The George Washington College Democrats

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By Esther Agbaje

As the leaves change their colors in Washington, DC, the College Democrats of the George Washington University will be on their way to the sunny state of Florida.

The October campaign trip to support Sen. John Kerry in his bid for the presidency will be sponsored by the League of Conservative Voters.

Orlando, FL and its many undecided independent voters will be the focus of this trip. The LCV is planning to encourage people to vote for Kerry because Pres. Bush has the worst environmental record for any president, according to their findings. The League of Conservative Voters is a non-partisan and non-profit organization that serves as the “political voice of the national environmental movement.”

They are also dedicated to shaping a pro-environmental Congress and White House, they claim on their website.

They are based out of Washington, DC and have establishments in most states across the country.

The National Environmental Scorecard and the Presidential Report Card that evaluates the environmental polices and records of various legislators is compiled and released by the LCV. Since 1970 they have been evaluating each Congress.

The Scorecard represents a consensus of 20 respected environmental groups and organizations. They decide which environmental bills were the most important in a year and how each member of Congress voted on these environmental issues that range from energy to conservation.

Kerry received 92% in their last Congressional scorecard report while Bush received their first ever ‘F’. The President is evaluated in the middle of his term in office on how well he maintains his environmental campaign promises.

“The Bush administration has constantly put corporate interests ahead of American interest when it comes to protecting the environment,” is their statement found on the LCV website. During campaign seasons the LCV usually endorses Congressional candidates, but for this election that had to make an exception.

While in Florida, they will try their hardest to ensure that Kerry wins Florida’s electoral votes on Election Day. To rally support for Kerry they will talk to undecided voters about the issues and where Kerry stands.

Environmental issues will be their biggest subject, but they will also talk about Kerry’s plans for health care, education, social security, and the war.

“We’re going to be talking to voters about what’s important to them and what issues matter to them,” said Stacey Garfinkle, a college recruiter with the LCV.

The LCV plans to sponsor field campaigns in New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin before the election.

The trip covers the weekend of October 21-24, students will be traveling by bus. Transportation and housing is provided by the LCV, but students will need to provide for their food and entertainment.

By Caitlin Cahil

The George Washington University was host to Sen. Edwards kennedy (D-MA) on the morning of September 27. The senator gave a foreign policy address concerning the war in Iraq in the Jack Morton Auditorium. The event, which university president Stephen Joel Trachtenberg refered to as, “a part of the broad educational experience at GW,” attracted a diverse audience. Students from all grade levels, including graduate students attended the event, alongside GWU professors and other politicians. While some students came with a general interest in hearing Kennedy speak, others came specifically to hear more on the war in Iraq. “I know a lot about [U.S.] domestic policy, but I don’t know much about the war in Iraq, other than I hate it,” said graduate student Laura Kyser. Kennedy referred to the war in Iraq as a “misguided war of ignorance, arrogance, and stubborn ideology,” and specified 13 reasons why President Bush has not made America safer. He remarked that that the Bush administration has bungled every aspect of the war. By first misleading the American People into the war with lies of nonexistent weapons of mass destruction and Iraq/Al-Qaida ties. He mismanaged the war with a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach and finally mishandled the reconstruction effort, are the reasons Kennedy cites. Kennedy also spoke of the United States’ loss of friends in die international community and within the “coalition of the willing”, which he says has become the “coalition of the dwindling”. In addition to being a foreign policy address, Kennedy’s speech often shifted focus to domestic issues, particularly the upcoming election. He called this a defining moment for the United States of America because of the need for new leadership. The Bush campaign has often referred to Sen. John Kerry as a ‘flip-flopper”. Kennedy countered this by calling Bush the “world record holder of flip-flopping”. His address was at times more politics man policy, but Kennedy’s message was clear: America is not safer today than it was four years ago, and “the only thing America has to fear is four more years of George Bush.”

By Esther Agbaje

Luther Lowe and three friends from The College of William and Mary, who wanted to run for City Council to make laws more student friendly, were denied their voter registration in Williamsburg, VA because of unreasonable residency requirements.

The incident was reported to the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund who looked into their case. LCVEF found that the judge in Williamsburg was arbitrarily granting or denying students’ voter registration.

Students all over the country have been encountering barriers in their college towns that prevent them from registering to vote was the issue addressed at the September 22 LCVEF press conference. In some cases the barriers imposed on students were racially motivated.

Prairie View Texas A&M, a historically black college and university, had students that were denied the right to register in Waller County, TX, a predominately white area. The most recent incident occurred in February 2004 when students wanted to vote in the local county elections.

Their NAACP chapter filed a lawsuit against Waller County on its 2003 statement that university students were not eligible to vote in county election, reports LCVEF.

Tonya Clay, Deputy Director for People for the American Way Foundation, who went to help the students of Prairie View, said that once students were granted eligibility to register they were again met with barriers that kept them from early voting.

Waller County allows early voting for three days, but after the incident they reduced their early voting to one day. Another lawsuit was filed. Students now want to have a polling station on their campus for the 2004 national election, but they are again met with challenges.

“They are being denied that ability for no apparent reason,” said Clay.

In 2000 over 4 million people were disenfranchised voters reports Election Protection, a voter protection organization, which was established in 2001.

“This is an affront to the core of democratic principles,” said LCV President Deb Callahan.

Rock the Vote has put out a list that dispels myths that students hear when it comes to registering to vote in their college town. Students can claim their college dorm as their primary residence, and federal law prohibits students from being treated any differently than other citizens, says Rock the Vote.

There are many groups that are taking up the cause of student voting to make prevent problems with registering and voting come November.

By Matt Amon

The Rushmore State will again host the hottest Senate campaign in the country this year. Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-SD) is squaring off against former Republican Congressman John Thune. While smug Washington GOP talking heads prophesies an easy victory for Thume, many predict that he will lose again. He will lose because he has adopted a national GOP strategy that will not work in a fiercely independent state like South Dakota. I contend that there is a serious divergence between national and local GCP priorities and that an overt focus on the national agenda will cost Thune the race because he ignored the local agenda. In 2002 every Republican House and Senate contender followed the President’s pitch, lock and step. Whether you were in New York or Iowa, the message was the same: “Hello, my name is (insert name here) and I support President Bush’s agenda on XYZ.” National and ideological unity has been a bulwark of the Republican Party since the 1994 Contract with America. The strategy has been successful for the most part with the notable exception of the Dakotas. The same Republican Party of States’ rights and local control cannot seem to grasp that South Dakotans are independent voters and do not fit into a national strategy. The GOP energy policy focuses on oil and coal but forgets that midwesterners favor bio-diesel, wind, and ethanol energy. The Neo-conservative Hawks want military intervention across the world but forget that it is our local national guardsmen who bear the biggest burdens of their delusions of empire. The GOP economists favor big businesses and forget that the backbone of America’s heartland is our small farmer, co-op, and shopkeeper not ConAgra and Wal-Mart. Thune’s loyalty to the President and Ins agenda often conflicts with South Dakota’s agenda. When South Dakota requested drought relief and the President opposed it, Thune was silent. When the President’s budget gave only paltry funding for ethanol development, Thune was silent. When the President’s highway budget punished South Dakota, Thune was silent. He is silent because he follows Reagan’s rule that Republicans not attack other Republicans. Republicans put their faith in their unity. They forget that America is a diverse nation full of divergent interests. South Dakotans want real leadership and care very little about party. This is the state that voted for both Richard Nixon and George McGovern. South Dakotans want a Senator not beholden to any ideology or movement that is not its own. Daschle is that Senator. Contrary to what you may hear on Fox News, he is very much in tune with state and local interests. Daschle will win this election because the Democratic Party not only recognizes that America has divergent interests but embraces that diversity. Democrats can tailor their message to fit their locality be it more liberal or more moderate. Daschle can stray from the party line with much more ease than Thune can from his. When you combine tins flexibility with the Senator’s outstanding record of performance for South Dakota’s needs, it does not take a graduate degree in political science to predict a Democrat win in South Dakota tins year.

By John R. Brennan

America has been given a gift. The 2004 race for President is in a dead heat with the country divided along party lines in a way unparalleled in decades past. The future of the America and the world at large lunges on this choice, a choice the American people get to make, for President. In a time like this, the public should be debating over the issues surrounding this election. However, this is not on the mind of the American people and it is they who will pay the price. What is on the mind of the American public is what took place over three decades ago. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts volunteered for service in the Navy during the war in Vietnam. He served four months as commander of a swift boat, during and after which, he was awarded a Bronze and Silver Star as well as three Purple Hearts for his service performed and injuries incurred. President George W. Bush served in the National Guard in Texas and Alabama as a pilot and afterwards he was discharged early. The United States of America is currently the proprietor of a deficit of $445 billion according to the 2005 Budget Projections published by the White House, with a national debt coming in at about $6.76 million. The unemployment rate is 5.4%, says die Bureau of Labor Statistics, and people are more worried over who performed better 30 years ago. The Bush administration finds the numbers above to be encouraging. As their budget outlines, the projected deficit was actually $521 billion, never mind the fact that they inherited a $70 billion surplus. Unemployment is increasing. 144,000 new jobs having been created in the month of August alone, however no one will hear the Republican machine mention that for all of the workers laid off the ones who get new jobs are earning an average of $9,000 less per year than before, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment has increased every year throughout the Bush administration. What is worse is the way in which Bush has sought to improve the situation. He has created tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans. Corporations also receive a tax cut, which allows them to export jobs to cheap labor markets in developing countries, leaving more Americans jobless. As Congresswomen Louise Slaughter (D-NY) illustrated at her speech to the GW College Democrats on September 22, the real unemployment rate is higher than the 5.4% estimated by die Department of Labor. Unemployment is calculated by using the numbers of those receiving government unemployment benefits, which only last for six months. All of the people who are unemployed for a longer amount of time are not accounted for in the unemployment calculation, she said Will the government under Bush come to the aid of these put out of work by his policies? “I support welfare reform that $6 billion a month to fund this endeavor, not to mention the one thousand American men and women who have died in Iraq, while the President accuses John Kerry of being a flip-flopper As students and citizens, do not get caught up in the quarrels over die Vietnam records and the AWOL reports The importance of this election cannot rest on the pundits, whether they are on NPR or our own School of Media and Public Affairs strengthens family and requires work,” was his answer to the question in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. If there is no work to be found, how can one work? If welfare will Such trivial issues are not fit for the Democratic Party or American Democracy. Pay attention to the issues and inform others. We have been given an opportunity as Americans and students to make a difference, which is way too valuable to pass up. not be provided unless one finds the jobs that are not there, how will they support themselves and their families? At which point of this plan does the President see families being strengthened? Let us not forget the war, a war whose cause was changed by the administration once it was clear that the original motives were false. The American people are paying