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Letter to the Editor

President of UD College Republicans

Published: Monday, September 6, 2010

Updated: Monday, September 6, 2010 16:09

The College Democrats are running scared.  They refused to debate the College Republicans this fall, even though there is a critical election this November.

I recently spoke with the active president of the university's chapter of College Democrats, and he informed me that the College Democrats "don't have time in [their] schedule before the November election to hold a debate with the College Republicans."

We received this response despite the fact that we spoke to them before the school year began and despite our tradition of holding a semesterly debate! What could the reason be? Is it the Democratic Party's 10-point deficit on the general ballot? Is it because the College Republicans are one of the fastest growing groups on campus, and the College Democrats membership has declined since the 2008 election?

The invitation to debate is still open to the College Democrats, and we welcome an open and honest conversation about policy if they are interested. In fact, we can do all the scheduling and advertising. All they need to do is show up.

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9 comments

Condemn Jihad
Fri Sep 17 2010 08:46
Amy
Jihadies are killing any hope of civil discussion. American troops are being killed and Democrats don't seem to care. Maybe things would be better if the Democrats had't helped to elect a Muslim educated President.
Anonymous
Thu Sep 9 2010 02:48
thanks steve, it's nice to see a little truth every once in a while
Bill Humphrey
Wed Sep 8 2010 21:27
To the person who complained about our commitment in Pennsylvania, I have to point out that we're doing ONE day of work there (we ruled out doing more than that outside DE) and every other event/activity is in the state of Delaware, including at least one major event on campus. Our schedule is expanding every week, so we will be doing things on almost every day of the week pretty soon. None of your arguments hold water. We have already agreed to uphold the tradition of an annual debate, and we haven't ruled out a debate in November or December. What's the problem? We've been trying to maintain a cordial relationship with the College Republicans up to this point, as is tradition, and you're working against that.
Anonymous
Wed Sep 8 2010 19:38
I think that the tenor of this article is antithetical to the goals of both organizations. I'm a junior now, but I remember through the 2008 election how the College Democrats and College Republicans maintained a conciliatory relationship. This letter simply comes off as hostile.

The promotion of political activism on campus is a joint venture that involves mutual respect on behalf of both parties. As someone who wants to see more political activism on campus, this letter from the Repubs is deeply saddening.

Steven J. Strang
Wed Sep 8 2010 18:38
I find the idea of Democrats and Republicans debating each other amusing. What is there to debate? Both parties support massive government spending and the erosion of civil liberties in order to advance their own statist agenda. Republicans put forth pro-capitalist rhetoric, but their actual record betrays their claim to being advocates of free markets.

The Republican Party--under the control of neocons--has no qualms at all about spending billions of dollars to fund unjust wars. They also don't oppose using the coercion of government to regulate behavior they deem immoral. As for the Democrats, it's a redundancy to point out that they have no problem spending other people's money in order to fulfill their statist agenda. Whether it's wealth redistribution, violating property rights by, for instance, prohibiting smoking in restaurants, or arbitrarily deciding how far a McDonald's is allowed to be near a school in the name of combatting obesity, Democrats believe there is nothing the State should not involve itself in.

It's time for people to recognize that the false left-right dichotomy is no longer relevant. Both Republicans and Democrats are essentially the same; while they quibble about specifics, they are fundamentally in support of the same goal: to provide the government more power in order to achieve their agenda. Neither party truly supports individual rights. If individual rights and free markets are at all important to you, you'll find yourself in better company among libertarians.

Anonymous
Wed Sep 8 2010 11:36
I think the college democrats are just afraid and the fact that there leaving for pa and not focusing all their attention on Delaware means they have given up in Delaware. The college republicans have events scheduled almost every day with the Mike Castle campaign, Michelle Rollins campaigns and many more local campaigns. The College Republicans are focusing on Delaware, which can help this state and our school a lot better then an election in PA. I know for a fact there are many students in this club that are interning and working for these campaigns to the wee hours of the night. However, these people want to have a debate to get the campus knowledgeable about the election. I believe both parties are going for the student vote which as we saw in 08 was very important. So i still fine it hard to believe that the college democrats do not want to get their message out to campus and to try to win people over to their side. And to the excuse that they have two events scheduled each week what about the other five days of the week?
Democratzi
Wed Sep 8 2010 01:30
The Democrats wont show up because they are to busy running the country in the dirt.

Democrats will be run out of office in November and should be tried for treason in December.

Democrats are pathetic un American pukes who aid Americas enemies.

Amy Kilgallin, Former Vice President, College Democrats
Tue Sep 7 2010 20:31
The thing I used to like about the political groups at UD is that although there were different opinions, there never seemed to be hostility. Members of the College Republicans and College Democrats would hold very different political beliefs, but in the end could come together and be friendly around campus. In fact, a few years back the Presidents of both groups were roommates!

I am saddened by the personal attacks here. I don't think Republicans and Democrats need to hold hands and sing kumbaya, but the kind of rhetoric displayed here goes against the political tradition at the University of Delaware.

Bill Humphrey
Tue Sep 7 2010 14:53
Here is our full reply, in case my letter to the editor is truncated:

The tenor and accuracy of the College Republicans' recent letter to The Review (9/6/10) left much to be desired. CR President Dan Boselli invented some interesting possible excuses for why the College Democrats are unable to debate them before the November election, while dismissing our stated position that we do not have time.

Even a cursory check of our events calendar (available at uddemocrats.org) would show that this stated reason is in fact correct. We have at least two events already scheduled each week from the start of the semester to the November election, most of which involve volunteering in DE or PA for Democratic candidates. Our organizational priority, as outlined in our constitution, is working to elect more Democratic candidates, and this is a major election, as his letter notes. While debates with the College Republicans are nice, they are not immediately useful in the real world.

More interestingly, while Boselli complains that the College Dems are flouting a "tradition of holding a semesterly debate" - one of which I am not aware - this is not technically true. As he even quotes from my email, we are unable to debate them "before the November election," which is about a month and half before the end of the semester. I never precluded the possibility of a debate this semester, and I specifically agreed to arrange a spring debate, as is tradition, but received no reply. Why would I, a strong debater, duck a debate if we had time?

Sincerely,
Bill Humphrey
President, College Democrats
9/7/10







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