money. Someone has to pay the taxes, and it has to be the people with money.”
Wolland said Republicans’ message on taxes is simply that “a lot of people are making a lot of money.”
Margaret Payne, a College Democrat, added to Wolland’s point and said the bill will amount to the largest middle-class tax cut in history.
The second question covered whether or not America’s current immigration policy should be changed.
Goodman said it should be and that the United States needs a legal path to citizenship and penalties for not following such a process.
Staying in a more political context, Wolland added that the growing Hispanic population in America is a threat to Republicans, and Democrats should bring up immigration at every opportunity to position themselves before the November elections.
Republican student Tim Woodman said both parties agree on some aspects of immigration policy, such as penalties for hiring illegal immigrants.
The focus of the next question was what the federal government should do to combat unemployment. Woodman argued reduced government spending and lower taxes are the answer and that the government needs to “let innovation take hold.”
Ben Kelleher, another College Republican, agreed. He said the federal government needs to help small business owners because they create jobs.
Democrats countered, saying the stimulus bill has worked to create jobs, and Sunday’s health care bill would be good for employment. Payne said the Republican Party’s desire for decreased regulation after the failure of big businesses like General Motors and AIG in 2008 show the GOP’s disconnect with the economy.
Wolland diverged from Republicans on gun control and compared the death toll of guns to the death toll of recently recalled Toyota vehicles. He noted that guns have killed more people than faulty acceleration pedals.
“Where’s the recall there?” Wolland asked.
Woodman said Wolland’s comparison was unfair.
“You can’t hold a manufacturer responsible for someone misusing their product,” he said.
The final question concerning domestic issues was social security. This year is the first year when the federal program will be paying out more than it collects in taxes, which Kelleher said is a good reason to privatize.
“Social security is a black hole,” he said.
Goodman took a different approach and said rolling back Bush-era tax cuts will put social security back on its feet for generations to come.
The first half of the debate focused on foreign policy, with the first question concerning whether or not the United States should negotiate with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
“A political agreement with the Taliban is going to be necessary in order to achieve any real success,” Wolland said. “The fact remains that they have a sanctuary in Pakistan, and they’re harboring al-Qaida within their sanctuary. And if we really want to get to al-Qaida, there’s really no way we’re going to beat the insurgency — we’re not going to be able to beat through the Taliban to al-Qaida.”
Woodman, on the Republican side, disagreed and said the United States shouldn’t negotiate because the Taliban’s terms likely wouldn’t be acceptable to America.
The second question shifted the debate to what the United States should do if Iran pursues nuclear proliferation.
Jackman said current sanctions “can only go so far,” that Iran can’t secure its own borders and internal structure, and is ruled by an unstable regime.
Goodman said the United States should never negotiate with Iran out of fear, and echoed President Barack Obama’s desire to keep all options on the table.
The final segment of the debate focused on audience questions. Student senator Nate Wildes asked how many years it would be before the GOP supports the health care reform bill passed Sunday evening. Wolland said he believes a generation will pass before the GOP will support the bill. Kelleher said Republican ideals are to ensure debt is not passed on, and described the current bill as “mock insurance reform.”
The debate was funded by a grant from Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society. Political science professor Mark Brewer, the main organizer of the event, said the debate was largely successful and that he hopes to hold another in the fall.
“I think the Democrats and Republicans did an excellent job … discussing the issues and helping to educate the audience where the parties see things differently and also on areas where they see things similarly,” Brewer said.
Bangor Daily News