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October 30, 2018
COLLEGIATETIMES
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 /CollegiateTimes @CollegiateTimes @CollegiateTimes @CollegiateTimes
our views [staff editorial]
EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT NOV. 6 EDITORIAL BOARD
As a student-run news organization, the Collegiate Times recognizes that politics will always be central to the work we do. Politics can influence every aspect of your life from what you’re taught in classes and discussions you have with friends and family, to how you pay off student debt. From opinion columns, to town hall coverage, to interviews with candidates, we are dedicated to providing readers with well-rounded and informative coverage of elections and the candidates involved. Despite the importance of elections, less than 50 percent of students turn out to vote annually, according to Inside Higher Ed. While the number of college students who turned out is on the rise, from 45.1 percent
in 2012 to 48.3 percent in 2016, this still means that the majority of college students aren’t fulfilling their civic
their voting choices and prompt productive political discussion. We do this by providing coverage of candi-
can inf luence students’ lives. In this special issue of the Collegiate Times, you
Morgan Griffith, and Town Council candidate Jerry Ford Jr. There are also pieces highlighting how a professor
duty. The Collegiate Times’ goal is neither to take a side nor endorse candidates, but to help our readers make informed decisions about
dates from the national level with races for Senate and the House of Representatives to local elections like Town Council. We firmly believe that all levels of government
will find interviews with senatorial candidates Tim Kaine, Corey Stewart and Matt Waters, House of Representatives candidates Anthony Flaccavento and
recommends looking at the election and how student leaders plan to vote in the upcoming midterm elections. Additionally, this issue will feature opinion
pieces covering a range of topics including voter suppression and election finance, among others. Your vote matters. Make sure your voice is heard on Nov. 6. Blacksburg Transit will be fare-free on Election Day. For more information, visit www. ridebt.org or call 540-4431500. Additionally, you can find your polling location at www.elections.virginia.gov. If you are voting absentee, send your ballot as soon as possible — you can find a stamp and envelope at the post office on Main Street South. Get to know your candidates in the upcoming pages, read the opinions of your peers on various issues and cast your vote on Nov. 6.
@CollegiateTimes
MEET YOUR CANDIDATES SENATE
TIM KAINE page 6
MATT WATERS page 6
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
COREY STEWART page 7
ANTHONY FLACCAVENTO
MORGAN GRIFFITH page 4
TOWN COUNCIL
JERRY FORD JR. page 3
page 5
student leaders on student issues Emma Ruby Fellow and co-president, NextGen
Ryan Wesdock Chairman, Greens
Cole Kniatt Chairman, College Republicans
Kate Morton President, Political Science Club
Lily-Ana Fairweather Secretary, Model UN
PAGE 2 October 30, 2018
editor@collegiatetimes.com
collegiatetimes.com
Poli sci department chair Hult discusses midterms Dr. Karen Hult advises students to consider more than just the candidates’ platforms when preparing to vote. HANNAH WYNNE news staff writer
Wit h t he m idter m election coming up, Karen Hult, political science department chair at Virginia Tech, sat down with the Collegiate Times and offered her ideas about the upcoming election. Hult gave students advice about what angles to think about going into the midterm elections. As a professor who frequently teaches courses that deal with the intricacies of the U.S. government and other national political systems, Hult takes a big picture approach when thinking about the long-term importance of smaller local elections. “I think it’s beneficial for everyone to think about their own views without perceived pressure from someone else,” Hult said. She made it clear that, when voting, it’s important not to just consider the candidate’s stance on certain issues, but to really think about what direction you want the larger group (like Congress or the Senate) to take. “For st udents t hat are voting in the state of Virginia, it is important to think about what we want Congress to do.” Hult said. “There is a senator, Tim Kaine, (who) is up for re-election; if one agrees that what he’s doing in the U.S. Senate is reasonable, makes sense, should continue, then one should vote for the Democrat Tim Kaine.
If one is less comfortable with the Democratic positions on things, and (is) more comfortable with what Corey Stewart is advocating, they should look indeed into what he’s advocating, and whether they think that would be useful to have in the U.S. Senate.” Hult recognized that students may be from a district where that is not the case. “Other seats near here are open, and open seats are a time where people can express a desire for change,” Hult said. She then discussed another issue specific to this midterm, which is the effect of the current administration. “This is a midterm election with a president who’s taken some very clear positions,” Hult said. “If one thinks the Congress should check the president a little bit more, that may suggest one way of voting rather than the other way of voting.” Hu lt t hen advise d students to research issues important in their district before they vote. “So much depends on where one lives. If we were talking about the U.S. Senate race in Texas, it could well be that there’s a lot of concern especially on issues of immigration,” Hult said. “In a state like Virginia right now, that’s not an unimportant issue, but I think things like health care and jobs and other kinds of concerns like highways and education are also on the
COURTESY OF MICHAEL KIERNAN
list too. So I think it really depends on where one is.” Lastly, and most importantly, Hult gave her opinion on if you should vote.
study break
“I think people should vote if they know who they’re voting for and why they’re voting. That is, I part with some of my colleagues;
I don’t think high voting is necessarily a good thing. I think voting when one has a clear interest and has some grounding is a very
good thing. So I make that distinction.” @CollegiateTimes
FOR RELEASE OCTOBER 30, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
ACROSS 1 Beauty queen’s topper 6 Standoffish 11 Irish folk dance 14 Naysayers 15 “Z: The Beginning of Everything” star Christina 16 Santa __ winds 17 *Easy-to-read character 19 “Real World” channel 20 Triangular Indian pastry 21 Skinny fish 22 Buzzing insect 23 Luxury bag monogram 24 *Cruise stop 28 Like much Scotch 30 Purchase at Lowe’s 31 July 4th nonstarter 34 Kagan of the Court 37 “Grr!,” say 40 *Microsoft Outlook service 42 Freight weight 43 *FaceTime alternative 44 1988 film farce fish 45 Asian part of Egypt 47 Assist 48 Goes to seed 50 “Enchanted” fantasy film girl 52 *Emphatic typeface 56 Patriots’ org. 59 Stool pigeon 60 Put a spell on 61 Decline to participate 64 Cigar refuse 65 Parting words suggested by all or part of the answers to starred clues 67 Peg for a round 68 “Grr!” 69 “Tomorrow” musical 70 Slip up 71 Cozy spots 72 Rent-a-car choice
19
98
10/30/18
By C.C. Burnikel
DOWN 1 File folder projections 2 Mosaic technique 3 Molecule parts 4 Cough drop name sung in ads 5 Seeks answers 6 “__ you listening?” 7 Soda bottle size 8 Four pairs 9 Spotted wildcat 10 Evergreen tree 11 One-pot New Orleans dish 12 Major chip maker 13 Chairperson’s order keeper 18 Place for a campaign button 25 “Waiting for Lefty” playwright 26 Archaeologist’s find 27 Fail suddenly, with “out” 29 Desserts in Little Italy 31 Morning drops 32 Actress Thurman 33 Longtime “CBS Evening News” anchor 35 “There’s __ in team”
Monday’s Puzzle Solved Previous Puzzle Solved
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
36 Building add-on 38 Hudson Riv. tech school 39 Went first 41 Worshiped star 46 “Iron Chef Gauntlet” host Brown 49 Devious plan 51 San __: Texas city, familiarly 52 Steaming mad 53 Law enforcement shocker
10/30/18
54 Overflows (with) 55 Yank in Yemen, for short 57 No longer lost 58 Saint __: Caribbean island 62 School bake sale orgs. 63 In that case 65 They’re related 66 Cards checked at the gate, briefly
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editor@collegiatetimes.com
October 30, 2018 PAGE 3
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MEET THE CANDIDATES ASHLEY LONG managing editor
FORD
Jerry Ford Jr. was appointed to the Blacksburg Town Council to fill former member and current Mayor Leslie Hager-Smith’s position. Ford served on the Long Range Planning Committee and the town’s Planning Commission before being appointed to Town Council. Additionally, Ford graduated from Virginia Tech in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science in biology. He then pursued a master’s degree in environmental science from the University of Maryland University College and eventually returned to Blacksburg. This upcoming November in the midterm elections, Ford will be running for Blacksburg Town Council unopposed. Collegiate Times (CT): Up unil January of this year, you worked on both the Long Range Planning Committee and the town’s Planning Commission. How do you think that experience prepared you for being a Town Council member? Jerry Ford Jr. (JFJ): Well, one of the biggest responsibilities of local government is land-use decisions, which is zoning and rezoning, and future land use — how the locality imagines the place developing in the future. So, when I served on the Long Range Planning Committee first, that was all about the comprehensive plan — every locality has those — so that gave me a deeper knowledge. I had participated as a citizen in various planning sessions, which is part of that process. I had a little understanding of the comprehensive plan, but being on the Long Range Planning Committee was me getting my feet wet. Then once I became on the Planning Commission, we very much (dug) into it very deeply, and it’s the Planning Commission’s responsibility to really get the dirty details and then make recommendations to the Town Council. The Planning Commission has the time to really put a great deal of effort into the reviews, and part of me being on the Planning Commission is (that) the town of Blacksburg requires folks to take a Certified Planning Commissioner Training Program, and I completed that. That really created a very strong base for me. So, both of those things — learning land use from those two perspectives — it’s helped me as a Town Council member because I’ve been doing that work and learning about that for a little over two years now. CT: What was the transition like from working on those committees to becoming a Town Council member? JFJ: It was good. Each one to me was a nice step that built on the previous step. And one thing I can say is that being on Planning Commission and doing public hearings just like what we do on Town Council — being up there on the dais and public speaking, being on TV since both the Planning Commission and Town Council meetings are televised — both of those help me. Each one of those built on the other and helped me become more comfortable. I was very nervous when I started the Planning Commission, but then when I was moved to Town Council, which was a whole other set of responsibilities to be nervous about, I was more comfortable on the dais and I was more comfortable in public speaking just because of the Planning Commission experience. CT: As someone who has served on the board of the New River Valley Bicycle Administration and is a co-founder of the NRV Bike Kitchen, I think it’s pretty safe to say you’re a supporter of biking and alternative transportation methods. Virginia Tech now has access to the Bikeshare program. Do you think these types of programs are the solution to promoting alternative transportation methods and are there any
town
other measures would you like to see put forth? JFJ: Bikeshares I think are a great opportunity. When the program was rolled out this summer, almost immediately — and this was summertime when the student population isn’t at full strength — there were a lot of people using the bikes. My goal is to continue to push for good land use to where we try to make sure that people are living where services are available, whether that’s bus, bike trails, sidewalks. Anything we can do to try to get people not just using their cars, but out and moving around other than in their cars is important to me. The key is to make things convenient for people and easy. So, one, I think the Bikeshare does that. It makes it easy for folks to grab a bike real quick to run an errand or do something fun as opposed to other things. I’m a big supporter of that. CT: Has the fact that you’re running unopposed affected your campaign strategy at all or put you at ease? JFJ: Well, it’s helped me, because next year, 2019, my position that I’m currently in will be up for its normal four-year term. So, it was a little intimidating to think that I would have to run a fullfledged campaign in 2018 and then turn around and run another fullfledged campaign in 2019. So, I’ve used this year as an opportunity to do some campaigning, to try to get out — I’ve knocked on doors, talked to citizens, introduced myself — I’ve basically used this year as a good way to learn like everything else. To learn, get my name out and meet people, and not take anything for granted, and make sure people know that I’m doing the job and I enjoy it and I’m there to help them in any way that I can. CT: As a former Virginia Tech Hokie, how do you feel your work as an interim Town Council member has reflected Ut Prosim? JFJ: It’s funny. Sometimes I think my entire career embraces that idea. I have over 27 years with state government, so I’m a civil servant, so that’s serving the community. Between serving on HOAs for the communities and neighborhoods I’ve lived in where I’ve owned property as well as being — you know I was a board member and I was involved with Sustainable Blacksburg, I was involved for many years with New River Bike Association, and my wife and I founding the NRV Bike Kitchen — all of it I think is just community service and trying to make the world a better place. Sometimes if you want to see change, you want to see things evolve and get better, sometimes you can just talk about it, but also sometimes you’ve got to be the agent of change and you’ve got to be the flag-waver and the champion for those things. Blacksburg’s a great place for so many reasons, but that didn’t happen just by magic. It didn’t
MIKE LIU / COLLEGIATE TIMES
happen because of Virginia Tech administration, it didn’t happen because of Town Council members or town staff. It happened because there are so many community members who decided they wanted to see a positive change for something, and they became champions for it and carried it forward. And, so, that’s kind of how I try to live my life as well is that if I want to see a change, it’s up to me to help make that change. CT: Recently the Planning Commission voted in favor of the rezoning and redevelopment of the old Blacksburg Middle School property, and the next step in that process is to bring it to Town Council. What is your stance on that proposition? JFJ: Well, Town Council definitely looks to the Planning Commission to dig into the details, so the fact that they approved it is a positive — that’s good. This is a very complicated … it’s not a normal rezoning just because of the size, the nature of what’s going in there. Also, the town owns property, and then of course the developer owns the property, there are property transfers — pieces of property that will move from the town to the developer and then other pieces come back to the town — it’s very complicated, so it’s not simple. So, I think we are moving in the right direction. There’s good conversations between town staff for Town Council and the developer. I think it has the potential to be a great project for Blacksburg. We just have to make sure that we get all of the details right so that the future is a positive and the commitments from the town are reasonable and the benefits to all the town citizens are there as well. So, I’m optimistic about the process, and I’m open and, you know, I’m definitely enjoying the process of working to help develop it, but it’s all these fine details — the financial arrangements, all of that’s really complicated. But we’re getting through it. CT: What draws you to Blacksburg and what is your favorite thing about working in this town? JFJ: When I graduated in ’91, I left and I moved back to Northern Virginia and was there for just a very short time and then went to Richmond where I worked for the
first year for state government before I was able to transfer. Initially when I moved back to Blacksburg, one was because of the bicycling. I’m a big bicyclist, recreation, fitness — that’s what I’m going to do when you go to class, I’m going for a bike ride — so that was part of it. I also like the small town aspect here. There is a sense of community. Sometimes, coming from Northern Virginia, it’s so large, there’s so many people, it’s so suburban, sometimes it’s hard to have that sense of community and that connection. So I think the sense of community, connection, you know, we’re a small town, but we’ve grown a lot. We have a lot more amenities than we did 25, 26 years ago. There were no Starbucks here in ’92. Mill Mountain was the only coffee house here if you believe that. So, anyways, Blacksburg is a great community. The citizens are great, having the university is a great — I think Blacksburg has a great amount of energy, and that comes from having a four-year university and having the youth, the students, and also being a university with like the Moss Arts Center, we’re getting world-class performing arts — I mean, there are just so many things about Blacksburg that are awesome. CT: Is there anything else that you want to add or anything that you want to include? JFJ: I just want to say that I feel really fortunate that I was in a position to be appointed and I feel really fortunate that I’m unopposed. I’ve learned so much this year, so I’m really looking forward to continuing to learn and get used to doing the job in 2019. We have a really effective and strong Town Council. I think we all are of a similar mindset. We work together; we’re very respectful of each other. You know, I’m really proud to be a part of that and town staff … I’ve always thought that Blacksburg has good town staff and they administer good town services. I’m just really blessed and fortunate to have this opportunity to get to know and work with all these people. I’m really looking forward to having another year of doing this and then we’ll see what happens beyond that.
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PAGE 4 October 30, 2018
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MEET THE CANDIDATES MIKE LIU
news editor
GRIFFITH
Morgan Griffith has been the U.S. Representative for Virginia’s 9th Congressional District since 2011. In the upcoming midterm election, he will be running against Democratic candidate Anthony Flaccavento. Collegiate Times (CT): If you get re-elected, what will be your goal as the U.S. Representative for Virginia’s 9th Congressional District? Morgan Griffith (MG): One of the things we have to do is (continue) to work hard to create an environment in Washington, D.C., that helps to create jobs across the country, particularly looking at the rural areas that are in need of more jobs and also looking at rural areas related to health care. I think it’s very important that we make sure that we have health care providers for rural areas. Those are the top priorities. Making sure that we have health care available in the rural areas. CT: How would you address the opioid issue in the district? MG: The president today signed a bill that I was one of the authors of. Some of the language in the bill was mine. The Senate version was ultimately adopted, but I drafted the language in there relation to prescription drug monitoring program across state labs. I’m also on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. We worked on most of the
a small town, 32 miles from the border of Virginia’s 9th District. I went after the president or the CEO of the McKesson Drug Distributing Company for their clear lack of regard related to the dangers of just willy-nilly dumping pills into an area and not following the law. They were actually fined. I believe it was $50 million for not notifying the DEA. Several pharmacies in West Virginia were receiving millions of pills when there was no way they could have that many patients. CT: Student debt is a huge issue for college students now. Do you have any plans to address that issue? MG: We do need to work on the debt issue. There are several issues out there. I should mention that my stepdaughter is a freshman at Virginia Tech. I am looking at all of those issues firsthand. It’s not some second theoretical matter. I also have two children younger than she is who will both be in college at the same time in just a few years. What we have to do is we have to look at ways that we can bring down the cost. Clearly duel enrollment in high school with our community colleges is one way to do that. Those are things the state is working on, and something that I’m keeping an eye on as well. Also in many situations we need to make sure that people know there is counseling out there. I don’t mean intense counseling, but people need to be
“We will need to continue to
work on the opiod crisis and other drug addiction issues. It’s been a very big priority to me, particularly when you realize that a number of drug distributors were dumping pills into West Virginia.
language in the bill, so I was not the original author of some of that language, but I did work on a lot of that language. We will need to continue to work on the opioid crisis and other drug addiction issues. It’s been a very big priority to me, particularly when you realize that a number of drug distributors were dumping pills into West Virginia. In one case, millions of pills were being dumped into
house
”
Morgan Griffith U.S. Representative, Virginia’s 9th Congressional District aware of a plan to pay back their debt. So when you are going into an area where there are no jobs, you might want to figure out, “How am I gonna pay for that debt?” I, for example, was a history major and a classics minor. Obviously, there are not thousands of jobs for history majors, classics minors unless you do what I did: You go into law or go into teaching. There are a few
COURTESY OF MORGAN GRIFFITH
research jobs but not a whole lot. You need to make sure that students start down a career path or an education path, and they start borrowing money and they actually have a plan on how they are going to get a job to help pay that back. There are a lot of other things that are much smaller and probably too complicated to get into in a newspaper article. Things like making it easier for folks to get out from under a revolving debt. Sometimes the penalties, interests and fees exceed the amount of the loan, so I do think you ought to be able to bankrupt interest, penalties and fees on a student loan. There a number of other things, but obviously it is a concern to me personally and for the constituents in the 9th District. CT: What’s your stance on gun policy? MG: I am a proponent of the Second Amendment and I do support the right to bear arms. I would note that a gun is an instrument, and what we need to do is to look at the root cause of why people sometimes do violence with guns. Obviously, the shooting at Virginia Tech was horrendous,
but one of the things people fail to take note of is that we really need to make sure that we are enforcing the laws that we already have. The shooter at Virginia Tech should never had been able to buy the guns that he got because he was found to be a danger to himself or others and given an involuntary commitment. However, at the time the Virginia law didn’t say who was supposed to notify the NCIC (National Crime Information Center), the people who kept track of the records to the background checks, and so the judge assumed that the Department of Social Services would notify them and the Department of Social Services thought the judge would notify them. Nobody notified the proper authorities so that when he went to buy a gun, his name did not show up on the list to be prohibited from purchasing a firearm. He should have been on the list and if the spirit of the law had been followed, he would have been prevented from buying the guns that he used on that atrocious day.
COURTESY OF MORGAN GRIFFITH
editor@collegiatetimes.com
October 30, 2018 PAGE 5
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MEET THE CANDIDATES TAHREEM ALAM news reporter
FLACCAVENTO
Organic farmer and consultant Anthony Flaccavento has set aside his current work in Abingdon, Virginia, to run against current U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-Va. 9th District) for the U.S. House of Representatives 9th District seat in the 2018 midterm elections. Flaccavento is running under the Democratic Party. In 2012, he won the Democratic nomination and ran against Griffith for the same position. Through his campaigning then and now, Flaccavento has talked to thousands of Virginians all throughout the 9th District and the National Capital Region. He hosted 100 town halls, one of which took place on Virginia Tech’s campus. Collegiate Times (CT): What are your main campaign issues? A nthony F l a c c ave n t o (AF): My biggest issue, No. 1, is economic revitalization. We have high unemployment in Martinsville and Henry County, (and) we have it in Lee County. It’s spread throughout the district, so just better jobs, better-paying jobs and more of them I think is my top priority. What we have is a lot of underemployment. A lot of people who are working at low-wage jobs, people working part-time who want to be working full-time, or people working two or three jobs, including plenty of young people, in order to be able to make ends meet. It’s not strictly unemployment. There is high unemployment in a few parts of the district, but it’s more overall just (having) better economic opportunity, better jobs, full-time jobs (and) better paying jobs. CT: Is the opioid crisis an issue that you are looking to help solve? AF: Yeah, it’s one on my list of high priorities because the world is hurting, people in the 9th District are hurting, the country is in something approaching a political crisis. So, there’s a ton of priorities, but one of them is certainly opioids. I talked about how CBD oil and medical marijuana could be one piece of it. There are two other elements that I would really work on. One is funding treatment facilities. Right now, there is a tremendous gap in the number of inpatient treatment facilities that are needed for people with long-term addiction problems. Some people can get through addiction just with a little bit of counseling and a small period of assistance, but for many people, they need a longer-term treatment in a facility and we have very,
house
JUSTIN ROCHA / COLLEGIATE TIMES
very few facilities and very few beds available. So, one thing we need to do is invest in top quality treatment facilities to help people overcome their addiction so they don’t keep going back into that cycle, that terrible cycle. The other thing I want to see is a great expansion of our drug courts. The problem is our drug courts are very small and very underfunded, so only a tiny percentage of people with an addiction problem get to choose drug court as an option, so I think the federal government could support that by providing localities with some additional funds, some matching funds so
The second thing I think we should do is to look at the fact that for 22 years Congress has prohibited the use of federal money to study the problem of gun violence or its solution. Since 1996, we’ve not been able to use federal money through the Centers for Disease Control or other national agencies to kind of look at, “Why do we have so much gun violence in this country and what are the best solutions?” We’ve not been able to use taxpayer dollars to study that. And that’s ridiculous. We need to allow the problem of gun violence to be studied, so we come up with the
“The young man who
committed the horrible attack at Virginia Tech ... would have been caught if the universal background system didn’t have gaps and holes.
”
Anthony Flaccavento Democratic candidate, 9th District
that drug courts can become a bigger part of the solution. CT: What do you believe is the answer to gun violence, specifically on school campuses? AF: I think the meaningful steps, No. 1 is developing a truly universal background check system. The young man who committed the horrible attack at Virginia Tech ... would have been caught in the sense of his past violent behavior, and mental health issues would have been flagged if the universal background check system didn’t have gaps and holes, and more than likely, (he) would not have been allowed to purchase the guns.
JUSTIN ROCHA / COLLEGIATE TIMES
best, most effective solutions. And the third thing I think we need to do is we need to reign in the firepower. I do not believe that we need bump stocks.There are ways that we can eliminate some of the most almost military-style guns without cutting into, again, the rights of law-abiding citizens. The guy in Las Vegas who did the mass shooting, and many other mass shootings, they not only had powerful guns, but they had these magazine clips that hold many, many rounds and that means they can keep shooting for a long time before they have to reload. And that’s a problem if you’re trying to save lives. CT: The final question is about tuition and college campuses. Is college tuition an issue that you are focused on or will focus on, and what changes do you plan to bring to the education system? AF: College education is insanely expensive. Now you may be aware of this, but when I graduated from my undergraduate degree at the University of Kentucky in 1980, the average cost of one year at a public university, you could pay for that. I worked 320 hours at a minimum-wage job at that time. So, if you wanted to go to the University Kentucky or Virginia Tech or on average a state public college, you’d have to work 320 hours at the minimum wage to pay for a year. That was 1980. Now that figure is over 4,000 hours. 4,000 hours is the equivalent to full-time work for two years, so you’d have to work full-time for two years to pay for one year of higher education at your typical state university. That’s insane. So, we have to figure out how to start bringing down the cost of a college education ... Well, No. 1, I’m a supporter of free community college for anybody who needs it. Otherwise, if somebody comes from a middleclass or upper-middle-class
family and they can comfortably afford community college. But for everybody else who can’t, they ought to be able to get a two-year degree or a certificate, for free. (The) second thing, for people pursuing a bachelor’s degree or advanced degrees, I support two things to help bring down this massive amount of student debt. One is the passage of a law called the PAYE (Pay As You Earn) Act. That bill would mean that people who graduate with whatever level of debt from the university would only have to pay no more than 10 percent of their income back towards loan repayment. They would get a certain amount of income that would be enough to cover basic needs like housing and food, and beyond that, they would be required to pay on the student loan just 10 percent. But if you’re a school teacher, or a nurse, or a healthcare worker, or you’re piecing together two or three jobs and your combined income is only 20 or $30,000 a year, well you’re going to pay a very, very small amount back on your loan until your income increases. So, the PAYE Act requires students to pay on their loans, but it makes it a manageable, affordable payment for them and I strongly support that. Another piece of legislation, which is actually an existing law, is called the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. This is where students or graduates can retire some of their debt in exchange for working in a public service job. That might mean working in a school as a school teacher in an underserved school district, or as a nurse, or a doctor, or an engineer, but it’s a public service job which would usually mean working in an underserved area, a rural area, an urban area that’s underserved. If you do that, under the existing law, then you are entitled to loan forgiveness. The problem with the Public Ser vice Loan Forgiveness Program is it doesn’t start early. Most students have to make payments on their loan every month for five years before they even qualify for the loan forgiveness. The Trump administration proposed a budget that came out this spring –– it’s not the law –– it hasn’t been passed, but the projected budget that the president gave to Congress completely eliminated the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. So instead of helping students with debt, he wanted to pick the important tools and eliminate it. We also have to grapple for future generations with how to bring the cost of coverage down, of course. But at least for now, we can take those steps.
PAGE 6 October 30, 2018
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KAINE
Tim Kaine has been serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. Prior to this position, he was Virginia’s 38th lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2006 and 70th governor from 2006 to 2010. Kaine was the nominee of the Democratic Party for vice president of the United States in the 2016 election. Kaine will be facing Corey Stewart in the upcoming United States Senate election in November 2018. The Collegiate Times and Virginia Tech Television had the opportunity to speak with Kaine about the upcoming election, gun violence, civil rights issues in Virginia and the Affordable Care Act. Collegiate Times (CT): What do you believe the answer is to gun violence, but more specifically on school campuses? Tim Kaine (TK): Well, there are a lot of answers and, yeah, I was the governor in April of 2007, and that was probably the most memorable day of my life for that reason. I was on an economic trade mission and flew back to Virginia Tech, and then it has been years, first working with family members, the Tech community and others to study everything that happened. What went wrong? What can be improved? Then to implement positive changes and putting some changes in gun laws in Virginia, and now at the national
senate JESSICA BRADY editor in chief
you have a right to defend yourself. Unfortunately, school and the university and even other secondary higher education schools are not allowing students and/ or faculty to defend themselves, and that’s a fundamental American right. There’s that whole issue. Gun violence issues, you do have Virginia Tech. You do have Sandy Hook. 38,000 people die in this country from quote unquote gun violence. 25,000 are suicides. That is a mental health problem. 8,000 are black-on-black violence in the inner city. That’s a war on drugs and incentivizing bad behavior problem. If you put 25,000 plus 8,000, I’m bumping around a total number of people who died via gun violence in this country ... No one talks about those two, and that makes up about 90-plus percent of the gun violence in this country — suicides ... and the blackon-black violence. You want to end gun violence? Start there. Sandy Hook, I get it. I get Virginia Tech. I get it ... You’ve got all these tragedies. If someone had a gun there, and had the ability to shoot back, you can stint a lot of violence that happened there, which raises the question, “Oh, what about would it raise more violence?” Gun owners are among the most law-abiding citizens in this country. CT: What in your platform is most relevant to the New River Valley? MW: I would say it’s relevant to everybody, it’s called individual liberty and freedom. Our country was founded on the idea of individual liberty and I think we’re losing that ...
a co-sponsor of a bill that would limit the size of magazines that go into weapons. CT: What could be done to avoid violent protests like Charlottesville last year from happening in the future? TK: The Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville was a very dark day for this country because, like the horrible tragedy at Tech that led to the loss of life, a paralegal, Heather Heyer, was murdered by a white supremacist, and two state troopers who I knew very well who wouldn’t (have) been (there) on that day, but they had to be there because these violent people came to Charlottesville had to be there patrolling and their helicopter went down and they were both killed. We have to stand up against hate. Bottom line is people of good will need to stand up against hate and we need to really practice the values that we teach — Virginia is for lovers or so we say. We are not for haters. Virginia is about equality, that pivotal, North Star value that Jefferson put into the Deceleration of Independence. We have to stand for equality. CT: Why should we support the Affordable Care Act? T K: W hen t he Affordable Care Act passed, the uninsured rate in this country has gone down to one of the lowest that it’s ever been. Women can’t get discriminated against in the premiums they are charged. Children can stay on family policies until
KAILA NATHANIEL / COLLEGIATE TIMES
they are 26. Nobody can be discriminated against based on a pre-existing health condition. We have to preserve it, and that’s a huge difference in the race. I want to preserve it and my opponent wants to repeal it. A repeal effort almost passed in the Senate a year ago, and it would have taken health insurance away from 20 to 30 million Americans. Instead, by saving the Affordable Care Act, we gave the Virginia legislature the ability this year to pass a medical expansion that was part of the Affordable Care Act, and 400,000 Virginians, many in southwest Virginia, will get health insurance for the first time in their lives. CT: Why should college students vote? TK: When I talk to 18-year-olds, I have three 20-somethings. My kids are a little bit older than the 18-year-old, but when I talk to my kids and their friends, they care deeply about equality. If you care about equality to all, elections matter and the two sides are different. If you care about the cost of education, you want affordable college, you want
COURTESY OF MATT WATERS
We come up with an idea, what makes America utterly unique as a nation, among all the nations, is we start with the individual and Jefferson and Madison and these guys said, “Look, the government should do one thing. It’s to protect your rights, my rights. That’s it. That’s the role of government: to protect your right to life, to liberty and pursuit of happiness and/or property.” Eminent domain is encroaching upon our right to property. Pipelines — terrible. The gas companies are totally taking advantage of the eminent domain. They’re abusing that. It’s unconstitutional in my opinion because we have a right to property. The government should be protecting our right to property, not allowing Exxon to come in and build a pipeline ... That’s unAmerican … The government is only supposed to protect our rights, that it gives us maximum freedom to do and live how we want — to create jobs, go into business, seek education, have a family, whatever it is, as long as you don’t hurt someone else ... it’s risky and it’s called personal responsibility. We have to take
to have the Stafford Loan, votes in elections really matter to you. If you believe in science and worry about climate change, for example, elections really matter to you. The first reason to participate is because there is a huge difference between the candidates. There is a huge difference between the parties on issues that matter to young people. The second reason to participate is there is not just a difference between the candidates; you make a difference. Elections in Virginia are close. They are close. We’ve had two statewide races in the last 10 years that had been decided by less than 500 votes. We have one legislative race that was decided essentially by a coin flip because it was tied. Young people when they participate can be the difference maker in any election. I think sometimes young people know that on issues there are differences but they sort of think, “but do we make a difference?” In a state like Virginia where the elections are so close, I can tell you young voters make a difference.
WATERS
Matt Waters is a Virginian running for the Virginia U.S. Senate position against incumbent Tim Kaine (D) and Republican Corey Stewart. He is representing the Libertarian Party. Waters received his undergraduate degree from George Mason University and is currently working on his master’s degree. He served as a consultant to campaigns and has worked on issues in the political space for over 20 years. Collegiate Times (CT): If elected, what would be your main goals as senator? Matt Waters (MW): The No. 1 goal and biggest threat that faces the country is debt. In fact, I am issuing a press release today on the 750 billion increase in the deficit right now. It really is a hole. We are blowing a hole through the future of America. In particular, we’re betting the future that you as a student and millions of students and young people are going to be able to foot the bill. It’s an immoral bet and it’s a bet that we can’t keep. The government should tell Americans one thing — that they can’t keep their promises. Rarely if ever do they keep their promises ... People have no idea what’s going on. It’s unsustainable. It’s immoral ... We’re in a real fix and the politicians in Washington are not going to fix it. CT: Staying on the topic of debt, how would you address student debt? MW: The reason students are going into debt, there’s one reason — because the cost of college is going
exponentially higher. Part of the problem is that the federal government has extended credits and loans ... The government needs to get out of the education business. There is a direct correlation between the government being involved and the cost of education ... and because they extend loans and they extend credit, the school presidents and administrators say, “Oh, well, you know, Matt Waters can borrow, last year he could borrow $25,000 a year, but now he can borrow $50,000 a year. So, what we can do with our tuition — we can charge more.” And that’s literally what they’re doing … If you get the government out of it, and have a student loan process not unlike a car loan process or a housing loan process, i.e. private sector, you will reign in cost because you put the consumer in the driver’s seat ... The other thing is the pressure ... it’s pulling pressure from the state, where state governors ... are putting less and less money in the state universities because, again, the federal government comes in and says, “We’re going to make this possible.” CT: Virginia Tech had a shooting back in April 2007. Since then — Sandy Hook, Stoneman Douglas, Santa Fe … This doesn’t seem to be a problem that’s going away, so what do you believe the answer is to gun violence, but more specifically on school campuses? MW: I, as a father of five children, and as a conceal and carry lifetime member (of the) NRA, I think you probably get my position. I’d say conceal and carry ...
level where I serve on the committee dealing with both health and education trying to tackle this as a public health matter of significance. What can be done? First, in the aftermath of the shooting at Virginia Tech, we did a study and basically said, “Tell us everything that went wrong.” My lawyers at the time, some of them said, “Don’t do that, you’ll just give people the ability to sue the state.” I said, “I don’t care about the lawsuits. I owe to the families, those who’ve been injured and the Tech community answers and improvements.” One of the things we learned from that horrible shooting is if your background record check system isn’t comprehensive, bad things are going to happen. Seung-Hui Cho, who was the disturbed young man who committed this mass killing, was barred from having a weapon. He had been adjudicated. Under federal law, he couldn’t have a weapon, but he was able to get one because of weaknesses in the background check system. The first thing we should be doing, some states have done this, we tried it in Congress in 2013 and came close, but frankly we could not get enough Republican votes, we need to have a universal background check system. That is the single thing we can do that will have the most impact on this. Second, I also support limitations on some kinds of weapons of carnage that were used to commit the crimes. For example, I am
responsibility for our health care and our retirement and our banking and our school loans. It’s not the government’s job to do those things ... It’s about the proper role of government and really extending and maximizing freedom. And that’s personal freedom. It’s in your bedroom, if you want to smoke or drink that’s fine, as long as you don’t hurt someone, you can do whatever you want to do in this country ... The founding fathers got that right. CT: Is there anything that you want the Virginia Tech community to know that I haven’t already asked you about? MW: Check out the website. We have a very reasonable platform. Very reasonable answers to some of the most pressing questions facing this country. We have a lot more details than any of the other candidates ... If you want to make a difference in November ... if we get the Libertarians the 10 percent, we will shake up this political process like never before.
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STEWART
Corey Stewart is an international trade attorney currently serving as the at-large chairman to the Board of Supervisors for Virginia’s Prince William County. Stewart is the Republican currently running against incumbent Tim Kaine in the midterm Senate race on Nov. 6. Collegiate Times (CT): Can you please briefly describe the relevant positions you have held? Corey Stewart (CS): I have been the at-large chairman of the Board of Supervisors for Prince William County since 2006. That’s four elections I’ve been through at-large. Prior to that I was a district supervisor for Prince William County, and I held that seat for three years. I won that election in 2003. 2003 was my district supervisor election, then 2006 was a special election. 2007 was my re-election, then again in 2011 and 2015. Then I ran for governor last year in the Republican primary and I came up short by a little over 1 percent on that one. CT: If elected, what would be your goals as senator? CS: The No. 1 is going to be making the tax cuts permanent. No. 2 is to break open foreign markets to American-made goods, re-negotiate foreign trade agreements, and No. 3 is to construct the wall and remove criminal illegal aliens from the country. CT: What issue is most important to you? CS: My No. 1 goal is making the tax cuts permanent and pursuing additional tax cuts. CT: Student debt is a problem facing many young adults at Virginia Tech and across all of Virginia. What do you feel is the best solution to this problem? CS: I think that it’s not just the student debt that students are facing; it’s also the lost time. Something
senate
we can never give back to you is the time that you may have spent in college studying something that you can’t use when you get out. What we need to do is reform the accreditation process to make sure that what colleges and universities are teaching are better aligned with the needs of the business community and the workforce so that students have jobs when they get out. We can do that by taking the accreditation process and shifting it to the states, where the states can work together with the chambers of commerce and other industry associations to make sure that students are receiving the education that they can use to be competitive in the workforce, and so that students aren’t wasting their time and their money on something they can’t use. CT: Virginia Tech had a shooting back in April 2007. Since then — Sandy Hook, Stoneman Douglas, Santa Fe … This doesn’t seem to be a problem that’s going away, so what do you believe the answer is to gun violence, but more specifically on school campuses? CS: Every single mass shooting in the United States since 1950 with only three exceptions has occurred in a so-called gun-free zone. This is because gunmen deliberately target schools because they know that they’re soft targets. What I am proposing to do, and what I have already done — I have already done something about this, this is what makes me different, I don’t just talk — we’ve installed resource officers in my community in Prince William County in our 95 schools ... This does two things: It stops the shooter before they can do additional harm, and secondly it prevents the school shootings in the first place because it lets these potential killers know that schools are no longer soft targets. I think we need that in every school in America, including every college and university. Not every
KAILA NATHANIEL / COLLEGIATE TIMES
school and not every school district in the country can afford it. That’s why I think the federal government can support efforts to harden the security systems through armed guards in every school in America. That’s the only thing that has shown that it actually works. CT: What in your platform is most relevant to the New River Valley? CS: I think bringing back manufacturing. I think that when you travel across Virginia, you’ll see a lot of economic devastation because of the loss of our manufacturing sector in the United States and the loss of energy jobs. What I would like to do is work with the president in re-negotiating unfair trade agreements that have shuddered factories across the United States. This is my background. I’m an international trade attorney. I believe in free trade, but it needs to be free in both directions. Right now we’ve got a free flow of goods coming into the United States, but there hasn’t been a reciprocal agreement by our trade partners. They’ve been keeping out American products from their markets and that’s been hurting American jobs, American workers, American businesses. That’s one
big thing, but here’s another one. I’ve focused during my time in office on transportation spending, road construction. Virginia has not received its fair share of federal funding for road construction under Sen. Kaine. I will do that. I will also focus specifically on one project that needs to be funded by the federal government: the widening of I-81. CT: Why should college students vote for you? CS: I think that if they want this prosperity that we’re seeing under President Trump to continue, that is due to the tax cuts, and those tax cuts are up for renewal in a couple of years at a time when students will be graduating from Tech and other universities, that they should support a Senate candidate who will be supporting the continuation of that economic growth, the continuation of those tax cuts, the opening up of foreign markets to American-made goods. That will bring prosperity and will make sure that every graduate at Tech and other universities will have a job in their field when they graduate.
Virginia Tech student organization leaders discuss upcoming election and encourage students to vote Concerns about political issues vary group to group and person to person. What do students think about the Nov. 6 election? ALLY LARRICK news staff writer
On Nov. 6, the midterm election polls will open in Blacksburg, Virginia, and political organizations on campus who are preparing accordingly will watch their efforts come to fruition. The bulk of these efforts include harping on issues, not parties, that are important to young voters, and encouraging them to show up to the polls. “Young people can flip any seat if there is a college campus nearby,” said NextGen member, junior political science major, Emma Ruby. With roughly 30,000 Virginia Tech students and 10,000 Radford students, the New River Valley has this power. Although this is true, members of political organizations witness a common self-doubt among young voters. “A lot of people say, ‘My vote doesn’t matter. I’m just one of thousands,’ but even getting your voice heard is a good thing,” said Model United Nations (UN) member, junior physics and political science major, Lily-Ana Fairweather. She recalled an election from her hometown, Newport News, Virginia, in which the votes were tied and came down to a coin toss. Instances like these are reminders that everyone’s votes count. Ruby hears similar statements while registering
student voters through NextGen. “One thing I hear a ton on campus is, ‘I don’t know enough to vote,’ but you do,’” Ruby said. Although student empowerment is a major goal for on-campus organizations, Greens at Virginia Tech member and graduate st udent master ing in history and education, Ryan Wesdock, believes it is important to involve people other than undergraduates in these organizations. Advantages to this include an increase in involvement and greater chance of results. “Bringing in faculty, bringing in staff, bringing in undergraduate and graduate students is a broader base that has more ability to impact the university,” Wesdock said. “If we want to ensure a just outcome and just policy that’s going to change what’s happening, we have to involve all those different groups. I think it is very important that we are a broader organization than just undergraduate students.” Concerns about political issues vary group to group and person to person, but on-campus organizations are advocates for giving each issue a voice. Both the Political Science Club and Model UN members represent a wide range of political views. “We t r y to ra ise awareness in the sense of
providing information, but not to actually necessarily influence people’s own personal opinions,” said Political Science Club member, senior biochemistry and political science major, Kate Mor ton. Instead, the club hosts events in which members discuss the election and current events. The club also participates in events put on by the Department of Political Science. The College Republicans are also focused on member involvement and awareness since they are not endorsing the Republican candidate, Corey Stewart, for this election. “ We a r en’t doi ng anything for him (Corey Stewart). Tim Kaine, I don’t know if anyone else in the club is behind him, I am personally, but we are not actively campaigning for him or voicing our opinion,” said College Republicans chairman, senior sociology and criminology major, Cole Kniatt. “For our club, I am hoping to get more people that want to be involved.” Kniatt also expressed concerns about party polarization and partisanship. “Just because we are the College Republicans doesn’t mean we have to stay within the party lines; we do what we think is best,” Kniatt said. In conjunction with this, organizations such as NextGen and Greens at Virginia Tech have members
ALLY LARRICK / COLLEGIATE TIMES Emma Ruby, a member of NextGen at Virginia Tech, helps a student fill out voter registration information.
who are passionate about specific issues surrounding the midterm elections, as opposed to specific candidates. NextGen collected in-person survey responses that concluded people were concerned about student debt forgiveness, environmental justice; criminal reform; racial, LGBTQ, and domestic equality; legalization of marijuana and cost of rent. Greens at VT is focusing on issues like universal health care, universal higher education and dealing with
student loan debt. As a bottom-up organization, Greens at VT is trying to relate national platforms to local candidates and their initiatives. “Just as we are fighting for these issues nationally, I think it is really important to fight for those issues here on campus and try to connect the two,” Wesdock said. Again, it all comes down to the younger voters. The members of these student organizations have expressed f r ust ration, anxiety and excitement
surrounding the midterms, but the goals of high voter turnout and issue-based ca mpa ign ing ve r s u s political party campaigning remain a top priority. “If you don’t like what you see, vote to change it. If you do like what you see, vote to keep it in place,” Fairweather said.
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column
Ranked-choice system of voting a better alternative to winner-take-all system Current elections in America produce apathetic voters, political polarization and a generally stagnant political landscape.
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Republican Party must let go of archaic social views, cater to young moderates If the GOP continues to peddle socially conservative values, the party risks alienating America’s youth further away from the right.
U
p until the age of 15, I identified as a Republican. Marco Rubio was my CubanAmerican idol, I knew the name of every Republican senator in the Virginia Senate and both of my parents generally supported Republican candidates. By all accounts, I was the Republican Party’s dream member — a young Hispanic woman who was passionate about politics. So what happened? The answer is simple. I could no longer support Republicans’ stances on social issues. Though I remained fiscally conservative, I couldn’t justify aligning with a party whose vast majority did not support gay marriage, did not want to allow women access to abortion and did not believe that transgender people deserved any sort of federal protections. My eyes had been opened to Republicans’ increasingly far-right social policies, which I could never support. Thus, my political identification shifted, first from Republican to Libertarian, and then from Libertarian to left-leaning moderate — and I’m not the only one whose views have shifted in this way: 38 percent of young voters identify as moderate, and if the Republican Party continues on in this way, we’re going to be their worst nightmare. Though 38 percent of young moderate voters may not seem like a particularly scary statistic at first, to the Republican party, it should be. While 40 percent of moderate voters already say they always vote for Democratic candidates to begin with, 33 percent are critical swing voters who vote equally for Democrats and Republicans. Only 9 percent of moderates consistently vote for Republican candidates. The youth are meant to be both parties’ future, but for Republicans, there may not be much to look forward to if their younger members continue to be swayed to the side of Independents and Democrats. With only 26 percent of younger voters
identifying as Republican, the party desperately needs to drum up millennial and Gen-Z support as its older members die out. Here’s the problem: America’s youth can’t align with the archaic social views the party insists on promoting. About 8 percent of American high school students identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, and 7.3 percent of millennials identify as LGBT, a marked increase from 5.8 percent in 2012. The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated that white children will be the minority in the United States by 2023, and 63 percent of women ages 18 to 34 identify as feminists. Generation Z is more diverse than any generation prior, and it is clear that Republicans can no longer afford to ignore that diversity if the party wants to survive. Unfortunately, the party continues to choose leaders who do little to represent the country’s growing diversity. With figures like Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump at the forefront of the Republican party, it’s easy to see why younger voters might balk at identifying as Republican. Young Americans simply are not interested in being represented by older white men who support conversion therapy, refer to Mexicans as “rapists” and deny climate change. Attracting new members to the party shouldn’t be Republicans’ only concern. The party’s preferred terminology is “conservative,” but 43 percent of young Republicans identify as “moderate,” and many hold more liberal views on topics such as gay marriage, abortion and immigration than their older peers. Republicans need to retain as many of their younger members as possible, but that has proven to be an uphill battle as of late — in 2017, the Pew Research Center found that 23 percent of young Republicans defected from the party after Trump was elected president. If the Republican Party
wants to both keep the younger base it already has and attract more millennial and Gen-Z supporters, it needs to face the dire truth of its situation. Many young voters, myself included, see Republicans as hypocritical. They claim to desire limited government, yet many Republicans want to intrude on the private lives of LGBT Americans simply because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. An even larger number believe that abortion should be banned simply because it goes against their personal religious views. The very face of the Republican Party, our president, denounces attacks against his supporters, then refers to a representative who body-slammed a reporter in 2017 as “his kind of guy.” Whatever strategy current Republican leaders are using to sway voters to their side isn’t working, and if the party has any hope of gaining traction with American youth, it has to use new tactics. Republicans must let go of their dogged determination to return the United States to the social conservatism of the 1950s — it’s not going to happen. Instead, the party should focus on addressing the problems that younger voters face the most, like crippling student loans, access to higher education and access to quality health care. Ignore these issues, and Republicans risk imminent and continual losses to their Democratic opponents. Republicans, it’s up to you. Insist on shoving your own beliefs down the throats of America’s youth, and you don’t stand a chance in the elections to come. Fight for change in the areas that actually need it, however, and you just might survive. The choice is yours.
LEXI SOLOMON • opinions contributor • freshman, national security and foreign affairs, and Russian
ANTHONY WU / COLLEGIATE TIMES Mayor Hager-Smith explains to a resident what parts to fill out on a form to register to vote, Sept. 25, 2018.
W
ith the midterm elections coming up, it is time to think about whether we are where we want to be as a nation. The last midterm election, in 2014, had the lowest turnout in more than seven decades, with only 33.9 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot. From the numbers, it seems like the vast majority of Americans just do not seem to care. But active voters should think first before calling the inactive voters lazy. Many voters would rather abstain from the process altogether than continue to vote for disconnected, incompetent and corrupt politicians who have consistently failed to deliver on their promises. This broken political system has bred apathy among the populace, and it all starts with the way officials are elected. Currently, the United States uses what is known as the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting system to elect its president, members of Congress, governors, state legislators and local officials. Each person has one vote they can use, and the candidate with the most number of votes wins. This type of winnerta ke-all system inevitably results in a political landscape that is dominated by two major parties, according to Duverger’s Law, a phenomenon named after French sociologist Maurice Duverger. In the U.S., things have shaken up so that the two major parties are the Democrats and Republicans, on the left and right, respectively. There are three main problems that arise from this situation. First, third parties cannot win, and, the more votes they get, the more they take away from the party they are closer to on the political spectrum. When Theodore Roosevelt left his old party, the Republicans, and ran as an independent, he split votes with the Republican candidate and helped the Democratic
candidate win. The lessons from that have kept people from voting for third parties, solidifying the dominance of the two major ones. It is unfortunate, because Americans who are in the center or are split depending on an issue remain essentially unrepresented. Secondly, when major parties no longer have to appeal to the center, political polarization occurs — entrenching the views of those who support them. Strife becomes normalized because the two wings, who inhabit separate ideological bubbles, cannot empathize with each other. Paralysis sets in because the constant struggle for supremacy makes it impossible to get anything done. Thirdly, the winning candidate is supported by only a minority of Americans. Even in the best case, as in the 2016 presidential elections, when 60 percent of voters turned out, Trump amassed only half that, which equates to 30 percent of the voting population. That is unacceptable. A democracy requires participation. When a majority of citizens did not directly select their leaders, those leaders cannot accurately reflect the popular will. It is no small wonder that Americans are growing increasingly dissatisfied with what their politicians do for them. We need to change to a better voting system, and Maine has the right idea. In 2016, the state of Maine used a ranked-choice voting (RCV) system for its gubernatorial primaries. Turnouts increased. Candidates built coalitions instead of slinging mud at each other. Two years later, the people of Maine voted in a referendum to overturn a state law against the RCV system. Clearly, RCV has their support, and it should have ours, too. Ranked-choice voting departs from first-pastthe-post voting in that it allows the voters to rank the candidates in the order of
their preference. When firstchoice votes are counted, if no candidate has a majority, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated. For the people who voted for that eliminated candidate, their vote is then transferred to their second choice. The process repeats until a majority winner is decided. There are two main benefits to this system. First, it encourages voters turn out because they can now sincerely vote for the candidate they like the most, rather than voting against who they perceive to be the most threatening enemy. Under such a system, I could have ranked Sanders first, Clinton second and Trump third without worrying about handing the win over to Trump. Of course, Sanders did not run as an independent for this exact reason. Secondly, it discourages negative campaigning and encourages coalition building. To attack your opponents would make their supporters rank you lower — costing you potential votes in later rounds. Politicians would then be incentivized to reach across the aisle and appeal to a wider base, and when they cooperate, they make laws that benefit more people. As a side effect, the revitalized machinery of policy-making would relieve the Supreme Court’s burden and balance out the power that the executive branch has gained over the past decade or so. I am not saying that ranked choice voting is a cure-all. In fact, I admit it has flaws. But one thing for sure is that it is an improvement over the system we have now. Think of it as a starting point toward making our government truly one that is of the people, by the people and for the people. It’s better than doing nothing at all.
KURT PENG • opinions contributor • freshman, general engineering
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Monetary contributions by private citizens to political campaigns must be limited Donating massive amounts of money to politicians influences the results of elections a disproportionate amount.
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ome of the more cynical citizens of the United States are quick to say politicians care only about power. According to a 2015 study by the Pew Research Center, only 19 percent of Americans say they trust the federal government “to do what is right just about always or most of the time.” A study from Gallup found SALLY DUKES / COLLEGIATE TIMES President Trump rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, Oct. 26, 2018.
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Politics must be based on substance, not Hollywood obsession with celebrities Media coverage of the impertinent details of politicians’ lives distracts from their platforms regarding key legislative issues.
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e’ve all seen the headlines. “Elizabeth Warren releases DNA test with ‘strong evidence’ of Native American ancestry” from CNN, “Trump’s first D.C. dinner as president: an overcooked $54 steak. With ketchup” from The Washington Post and “Was the Kavanaugh hearing the worst Supreme Court fight?” from The New York Times have all popped up in political news within the last several months. This is just a snapshot of some of the ridiculous political articles currently circulating across American news sites. Regarding these articles, I have one question: Who cares? As midterms approach, there is only one thing on some people’s minds: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) had a Native American ancestor. When people talk about politics, more often than not they are discussing the latest scandal, whether it be truly political or the president boarding Air Force One with toilet paper on his shoe. It’s official, folks — Washington is going Hollywood. Political news should, first and foremost, be about politics. It should inform the public about stances, movements, laws and other government-related topics. Political news is supposed to inform the public about the government and the political climate. It should not be an update on petty
“By treating politicians
as celebrities, we separate them from their duties to our country, and forget the reasons for their fame.
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and irrelevant parts of politicians’ personal lives. Political news should not have a headline that sounds like it came off of the cover of a supermarket tabloid. The Trump family is popular in the same way the Kardashians are. People love to hear the petty details of their everyday lives, and they are a family that people love to hate. The biggest difference between the two families is that one has a bad reality TV show and the other leads our country. As entertaining and ridiculous as some of the news is surrounding the Trump family, what reputable news sites publish and what belongs in People magazine should not be a Venn diagram, but two separate entities. I don’t care enough to be interested in the success of Ivanka Trump’s fashion line (or lack thereof) or the president’s questionable eating habits. What does matter are the president’s stances on current issues and how his administration spends taxpayer dollars. Politicians, especially the Trump family, have become celebrities in the eyes of the media to the point where
details insignificant to their platforms are the only information the public has on its potential leaders. People should know the names of politicians, especially those who represent them, but not because of some silly news story unrelated to politics. The celebrification of politics and politicians has changed the political landscape drastically in the past few years, and not in a positive way. During the midterm election season, we must direct our attention away f rom Hol ly wo o d-i z e d politics and focus on political news of substance. By obsessing over these insignificant news stories, we as citizens and readers enable writers to continue writing them. By treating politicians as celebrities, we separate them from their duties to our country, and forget the reasons for their fame.
ALYSSA MCCORMICK • opinions contributor • freshman, computational modeling and data analytics
for those who want to use their resources to support a candidate. However, this is far too simple a loophole for pay-for-play action, and gives those with money to make big donations far too much power in our political system. The biggest issue with these donations is how necessary they are for a politician’s success. In 2012,
“When a candidate has to spend that kind of money to win, it makes big donations and big companies a necessary part of our elections.
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that 75 percent of Americans perceived corruption as “widespread.” While the United States has a relatively clean record when it comes to corruption in a global context, big businesses and wealthy individuals can donate millions to political candidates through legal means, which may explain why so many Americans believe their government is corrupt despite a lack of evidence. The legal justification for the amount of money companies and individuals can donate is that limiting that money is equivalent to limiting free speech
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) spent over $17 million on his campaign, and he has already spent $11 million on his re-election campaign for this year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Morgan Griffith, the congressman representing Virginia’s 9th District (which includes the Blacksburg area), spent over $900,000 on his 2016 campaign. When a candidate has to spend that kind of money to win, it makes big donations from wealthy people and big companies a necessary part of our elections. By extension, it gives those who
have this money the power to withdraw their donations for a re-election campaign if they don’t get enough cooperation from the politicians they support. In theory, our politicians are being picked and chosen by those with the money to do so. While this might not always be the case, our current system allows for this to happen far too easily. Our democracy would be better served by an alternative campaign funding method like a small donor matching system, in which individuals are limited to small amounts and the government matches all or some of each individual’s donation in funding. A system like this would invite less corruption and return power to the people. It may not present a perfect solution, but the problems that arise with small donor matching are undoubtedly preferable to simply hoping that the people making massive donations to campaigns really are just supporting a candidate and not expecting something in return.
DREW JONES • opinions contributor • junior, multimedia journalism
ETHAN CANDELARIO / COLLEGIATE TIMES Sen. Tim Kaine answers media questions after the Kaine-Stewart Senate Forum, Aug. 24, 2018.
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IAN MCVEA / TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE Beto O’Rourke speaks about immigration and health care reform to supporters at Musica con Beto, a rally held on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, at the Americado, a trendy Mexican bar and restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas.
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Beto O’Rourke’s message of political optimism, unity and authenticity revitalizes even most avid pessimists
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Campaigning against partisan Ted Cruz, Beto has run in deep-red Texas on bringing people together rather than divisiveness.
sometimes question whether there’s much meaning to it all — elections, the political system, anything, really. Maybe our scratching, fighting and clawing is all for naught in this political climate — maybe we would be better off sitting back and watching it all unfold. To be fair, I’ve never been the most positive person — you could even call me a cynic. Neha, our opinions editor, and I often joke that we’re the two most negative people in the newsroom. But I guess for me, it’s more that I’m just very skeptical — so much that it’s hard for me to truly believe in anything. But that’s what we’re all searching for, in a way: something or someone to believe in. You could argue that belief — whether in ideas big or small — is one of our primal human needs. Take religion, for example. People’s faith gives them strength — especially in dark times, having God on your side can be powerful. It’s part of why so many were angry at Colin Kaepernick’s anthem protest — people believe in the au ra surrounding the flag, what it represents and the American exceptionalism associated with it. Today, it seems like people see their politics in a similar way — not just as a collection of views, but like religion and the flag, as something to believe in with
all your heart. I guess I haven’t gone that far. However, I’ve stayed informed, just emotionally distant. I’ve been following the upcoming midterms for months now — gauging the Democrats’ chance at taking back the House. I am a liberal, through and through. Readers have told me that based on the pieces I’ve
Sure, Democrats may get an impeachment proceeding, but big Don-Don isn’t going anywhere. We on the left may celebrate for a while, but then eventually realize that not much has changed. Again, I’m a cynic. Despite all of this, I’ve seen something that’s made me reconsider. In deep-red Texas, Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke has been
they seemed like old friends. I remembered that for the first time in a while, I did have some hope. I didn’t think things like that happened much anymore — politicians reaching across the aisle not just as colleagues, but as friends. The policy discussion was cool, and they did come to agree on some things throughout the ride, but the
“In his livestreams, he has talked
about how he met his wife, he has airdrummed to The Who and even skateboarded in a Whataburger parking lot. He has united people rather than divided them by being authentic, and is the antithesis of the politicians we’ve grown accustomed to.
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written, they’re surprised at just how far to the left I am. Even my close friends are a bit shocked, and they know me personally. I guess it’s because unlike most young liberals — going to rallies, organizing online, building a community — I’ve kind of removed myself from the fight, so to speak. Even if Democrats do take back the House, I’m not sure that anything of note will happen. Republicans have their president, they have their judges and justices, and ultimately, they’ll still hold most of the power.
running a tight race with Sen. Ted “Lucifer in the flesh” Cruz. When I first started hearing about the race, I knew Beto sounded familiar, so I went and did my research. I remembered him from his car ride with Republican Rep. Will Hurd, when they had to drive from Texas to Washington after snow canceled their flight. During the “Congressional Cannonball Run,” as they called it, they sang along to the radio, made quick food stops, took calls and talked serious policy — all on Facebook Live. By the end,
parts that made me — dare I say — believe, were the random conversations they had about their lives, their tastes in music — just interacting like normal friends would on a 1,600-mile road trip. It gave me hope that maybe we could all just get along — that maybe the system can work, and real, positive change can come from people banding together. It was a rare show of positivity for me — you could even say out of character, but the greatest pessimists are borne from the
optimists that were too often disappointed. And eventually, once the politicians got back to the Capitol, everything went back to normal. While both congressmen still remain close to this day, they didn’t really change anything. But a year later, Beto has brought that same sentiment — of coming together as people — to his campaign. Against Sen. Ted Cruz, perhaps one of the most polarizing and partisan legislators in Washington, he has gone in the opposite direction. While Beto’s views are largely progressive, and ones I agree with, they aren’t what’s won me over — his campaign isn’t really even about those views. He has won me over by being a real person, even in the dirty world of politics. In his livestreams, he has talked about how he met his wife, he has air-drummed to The Who and even skateboarded in a Whataburger parking lot. He has united people rather than divided them by being authentic, and is the antithesis of the politicians we’ve grown accustomed to. Watching the huge crowds show up for his events and all the support he has been able to drum up by just being genuine and unfiltered has made me believe, and I say that without caution. I believe that being real with all the people that
you meet will always lead you to greener pastures. I believe change is possible if we embrace people rather than politicians. I believe that while our system might need some repairs, if we all come together and support one another, it can work. So, to Beto O’Rourke, I want to say thank you, because even if just for a little while, you’ve made me believe in politics again, and given me hope that the future can be greater than the past. I can’t wait to see what your political future holds.
JUSTIN REDMAN • assistant opinions editor • junior, public and urban affairs
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Voting by absentee ballot addresses issues close to home, bears more weight Though it might be tempting to register to vote in Blacksburg, voting in your home county may make more sense for you.
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Are you registered to vote in Blacksburg?” Ever y fall semester, numerous organizers spend hours congregating near the library to accomplish two goals: register students to vote and get students to vote here in Blacksburg. While participating in the civic life of this community is important, students should carefully weigh the importance of their vote before deciding to vote in Blacksburg. I always answer truthfully. Yes, I am registered to vote; however, races in my home district are incredibly close and voting there is more important to me personally. While our civics education tried to instill in us the fact that all votes are equal, your vote can be more impactful in some districts than in others. Whether your home district hosts a close race this November, you have personal connections to the candidates, or the issues at stake have wideranging implications, there are many justifications to voting at your home address. According to The New York Times, there are 72 highly competitive seats — four in Virginia alone — up for election in the House of Representatives. Those Virginia seats are in northern Virginia (the 10th District held by Barbara Comstock-R), central and southern Virginia (the 5th District held by Tom Garrett-R), areas north and west of Richmond (the 7th District held by Dave Brat-R), and the Eastern Shore and Tidewater region (the 2nd District held by Scott Taylor-R). At my Blacksbu rg address, there are six issues on the ballot: Member U.S. Senate, Member Virginia House of Delegates, Member U.S. House of Representatives for the 9th District, two statewide referendums and Member of Blacksburg Town Council. The Town Council election has only one candidate — but you can always protest vote, even though that doesn’t mean anything. While my home district has fewer issues on the ballot, my vote is much more pivotal in elections that are so close. The 10th Congressional Distr ict
has been represented by Republicans for 60 out of its 66 years and was a consistent Republican stronghold until the 2000s. In 2008, the district favored Barack Obama in his first presidential election, turning to narrowly support Mitt Romney in 2012. Though represented by a Republican, the district supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 and in 2017 elected the Northam-Fairfax-Herring camp to the highest offices in the state of Virginia — the first time in the district’s history of electing a Democrat for governor. No matter which way I’d vote, voting at home would carry a weight much more significant than voting in Blacksburg, where Democrat Anthony Flaccavento stands a less than 1 percent chance of winning to incumbent Republica n Morgan Griffith. This is not to diminish the efforts of running a strong oppositional campaign. Believe it or not, winning is not the only marker of a successful pol itica l ca mpa ig n. Especially in districts with long-tenured incumbents, mounting an oppositional campaign — even one that does not win — can have far-reaching implications for the future of that seat. I volunteered for a promising candidate, Don Shaw, for my home district’s House of Delegates seat in 2015. Apart from his policies promoting Medicaid expansion, equality and women’s rights, his background was important to the voters. A family man and U.S. Army and Air National Guard veteran deeply involved in his faith and children’s schools, Shaw was a solid candidate for us. A voter once asked me, “Does he love Jesus? That’s all that matters to me.” Though Shaw did not win the seat, he made a lasting impact on his community, h igh lighted impor ta nt policy issues and mobilized voters, which I would argue established a foundation for the following oppositional candidate — Danica Roem — to ultimately take the seat in 2017. The real toss-up this year is in central Virginia and parts of Spotsylvania,
Chesterfield and Henrico counties. Incumbent Dave Brat is challenged by former CIA operative Abigail Spanberger. This race has captured national attention, not necessarily for its incredibly close odds, but because of Congressman Brat’s feckless and chimerical equation of his opponent with Nancy Pelosi. Spanberger’s response was nothing short of brilliant, opening with “I question again whether Congressman Brat k n ows wh ich Democrat, in fact, he’s running against,” and ultimately closing with “Abigail Spanberger is my name!” I vote in my home district because the policies that affect my parents still affect me. The efficiency of the school board and whether teachers are paid fair living wages affects my closest friends and their families. Infrastructure spending affects how everyone gets around. Taxes and other regulations posed by local and state agencies still affect me because I maintain a permanent address there. While I have the capacity to weigh in on and affect policies back home, things in Blacksburg will continue to move forward. Issues here in the New River Valley are incredibly important to me; I just feel that I can do more with one vote there than I can with one vote here. BallotReady, an online tool to help voters prepare for elections, is a great place to get started to understand what’s on the ballot at any address. Some ballots, like this year’s ballot in Blacksburg, are pretty simple. Other ballots have pages of positions ranging from District Court judge seats, sher iff, county commissioners and even the county Soil and Water Conser vat ion Dist r ict Supervisor. All Virginia ballots have two referendums that are well-explained on BallotReady. I highly suggest reading about them there before you vote — whether in person or absentee.
JARRODD DAVIS • opinions contributor • senior, public and urban affairs
ANTHONY WU / COLLEGIATE TIMES Members of NextGen America/NextGen Virginia stand outside the GLC lawn to encourage students to register to vote by giving away free food or items as incentives, Sept. 25, 2018.
ETHAN CANDELARIO / COLLEGIATE TIMES A booth set up with paperwork to sign up to vote, April 20, 2018.
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Weekday elections act as means to suppress voters of low-income background People should not have to forgo participating in the electoral process just because they cannot afford to miss a day of work.
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hen the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed, it undoubtedly turned a page in American history. Attempts to hinder African Americans from voting, such as poll taxes and literacy tests, had finally been outlawed. However, some of us fail to realize that voter suppression is present in subtle forms today. On Nov. 6, 2018, people across the United States will go out and vote in the midterm elections. But for low-income individuals, voting is still a struggle in our country. Although many states have laws that prevent employers from punishing or firing employees for taking time off from work to vote, more than half of these states do not require paid leave. Some people simply cannot afford to take the day off and vote, making it easier for them to just go to work. Even in the states that require employers to grant leave, whether paid or unpaid, there is generally a time limit within which the employees must vote and come back. Those who live far from work and are registered to vote at sites closer to home are faced with numerous barriers when such restrictions are placed on the conditions under which they can leave work to vote. It may take too much time to commute to and from one’s designated polling site, the extra cost of transportation may be too heavy of a burden, and the lines at polling places may be longer than anticipated. If there is a chance that an employee cannot complete the voting process within
the time frame given by the employer and/or state, they may find it easier to stay at work than risk losing the money they need in order to survive. Furthermore, early voting is prohibited by seven states, and others either require an excuse or do not allow early voting to happen on weekends. For those who cannot afford to leave work on a weekday, the most reasonable option is to just
families. An astounding 46 percent of non-voters had a family income of under $30,000. It is likely that this number would be higher if low-income people did not have to leave their jobs to vote. Between weekday voting, voter identification laws and restrictions on early voting, voter suppression is alive and well in the United States. Our voting systems fail to accom modate
“ If we place obstacles in the way of pursuing basic
democratic rights such as voting, we cannot call ourselves an equitable nation.
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not vote, which decreases voter turnout. Most nations in the European Union hold elections on Sundays and they typically see higher voter turnout compared to the United States. Belgium had an 87.2 percent turnout of eligible voters in its last election. Sweden, Finland and Hungary, also nations with weekend voting, had a 70 to 80 percent turnout. Meanwhile, the 2016 United States presidential election had a 55.7 percent voter turnout, significantly lower than the aforementioned nations as well as other European countries that have elections on weekends. In 2014, a majority of people who did not vote cited a conflict with school or work as the reason for their failure to vote. Out of those identified as likely to vote, only 19 percent came from low-income
low-income families and individuals. Instead, these people are presented with barriers and are forced to choose between leaving work to vote or earning money to provide for themselves and their families. Voting should be accessible to everyone regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status, disability or gender. If we place obstacles in the way of pursuing basic democratic rights such as voting, we cannot call ourselves an equitable nation.
SMRITEE THAPA • opinions contributor • freshman, general engineering
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