In between televised presidential debates, the College Republicans and Young Democrats went head-to-head in their own sparring session Wednesday night at the Rockefeller Center. The debate centered on foreign policy and the economy, and specifically the war in Iraq, the nuclear weapons situation in North Korea, the increasing deficit in the United States and several tax-related topics.
Andrew Samwick, recently appointed director of the Rockefeller Center, acted as moderator and prefaced the debate by expressing his disappointment in the partisanship of the current election.
The debate began with foreign policy issues, with Rahul Sangwan '07 debating for the Republicans and Ben Taylor '07 debating for the Democrats. Sangwan emphasized the "steadfast leadership" of President Bush and his "consistent foreign policy," and went on to say that Democratic candidate and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry had failed to develop a coherent or consistent foreign policy doctrine by advocating bilateralism with North Korea while clamoring for multilateralism in dealing with Iraq.
Sangwan accused Kerry of putting America's national security in danger by placing it in the hands of other countries.
In response, Taylor stated that America is no safer today than it was on Sept. 11, 2001, and is instead reviled in the world because of President Bush's "colossal failures" in foreign policy.
"Being decisive doesn't mean being right," Taylor, who is also a member of The Dartmouth's editorial staff, said in reference to Bush's decision to proceed in Iraq with the United Nations.
He also emphasized that while Kerry advocated bilateralism in North Korea, this did not mean ending multilateral talks as well.
Sangwan questioned Kerry's vague intentions of adding allies and increasing international cooperation without specifying who would be involved or how.
On the economy, David Hankins '05 began for the Democrats by citing Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of the population, comparing them with Kerry's plans for middle class tax cuts. He referred to the record budget surpluses at the beginning of Bush's administration and contrasted them with the current $2.3 trillion deficit, questioning Bush's claims of being a "fiscal conservative."
But Cameron Kistler '07, who argued for the Republicans, countered that deficits, at least when short-term, weren't necessarily bad for the economy.
He contended that Kerry's plans for reducing outsourcing and repealing the tax cuts in place now would drive the country into even deeper and more long-term deficit.
One of the Republicans' main arguments was that repealing the tax cuts would be counterproductive, since 74 percent of those in the top bracket are the very same small businesses Kerry's campaign says he is trying to assist.
Kistler also made the accusation that Kerry's economic plans of costing upwards of $3.1 trillion, an accusation the Democrats did not address.
"They're much too dismissive of the budgetary arguments," Hankins said. "We need surpluses instead of record deficits, and deficits do matter."
"Kerry's economic policy is extremely protectionist and they didn't have much to defend," Kistler said.