Speech smashup: Help people [or] do something

Photo by Chelsea Crawford

By Sarah Tomkinson

Two politicians came out to show support for their respective parties.

Deb Detmers, the District Director of U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Centralia), gave a speech as to why she is Republican, and Democrat Representative Mike Boland (D-Moline) applauded the Democratic Party.

Both gave examples of their respective parties dealing with hard times and overcoming them.

Detmers, pictured above, expressed that Americans as individuals should do something, and Boland expressed the changes that have happened under Democratic presidents.

Which one was more effective, is highly dependent on audience and whether they found changes proposed and passes by Democrats to be good, of course. Not everyone is crazy about Obamacare, and some people believe that Camp David didn’t actually fulfill everything it was chalked up to be. To say that we are thankful as society for everything Democrats did is like saying the entire world celebrates Christmas. There are many exceptions.

Detmers took a different approach. She expressed everything that she felt needed to be changed. The Congressional aide said that everyone should help.

“Do something,” she said, remembering her own experience working on campaigns. “Be an envelope stuffer.”

To her, Americans should not be so reliant on others.

Side by side, the two speeches were yin and yang. Boland spoke of hope that we as a society were on the right path by sticking with Democrats in office. He emphasize looking at everything that’s been accomplished, at all the great things we have now.

Boland’s address was one of hope -- one that easily represented something observers would find in President Obama’s campaign.

In contrast, Detmers expressed the terrible situation the nation is in. She asserted that the country is in a similar state as when Jimmy Carter was president – and that a Republican change is what society needs. Just like President Reagan, any new Commander in Chief Who’s a Republican would be better than the one we have now, she said.

She added that the United States is in dire straits, and that Illinois is seen as the grease by the lake. To her, we need to help better ourselves and not wait for the government to help us.

Of course, many people don’t look at Illinois as a pile of grease, and many people believe that the government is us, and is a way we help each other.

Depending on which person you agree with depends on your political philosophies. Both speakers were obviously passionate about their own stances, and both see high potential in both their parties. One cannot instantly say the students were swayed by either speech; the speakers just emphasized the reasons why people already support their side.

The two sides boil down to one idea: Do something, or help someone.

Some students motivated for Mock Election

By Kelsey Wolfe

The Republican platform adoption was off to a slow start after the floor was open for discussion on the various platform issues. John Landes, co-campaign manager for Republican Party hopeful Rick Perry, was standing on the side motivating student delegates to speak their minds about the various planks. As Landes paced around the perimeter of the seated delegates, his spirit was obviously visible.

After the GOP platform was presented, silence fell across the University Union Grand Ballroom when delegates were asked to debate amendments to the various positions. After a bit of encouragement, delegates began to speak up on the issues.

Hot topics included the death penalty in general and for convicted murders in particular, the removal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and the legalization of marijuana.

“Students will finally know where the GOP stands and they will be more informed for the general election,” Landes said.

At the Democratic platform adoption, the crowd was pumped up by music. Democratic State Representative Mike Boland (D-Moline), pictured above, further energized the crowd as the keynote speaker, but there was silence again when the floor was opened for debate. It took a while for delegates to begin their discussion.

Many were motivated to speak, and there was quite a bit of good discussion. However, there was also quite a bit of unneeded, uninformed discussion. There was a lot of confusion among the delegates about Democratic positions on each of the various platform stances. Because of this, the Democratic discussion took much longer than needed.

Students speak out on legalizing marijuana

By Steve Hraha

The Mock Republican Party voted to oppose plank 12, legalizing the use of marijuana, during the MPE’s Republican National Convention Thursday night.

Students acting as Republican delegates addressed the issue during debate about the GOP platform, or a statement of the party’s principles and goals. The platform consists of 30 planks, or stances the party decides to take on key issues.

The Republican platform committee opposed the legalization of marijuana because they believed it is a state issue.

However, students assembled in the Union Grand Ballroom disagreed.

“Marijuana is a federally controlled substance,” said senior political science major Brady Childs, who suggested the platform’s decision on plank 12 be amended from opposing the legalization of marijuana to taking a neutral stance.

“Marijuana has caused zero deaths,” Childs said, “It is far less harmful than alcohol and tobacco. It should be legalized.”

The crowd of delegates supported Childs and the motion was seconded.

Another student also said that marijuana is far less harmful than tobacco and alcohol.

Childs added that “certain strands [of pot] don’t contain THC, the psychoactive substance found in marijuana, but can be used to make paper. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were both written on hemp paper.”

His final argument was that “marijuana could boost the economy.”

The students voted in favor of changing the Republican Party’s platform stance on legalization of marijuana from opposed to neutral.

The legalization of marijuana was just one of many Republican platform stances that students disagreed with.

Student delegates also spoke out about same-sex marriage, the death penalty for convicted murderers, and the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Students voiced strong opinions and often disagreed with other delegates.

During the first two days of the Mock Presidential Election, the debate over the legalization of marijuana has become a frequent topic. Fred Karger, a declared GOP candidate for President who also supports the legalization of marijuana, finished third in Tuesday’s Republican primary/caucus balloting.

Democratic Par-TAY

By Josh Fitzgerald

Night 2 at the Mock Presidential Election was heated, to say the least. The Democratic Party meeting started out with a very passionate speech by State Representative Mike Boland of Moline, who said in his speech, “The Iraq War was started based on lies.”

After his remarks, “State Representatives” made up of Western Illinois University students wrote down their opinions on the issues listed on the proposed Democratic Party platform. After a short break, it was time to discuss and ultimately vote on the issues accepted as platform planks.

Ignoring the number of students who had zero interest in the convention itself (but more about the latest gossip), a lot of the issues discussed turned into heated debates. A large number of students approached the microphones to voice their opinions. After every point that a student made, 9 times out of 10 there would be rousing applause supporting his or her assertions from the rest of the “representatives.”

The lengthiest and most controversial debate was the discussion on whether or not the Democratic Party should be strongly opposed to, or strongly in favor of, raising the debt ceiling. Ultimately, the platform discussion ended up strongly supporting raising the debt ceiling when necessary.

It is unfortunate that there is not more time in the proceedings. Only 14 out of the 30 topics on the proposed platform were discussed due to time constraints. (Earlier, the Republican Party finished discussing 28 of their 30 issues).

On day two, it seems as if the students who attended the Democratic Party Convention were not going to go down without a fight, and made sure their voices were heard.

“This is what democracy looks like.”

Did not participate

By Alex Rieger

Waiting at the entrance to the Union Ballroom, where the Mock Presidential Election is being held through Nov. 3 (after which it’s moving to Western Hall), freshmen stood in line to become mock delegates of their respective states.

Many were dressed in formal attire, the smell of hairspray thick in the air. A young man in a suit puts up a statistic about the national debt on the wall next to the ballroom. He wears a button that says "Romney for president."

An all-too-real parallel also was evident in this tidy brick building on Macomb’s north side: people playing dress up, listening to candidates recite cookie-cutter speeches, and voting on the biggest popularity contest ever created.

Like many U.S. citizens in a country where barely half of the electorate votes, I chose not to participate.

They say that not voting is unAmerican. Well, I say that the voting system is unAmerican.

Instead of the same old campaigns, candidates should compete in ways that can appeal to the regular person.

My proposal: Have each candidate compete on the TV show "Wipe Out." On this show players try to complete an obstacle course above a body of mud or water.

Or perhaps an arm-wrestling competition …

The bottom line is that politics don't appeal to the typical American – let alone young men and woman in college.

Hey, U.S. political system – it's time for a face-lift.

Mock Election Day 1 has mixed signals

By Josh Fitzgerald

During the first day of WIU’s Mock Presidential Election, there was a surprisingly large turnout. The Union Grand Ballroom was full of students who apparently were interested in who the new President of the United States would be.

However, once the convention got started and the speakers presented the candidates they were representing, it soon became apparent that many students were not as interested as they originally seemed. Even though most of these candidate surrogate and campaign presenters were very interesting and informative, many of the student delegates did not respond the way observers anticipated them to do.

Granted, a handful of speakers seemed unprepared or uncomfortable with public speaking, but most presentations were very professional.

Even Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford made an appearance to speak on behalf of Mitt Romney, which is why I believe Romney received so many votes.

One presenter asked, “Who is here because they have to be for class?” The response made it more obvious why there was such a large attendance with so little interest. This should come as no surprise because there is only a small number of college students who truly care about politics at this stage in their lives.

Nevertheless, the Mock Presidential election seemed to exceed expectations in professionalism and legitimacy.

Further, four nights remain, and interest and engagement may increase.

[Pictured above: two of the MPE's coordinators, John Hemingway (left) and Rick Hardy.]

'Nowhere Man' no more

By Alex Gray

There are some political candidates who are recognized and others who aren’t. One of the many candidates running for U.S. President is Fred Karger, who is relatively unknown but has some support skilled enough to increase his profile.

On Tuesday night, WIU’s Mock Presidential Election heard a Karger representative, Political Science major Thomas Gockenbach, who gave an impressive speech endorsing Karger.

Karger and Gockenbach have one thing they both want most for Americans, Gockenbach said: equality for all Americans. That means equal rights for women, gays and lesbians, immigrants – everyone.

They want everyone to be treated equally, not everyone treated as an equal.
America means freedom, Gockenbach said, but it doesn’t always offer the American Dream to everyone, depending on how they’re treated.

This needs to change, Gockenbach said, and Karger is the person who would help that.
Another issue Karger advocates is energy, Gockenbach said. Government must come up with some solution to save people money on fuel and utility costs, and Karger says possibilities include ethanol and wind power to help create renewable energy. That could save U.S. society a lot of money and the environment from a lot of damage.
Karger also recognizes the need for more and better jobs, jobs that are created and that don’t disappear tomorrow, including at small businesses.

In one of the more controversial issues that seemed to resonate with student delegates at the Republican caucuses/primaries Tuesday, Karger supports the legalization of marijuana, Gockenbach said.

Doing so also would help reduce the prison population by freeing those incarcerated for nonviolent offenses such as smoking or possessing pot. This also would give police more time and resources to focus on serious crimes.

Regulations would be required before legalization, Gockenbach said, ensuring safety for consumers and others.

As far as immigration, Karger wants to ensure that the American Dream is passed on to immigrants, from opportunities to equal pay.

Some immigrants work very hard and shouldn’t be paid less because of the lack of a document, Karger believes, according to Gockenbach.

After students voted, it became apparent that Karger’s positions were supported by many student delegates. Fred Karger placed an unexpected third place in the GOP here.

That could indicate that Karger could become better known, if his positions are made known by people like Gockenbach.