Page 14 Oct. 14, 2016
LIFE
Cal U students reflect on Kaine-Pence Vice Presidential Debate By April Pfrogner, Staff Writer Politics can get confusing and downright boring. With a lot of help from social media and a candidate running who is not a politician, the 2016 presidential race has people talking. As Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump battle in the polls, the entertainment quality of this election seems to override the seriousness of the job we call Commander in Chief. Sound bites and one liners are losing their luster as we the people have to seriously consider who we want to be the leader of the free world. Students gathered at Eberly Hall, Oct 4, to watch the Vice Presidential Debate. Turnout was much smaller than it was for the Presidential. A room that holds 100 people was packed for Clinton/Trump debate night while only 21 students attended for Mike Pence and Tim Kaine. Of those in attendance, six were for Trump, 10 for Clinton and five were undecided. “I want to hear about what the vice presidential candidates have to say, said Kirra Lent, senior, secondary education and social studies major. “The presidential candidates are pretty old so it’s very possible one of these men could end up running the country. “ Although Clinton keeps a slight steady lead over Trump according to traditional polls, he dominates her online. Presidential campaigns have gone from featured stories on the nightly news to Twitter wars and scandalous claims on Facebook. Shyanne Hilliard, a junior Political Science major said, “I am trying to make sense of this entire presidential election. It is so polarized. I’m just trying to figure out who is the lesser of two evils.” What the outcome of the election can mean is becoming a frightening thought. The focus of an election is usually the economy, jobs, national security, foreign policy etc, but this year, it’s starting to look more like a soap opera. In order to find the truth, voters are being forced to weed out a lot of nonsense. Paul F. Crawford of the History & Political Science Department said, “I’ve never seen a less appetizing set of choices, now that the primaries are over: an oligarch and a socialist. The Founding Fathers would not be very impressed with us. I don’t think either candidate understands what real education is about. A fair bit of the Right, and nearly all of the Left, view the world in materialistic
terms and think that the purpose of a university degree is to prepare students to be workers (in fact more than one major American political figure has said exactly that). But it’s not. It is to prepare students to understand, and live out, their essential humanity, with all that that entails. Getting a job is nice, and desirable, but it’s not the real goal of a university education. I don’t think either presidential candidate understands that.” Clinton’s plans for our nation seem to be more concrete than Trump’s. If you like President Obama’s policies, we have a rough idea of what she will bring to the oval office. Trump is vague but a candidate of change, which could work in his favor since he is not running against an incumbent. “I’m favoring Clinton. Her life’s work reflects a commitment to education and young people. I was pleased that Bernie Sanders pushed her to endorse reforms on student debt and reasonable tuition prices as part of her campaign,” said Kelton Edmonds, professor of History and Political Science. Discerning truth from fiction has become somewhat of an art form. Anyone can post anything on social
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Mike Pence - Republican Party(Left) Tim Kaine - Democratic Party(Right)
media. That doesn’t mean it is all true or completely false. “My take on the election as an educator and voter, I owe it to young people and families to ensure they have access to high quality education, which was the key to reshaping my life. Education must be affordable and graduates must not be strapped with debt upon graduation,” said Mary Popovich, assistant professor of health sciences. “A leader must find solutions to fund public education and assist through equal opportunity to offer affordable education. This may be accomplished through closing tax loopholes, so everyone pays their fair share and the burden is not placed through property tax escalation. As an educator, I want a leader who will fight to preserve
the quality of education in our state, embrace diversity and be willing to work with stake holders, who understand education and the disastrous effects in failure to provide quality affordable education.” Electing a new president is one of the greatest freedoms we possess. Men fought and died for our right to walk into that voting booth. Somewhere between the scandals, insults and twitter rants are two people, two people who want the right to represent our nation. The truth is there somewhere and it’s getting harder and harder for voters to find it.
²