Campus groups debate election issues

Going into their second debate Wednesday night, participants in the Golden Key National Honor Society debates had hoped for two things: to attract a politically diverse audience and to involve curious but undecided student voters.\nThey got their first wish. Small groups of students showed up with T-shirts and buttons advertising their candidates. Supporters from all four debating groups -- College Republicans, College Democrats, IU Libertarians and IUB Greens -- were present.\nThe debate followed a question-and-answer format and focused on taxes and the drug war. Audience members submitted written questions before the debate began, and Golden Key moderators randomly chose two of these questions for the debaters to answer. Each debater had three minutes to speak and two minutes for a rebuttal.\nSophomore Josh Claybourn, College Republicans event director and speaker for the evening, said Texas Gov. George W. Bush advocates a tax cut for all Americans. If the governor were elected, Claybourn said, he might push to reduce property taxes by 10 percent across the board.\n"(Republicans believe) that if you work for your money you should be able to keep it, that's a basic part of capitalist ideology," Claybourn said. \nHe said wealthy Americans now pay more in taxes than those in the middle and lower classes combined.\nCollege Democrats President and junior Cassidy Cloyd spoke next and took issue with the suggestion that Democrats in Washington try to take unfair shares of taxpayer dollars.\n"Democrats aren't keeping anyone's money, they're re-allocating it" to support needed federal programs such as Social Security, Cloyd said. \nLibertarian representative J.W. Howley, a nonstudent, argued against all mandatory taxes, proposing instead a system of only excise and import taxes. The government has no right, he said, to take from anyone's earned wages.\n"There is no need to have an income tax unless you have a huge, inefficient government," Howley said. "I don't think you could do anything better for taxes right now than to get rid of the IRS (Internal Revenue Service)," he told an applauding audience.\nIUB Greens member and senior Rob Larson encouraged the audience to consider Green presidential candidate Ralph Nader's plan for progressive taxation. Under this method, Larson said the percentage of earnings owed in taxes rises proportionately with income. Thus, the highest income earners would owe a greater percentage of income than those with a lower income. This money would then be spent on programs to assist those living at or below poverty level, he said.\nLarson said that in this way the United States can help to erase the huge gap that has grown between the very rich and the very poor.\n"I think Bill Gates can afford to pay a little more than everybody else," he said.\nRebuttals on the tax question further revealed the parties' widely differing views on the role of the federal government. Claybourn said the Republican position on taxes corresponds more closely with the Libertarian position than with the positions of the other two parties present.\n"Republicans want to empower people to make those decisions (about how to spend their income) themselves," he said.\nThe question on the drug war -- what each party would do about a costly and long-running fight to combat illegal drug use in America -- again found debaters commenting on similarities in their parties' views.\nHowley and Larson argued that the war on drugs in America is financially draining and ineffective. Both pointed to statistics showing that thousands of people put in prison every year for such non-violent offenses as marijuana possession.\nSpeaking as a member of the "Party of Principle," Howley said, "something is very wrong with a government that tells you what you can and can't do with your body."\nDemocratic representative Cloyd countered that drug laws are for the benefit and safety of all Americans. Illicit drug laws exist for the same reasons drunken driving laws exist, she said: to protect the general public from individuals who, while under the influence, could and often do unknowingly harm someone else.\n"Marijuana is different from other drugs (such as alcohol)," Cloyd added, "because studies consistently show it is a gateway drug to other, more dangerous drugs."\nCloyd and Claybourn emphasized the importance of treatment centers and a growing trend of court-supervised rehabilitation rather than prison terms. Claybourn said Texas Gov. Bush, as president, would support the development of local community and/or faith-based programs to provide individuals positive alternatives to drug use and to help those who have become addicted.\n"There is room in the Republican party to favor marijuana legalization," Claybourn said. He said New Mexico Gov. Gary E. Johnson voted to support a measure that would re-examine the ban on marijuana use for medicinal and individual purposes. "But prevention of addiction is key."\nAt the end of the debate all parties agreed on one thing: the importance of political awareness and an understanding of various parties' perspectives. Wednesday was the last night of scheduled debates among the parties, but each has activities planned leading up to and following the elections.