Students lined the back of the auditorium and stood in the doorway Wednesday night in order to hear the second installment of “Carolina Clash” between USC College Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians.
The College Democrats were able to speak first, and immediately defined their parts as one of opportunity, equality and prosperity. Nick Sottile of College Democrats criticized Republicans for being “out of touch” and Libertarians for being “even more out of touch,” “only good in theory” and “unrealistic.”
“I’m a Democrat because Democrats are different,” said Sottile, a third-year political science student. “Democrats offer a path forward. These other guys offer a path backward."
College Republicans, according to member Brett Harris, is about limited government, conservatism and following the “model originally set up for America.” He criticized their Democratic opponents by referencing their current tenure in federal office.
USC College Libertarian Ross Abbott addressed the other parties’ “misunderstanding of libertarianism.” He instead defined his party as one of social acceptance and fiscal responsibility.
“Libertarianism is the extreme idea that government should stop you from hurting people and taking your stuff and nothing else. I don’t know why that’s so crazy,” Abbott said. “To quote the young Jeezy, you do you, I do me.”
“Would you send your brother to war?”
Thirteen years after the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, terrorism is still such a big enough focus in this debate to be mentioned in the first question.
The College Democrats opened by saying that the country has a duty to respond when American citizens are harmed.
“I support what we are doing in Syria now and the president’s response to it,” Sottile said. “I do not think we can turn our backs on the world. We have to remain on the world stage.”
The Republicans countered by saying that, although the U.S. should protect its assets, they are not in favor of airstrikes in the way they have been executed so far.
In fact, they continued by blaming the current government for the situation the U.S. is now facing in terms of terrorism.
“The whole reason ISIS even exists is because our president circled a date on the calendar and decided that this was the day we would pull out troops,” said Harris, a second-year political science student. “He pulled out for political reasons, not strategic reasons.”
While the Republicans and Democrats focused their responses on ISIS and Syria, the College Libertarians decided to address the war on terror as a whole because “next week it will probably be a different country.”
Abbott said that the war on terror is fighting a cycle of violence, and mentioned what he believes to be several mistakes the U.S. has made in the past in foreign relations.
“They have very good reason to have disdain towards the United States,” Abbott said. “We either need to break the cycle of violence or accept perpetual bloodshed.”
Michael Rose of the College Libertarians, adding to Abbott’s response, directed a question to the Democrats: “Would you send your brother to war?”
“I think this is not a conflict for American boots on the ground. It has to be solved in the region,” Sottile said in response. “But I think we should all consider serving our country in war.”
A threat of 111 pounds
The next question related to privacy. The Democrats had the opportunity to open once again.
“We live in a dangerous world … I think we need to give the government the tools it needs to protect us,” Sottile said. “The NSA has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives.”
The Libertarians said the U.S. government needs to follow the Constitution and stop going “against our own citizens.”
“That’s against everything I as an American citizen believe in,” said Rose, a third-year information science student. “We can’t let the government peel away our rights like a banana leaving us naked.”
The College Republicans concurred, and added on to what the Libertarians said.
“The NSA has gone way beyond its scope of limits it was ever intended to go. There is no realm in which that’s okay,” Harris said. “I weigh 111 pounds. If I am the biggest threat that America has, then America is going to be just fine.”
Cutting grandma’s entitlements
The next question was related to entitlement programs.
According to the College Libertarians, entitlement programs compose 70 percent of the federal budget each year. The U.S. would still be in debt if all programs except entitlement were cut, and Social Security is expected to end before we can get it.
The Libertarians used these statistics to argue that entitlement programs are not financially sustainable, and they said that citizens need to start working to make a change now.
“We know it’s difficult to tell grandma her benefits are getting cut, and that’s not asking you to,” said Abbott, a third-year economics and business management student. “We can start today, by raising the retirement age as one example.”
The Democrats said that entitlement programs are working, and advocated for removing the cap on incomes.
“We’re the most powerful, richest nation in the world. I think we can afford to help our poorest citizens,” Sottile said. “When it comes to food stamps, this is not only a moral imperative, but also an economic benefit. These so-called entitlements are earned by workers.”
Nadia Sims, also a representative of the College Democrats, said that she has experience with entitlement programs.
“Republicans keep saying these programs don’t work. I’m proof that these programs work,” said Sims, a second-year political science student. “My mom was raising four kids by herself. We needed these programs. They work."
Making a choice
When the question on women’s reproductive rights was read, an audible uproar went through the crowd.
The College Democrats said that women should have the right to do whatever they want with their bodies.
College Republicans and Libertarians agreed on the concept of choice, but argued that government should not be floating the bill for it.
Republican representatives Harris and Anna Chapman, a third-year political science student, said that the Republican party is becoming “a bit more realistic” and that the “Rick Perry generation has gotten this completely wrong.”
Clemson or South Carolina?
When Abbott asked the audience how many people lived closer to Clemson than the University of South Carolina and saw a large number of people raise their hands, they asked them to imagine the government forcing them to attend Clemson rather than USC.
“That’s our current system. You go where you happen to live near,” Abbott said. Abbott said he believes in education vouchers that allow students to choose their school.
Sims said College Democrats support “equal and quality education to everyone,” and that vouchers can only go so far. Sims and Sottile said the U.S. needs to make smart investments.
USC Republicans agreed that funding right now is not working, but argued that schools should be more deregulated.
"It traps people in a cycle of poverty that they can’t really get out of,” Harris said. “We believe that schools within a state should be funded equally.”
Harris also said the government needs to improve infrastructure for schools.
“Technology is really, really lacking in certain parts of this country,” Harris said. “I’ve been all over this country, and there are parts of this country that resemble the third world.”
Closing remarks
Although the political parties disagreed on many issues throughout the debate, they could all agree that they were impressed by the number of students who came out for the debate.
“At the end of the day, we all want what’s best for this country. We just have different ideas of how to get there,” Harris said. “I think putting party before country is part of the reason we’ve gotten to where we are. We are Americans first, parties second.”
The College Democrats closed the debate by encouraging students to go to the polls on Tuesday to help create the changes discussed over the past two hours.
“The biggest and greatest thing about that is we have so many people here,” Sims said. “We want change, we want progress, and I’m pretty sure all of the parties here can agree on that.”