What stood out in the debate

What happens when the IU College Democrats and IU College Republicans hold a debate on a Thursday night with no election in sight? You don’t get many in attendance searching for a new perspective.

The debate last week featured representatives from both groups taking questions from their faculty advisers on topics ranging from fiscal stimulus to stem cell research.

Seating in the Indiana Memorial Union State Room East was split down the middle. And it was somewhat disappointing that students filed into seats on the left and right in a predictable fashion.

But the debate was interesting. It revealed how supporters on both sides of the isle view the platforms they represent. Five things from the debate stood out. They shed some light on how campus Republicans and Democrats approach our biggest policy debates.

1. Campus Republicans often attacked spending with sensationalism, not economics. Justin Kingsolver, treasurer for the IU College Republicans, tried to illustrate the size of the stimulus, noting that “if we spent a million dollars every month since Jesus Christ was born we would still not have $787 billion,” a rather silly and useless comparison.

He also claimed increasing federal debt was “not just irresponsible,” but “immoral.”
During a question-and-answer session, IU sophomore Ryan Short said he wished IU Republicans hadn’t brought morals into their argument because it played into stereotypes.

I wish they hadn’t brought morals up either.

2. No one wanted to own financial industry bailouts. Neville Batiwalla, a policy director with Students for Barack Obama, defended federal loans to GM and Chrysler, referring to the auto industry as a “microcosm of the American economy.” He mentioned TARP funds for institutions like AIG only briefly, reminding the audience it was a Bush administration policy.

If the government doesn’t get credit moving again, spending and tax cuts will have a negligible affect on economic recovery. But everyone is afraid of backing a policy that could give more federal money to banks.

3. Republicans preferred a Carbon Tax. Chelsea Kane, former IU College Republican chairwoman and current IDS columnist, noted how easy it could be for businesses to abuse a cap-and-trade system. Politicians often settle on cap-and-trade because it is difficult to sell any policy with the word “tax” in it. It was ironic to watch IU Democrats defend the less effective scheme.

4. Democrats were not honest about employer-based health care. Scott Williamson, policy director for IU College Democrats, mentioned the need to avoid destroying “the employer system” and Sen. John McCain’s plan to tax these benefits.

What he (and Obama’s campaign ads) didn’t mention was that McCain wanted to replace the tax break only subsidizing employer health coverage with a tax credit for everyone purchasing insurance. Disappointing.

5. Neither side said anything interesting about foreign policy. Republicans made a fuss about closing Guantanamo Bay and exaggerated the shifting priorities in the Pentagon as major cuts. Democrats couldn’t help but remind Republicans how bad the war in Iraq went.

But policy differences on Iraq and Afghanistan look increasingly superficial. It’s interesting that both sides still made efforts to disagree.