Tufts Democrats

The Rise of a Democratic SuperMajority

Red, Brown, and Blue (with Shana Hurley and Brian Agler, and Tufts Republicans' Evan Lacher and Mike Hawley) - Mon, 04/27/2009 - 12:45pm

Hi all, I’ve been out of commission with oodles of work; the end of the year is fast approaching. but I figured I check back in quickly to point out something I’ve been noticing. With President Obama’s new decision to push immigration “reform,” I have begun detecting a worrisome pattern. Now, I must issue a disclaimer to those who will discount this as a conspiracy theory: I do not have any evidence that the following is in anyway consciously planned or connected. I merely wish to point out the cumulative effect that a series of Obama/Dem policies will have.

Since the inauguration, the newly dominant Democratic Party has embarked on a course, which, if successful, will almost certainly lead to a semi-permanent Democratic majority in the national government. I’m not talking so much about demographic shifts, which are used after almost every election to “prove” that one party or another has achieved a permanent numerical superiority. No, I’m talking about actions that are not a product of demographic or ideological shifts, but actions that will cause such shifts.

Now, nearly 50% of the country pays nothing or even receives a net gain from the income tax system. This means that there is nearly a majority of Americans with no personal incentive to keep income taxes down. Dems are pushing the card-check bill in Congress, the passage of which will lead to vast and rapid proliferation of unions across the country, almost irrespective of the desires of the workers themselves. This means that there will be a massive increase in the power of one of the Democrats’ most powerful lobbying and interest groups: the Unions. The Stimulus Bill’s coercion of states into permanently expanding their welfare roll means that more people will become reliant and used to government largesse. And, last, the new measure to legalize that estimated 12 million illegal immigrants into naturalized citizens, will mean 12 million new voters with a strong tendency to vote Democrat. All of these measures point in one direction: a new age of Democrat dominancy of the national culture.

I hope I’m wrong, and I hope these initiatives fail, but I foresee that if they do succeed, the Democratic Party will have succeeded in making itself almost impervious to challenge over the next decade.

-Mike

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

Connecticut Politics

Red, Brown, and Blue (with Shana Hurley and Brian Agler, and Tufts Republicans' Evan Lacher and Mike Hawley) - Thu, 04/23/2009 - 3:56pm

If, six months ago, you asked any Connecticut resident, including myself, whether or not Chris Dodd would serve another term as our Senator, the answer would almost certainly have been an unequivocal yes.  Even after his frankly idiotic bid for the Democratic nomination for president and the Countrywide mortgage scandal that he still claims to know nothing about, reelection for Dodd seemed a sure thing.  But then, as incumbents seem wont to do at times, Dodd went and got himself caught up in another, even worse scandal, this one related to the AIG bonus mess.

Even so, the Dodd name is so impenetrable in Connecticut politics (Chris’ father, Tom Dodd, served in Dodd’s seat before him).  Dodd seems committed to continuing on as Connecticut’s senior senator, but there is a growing list of potential challengers who want to see Dodd kicked to the curb.  From his own party, there is Roger Pearson, a Greenwich Democrat who once served as the town’s first selectman.  Pearson has already formed an exploratory committee to challenge Dodd for the Democratic nomination, but insiders give him little chance of unseating the longtime incumbent in a closed primary.

On the Republican side, however, big names are quickly lining up in order to get a chance to challenge Dodd in a general election.  The clear frontrunner at this point is former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, who represented me in the 2nd district until, with the help of many Tufts students, Joe Courtney (A’75) took out the incumbent in the closest race of the 2006 cycle, winning by a final count of 83 votes [disclaimer: I volunteered for both of Courtney's campaigns and interned in his district office in the summer of 2007].  After that narrowest of defeats, many expected Simmons to try again in 2008, but he stood aside to allow Sean Sullivan to challenge Courtney, and the results was a sweeping win for the incumbent.

Simmons right now is leading a crowded field, but not by much.  In the most recent poll, conducted by Research 2000 for the liberal blog DailyKos, Simmons ended up with 40% to Dodd’s 45%, and State Sen. Sam Caligiuri took 30% to Dodd’s 51%.  Most of the difference, it seems, comes from name recognition.  82% of those polled had no opinion of the lesser-known Caligiuri, who is a rising star in CT Republican ranks.  Beyond these two, who have both formally announced their candidacies, much speculation focuses on the likely candidacies of former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, Tom Foley, and 2004 Dodd challenger Jack Orchulli.

So is Chris Dodd a lame duck?  In the first quarter of this year, Dodd raised an impressive $600K+ total.  But…there’s a little more to the story.  Dodd raised only $4250 from 5 Connecticut residents, pulling everything else from out of staters.  This is troubling for a 30-year incumbent, to say the least.  This will likely be one of the most closely-watched senate races in the country in 2010, so stay tuned for updates.  Maybe Dodd will even give me a job on his campaign (probably only if he’s REALLY in trouble).

-Will Ehrenfeld

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

In case you didn't know, straight person...

Progressive Bellwether (by Beata Bujalska) - Thu, 04/09/2009 - 12:32am

Your FREEDOM is at risk because the nation is running rampant giving away crazy things to the gays - like RIGHTS and LIBERTIES. This is not what this nation was founded on.

Observe.

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

Education Reform

Red, Brown, and Blue (with Shana Hurley and Brian Agler, and Tufts Republicans' Evan Lacher and Mike Hawley) - Wed, 04/08/2009 - 10:55pm

Earlier this week I had a phone interview with a charter school, where I will hopefully be working for the summer.  So I got to thinking…what’s the best way to fix our schools?  Should we be working on reducing the achievement gap by opening new, more rigorous schools, or fixing the ones we have?

The bigger problem I came to, as I considered how to approach this interview, is how we even measure achievement and progress in fixing schools.  Are standardized test scores a reliable indicator of performance?  If we cant rely on No Child Left Behind to hold schools accountable, what else is there?  My own point of view is that multiple choice tests are pretty much worthless in terms of measuring achievement and in terms of actually teaching kids.  But if we try to measure essay responses across schools and even across the country, are grades comparable?  I would argue no.

This is probably hard to hear for students coming out of high school with sky-high SAT scores and who aced the Regents’ exam or the MCAS or whatever your state test is.  It took me awhile to balance my own skill at standardized tests with the unfairness they engender in students’ who don’t have all the benefits I had growing up.  Just because I did well on the SAT’s doesn’t mean they can be considered a reliable indicator of college success–although I’m doing pretty well in college, so there’s a bit of a correlation there.  But, as you will soon learn if you haven’t already, correlation does not equal causation.

So what’s the next step?  It seems like there are so many problems facing public education, especially in urban areas, that the path to fairness and equality is unreachable.  For a lot of successful people, especially those with decision-making power over schools, the suggestion that schools are failing is anathema to their own experiences and backgrounds.  There’s no chance that Barack Obama, Joe Biden, or Arne Duncan (Sec. of Education) ever attended a school that was subpar in the way that millions of students do every day in places like Boston, Hartford, the Bronx, Compton, and all over the country.  But the reality is that many public school students are struggling without access to the resources that the vast majority of Tufts students have always had.  Don’t believe me?  Pick up a Jonathan Kozol book; I recommend “Shame of the Nation”.

Like I said, solutions have been widely debated and it seems like at this point, everyone has agreed that fixing the school system will be too hard and should be postponed indefinitely.  I hope that changes soon, and along with the rest of the world, I have a great deal of hope in Pres. Obama.  I don’t have the answers, but if there is going to be a debate on here like I hope there will be, I want to set out groundrules.

1. Don’t recite tired party rhetoric.   School vouchers won’t fix anything and everybody knows it.  The Democrats barely have a policy, so I’m not criticizing the Republicans…but it doesn’t work.  Vouchers would steal money away from the failing school districts and create a vicious cycle of diminishing funds from poorly-performing schools which would eventually lead to massive school closings and a lack of access to quality education.

2. Be creative.  Right now there aren’t a lot of ideas on the table, at least in mainstream discussions.  Don’t be afraid to think outside the box in terms of potential fixes or adjustments you could make.  The problems are vast, so don’t limit your thinking to testing reform or isssues related to specific schools.

3. Don’t be a fatalist.  Public schools aren’t all bad (your classmates at Tufts have gone to the best public schools in the country).  Look to the good things you might know of from your own experience and think about how they might be transferrable to schools with less money available and fewer resources.

I’m looking forward to hearing from people about this topic.  And, like one of my professors here says often, everyone is an expert on education because you’ve all been there; everyone goes to high school so everyone has a perspective on it.  What’s yours?

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

Obama’s Trip

Red, Brown, and Blue (with Shana Hurley and Brian Agler, and Tufts Republicans' Evan Lacher and Mike Hawley) - Mon, 04/06/2009 - 3:57pm

So, President Obama is overseas and he appears quite popular.   However, and unfortunately for him, his popularity didn’t lead to any concrete results.  He may have been well received, but failed in his two goals:  to get Europe to commit to more stimulus spending and to get more nations to commit troops to our military efforts in Afghanistan.  Again, President Obama may have become more popular by talking about closing Guantanamo or by changing the “War on Terror” to the “Overseas Contingency Operation,” but those who hate us are just laughing as the G20 countries ignore his wishes (and some of our haters are testing rocket launches to boot!)

In other news, Congratulations to all members of the class of 2013!  I look forward to seeing you at April Open House!

-Dan

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

Horowitz On Academic Freedom

Red, Brown, and Blue (with Shana Hurley and Brian Agler, and Tufts Republicans' Evan Lacher and Mike Hawley) - Tue, 03/31/2009 - 8:26pm

So, last night was Tufts Republicans’ big event. We brought David Horowitz to campus to speak on the necessity of academic freedom. First the club took Mr. Horowitz out to dinner at Sagra’s. Afterward, we spoke in Barnum. The speech went well, and covered a variety of topics on the need for more balance in our universities. He discussed the fall of Larry Summers over at Harvard, the absurdity of the premises of many Women’s and Africana Studies Departments, and much more. The question and answer section went well, the questioners were respectful and there was some good debate, and after, Horowitz signed copies of his new book, “One Party Classroom”. We also made the front page of the Daily today, which combined with Horowitz’s appearance on the Howie Carr Show and my op-ed in the Tufts Daily yesterday, means TR got pretty good media coverage this week. I’ve still got lots of work to do, but my next post will be returning to my debate with Alex and Tim.

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

The A.I.G. Bonus Fiasco

Red, Brown, and Blue (with Shana Hurley and Brian Agler, and Tufts Republicans' Evan Lacher and Mike Hawley) - Wed, 03/25/2009 - 10:45pm

Apparently this is what’s on everybody’s mind.  AIG gave bonuses to some employees, bonuses that were promised to these employees months ago.  The total cost of the bonuses is somewhere around $165 million.  This is a lot of money, more than I can really even imagine.  It’s 1000 times more than my house is worth–if not more–it’s simply beyond my comprehension.  I can understand why people are upset about these seemingly lavish bonuses being handed out with taxpayer money.

But let’s get real: in Wall Street terms, $165 million is peanuts.  The government bailout of AIG is $173 billion.  It seems bigger if it’s written out:  that’s $173,000,000,000.  9 zeros.  Talk about incomprehensible amounts of money.  The congressional and populist furor over the bonuses is completely valid.  Anger is a legitimate response in the face of what surely seems like unbelievable audacity on the part of AIG.

As a result of the bonuses, Congress decided to levy a 90% tax on bonuses given out by companies receiving at least $5 billion from the bailout plan to individuals earning more than $250,000 annually.  The tax would apply retroactvely beginning December 2008.  So…it’s called a tax, and if passed by the Senate and signed by the President it would enter into the tax code, but…it would probably apply to just the AIG employees currently being lambasted in the media.  Now, I’m not an accountant, but are there many provisions in the tax code that only apply to a select group?  And are taxes often applied retroactively?  I imagine quite a bit of this money has already been spent.

In the abstract, it seems justifiable to take “our money” back from those bastards at AIG who helped run the national economy into the ground.  Those bonuses came from the taxpayers via the U.S. Treasury, and now the money is being used to, I don’t know, pay for private school tuition or the rent on a penthouse in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  All this while “real” Americans suffer during the downturn, living paycheck to paycheck (as long as they haven’t lost their jobs) and barely scraping by.  Where’s the accountability?  Why isn’t Tim Geithner, flanked by Ben Bernanke and Larry Summers (just imagine the tableau), barging into AIG and demanding that money be returned?

It’s an easy political position to take.  Everyone gets why the money should be returned, and it takes a lot of thought and abstraction to figure out why it might be of more use staying with its original recipient.  The truth is, most of the recipients of these bonuses are in no way responsible for AIG’s downfall, let alone the trouble in the larger economy.  Remember, AIG is principally an insurance company, so many of the bonuses went to insurance salespeople and fund managers and underwriters, all kinds of people who are far from the derivatives scheme that has essentially bankrupt the company.

So what do we do?  If I’m Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi or President Barack Obama, what should I do?  Some pundits talked about the “outrage meter,” suggesting that Obama in particular didn’t get angry enough.  Fact is, it’s not fair to the recipients of the bonuses to tax it at an outrageous rate.  The request from AIG CEO Edward Liddy and others that recipients return some or most f the money is a good one.  Responsible citizens would and should return the majority of the money, if not for ethical reasons then simply to avoid the public lynching that seems to await them if they are “outed.”  The government needs to exercise some oversight in the future–and here, the mistake is inexcusable given the long advance notice Treasury had about these bonuses.

The takeaway is, #1, bailout companies need to be fiscally responsible, although this can hardly be expected given most of the corporations’  track records–and how they ended up needing bailout money in the first place.   Secondly, the government needs to do two things: exercise every bit of its oversight and regulatory power and attach serious strings to any future bailout money and, very importantly, don’t get involved in populist rantings that endanger the trust these companies put into the government by accepting bailout money and dealing openly and honestly with the Treasury Dept.

Hopefully with these lessons, this kind of mess can be avoided in the future.  And if the Dow’s trajectory over the past two weeks is any indication–it probably isn’t, but if it is–perhaps we can wait until the next recession to get into these issues again.

-Will

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

Introducing Myself

Red, Brown, and Blue (with Shana Hurley and Brian Agler, and Tufts Republicans' Evan Lacher and Mike Hawley) - Tue, 03/24/2009 - 2:25pm

Hello, I did not introduce myself with my last post, so I will do it now. My name is Dan Hartman, I am a senior here at Tufts majoring in Economics and Political Science. I was the president of the Tufts Republicans last year, and have recently completed internships on the Romney for President campaign and most recently serving President George W. Bush as a White House intern. (My picture is not up on the header yet, but hopefully will be soon…)

Tufts is a great place and I encourage everyone reading this blog to feel free to speak your mind when you apply, as Tufts prides itself on differing points of view that challenge each other through vigorous debate and discussion.

If you live near Boston, please consider attending David Horowitz’s speech on Academic freedom this Monday, March 30 in Barnum Hall here at Tufts at 8:30 pm. It is hosted by the Tufts Republicans and everyone is welcome. He will be talking about how some professors at college try to indoctrinate students with their support of ideals such as socialism and extreme political correctness. Hope to see you there!

-Dan

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

2 Events

Red, Brown, and Blue (with Shana Hurley and Brian Agler, and Tufts Republicans' Evan Lacher and Mike Hawley) - Mon, 03/23/2009 - 10:59pm

Despite a March Break, I am completely swamped by work, so I’ll make this post short. Just before Break, Jumbos for Life, an organization whose e-board I am on, hosted Serrin Foster, the President of Feminists for Life. It was a great event, and I approved of Foster’s pro-life message. Counterintuitively, however, I do object to one major portion of her discussion. Foster argued that the fact that women feel “forced” to seek abortions due to lack of support (material, emotional, accomodational, etc.), reflects a defect in our society. She posited that the pro-life movement should focus on alleviating the concerns of the mother, by providing them with the money, resources, accommodations and support that they need, and that this should nearly eliminate abortion. 

First, let me begin by saying I don’t oppose a private effort to support pregnant mothers, in fact I laud them. But, I reject the implication that this is a necessary step to eliminating abortion. Foster’s unintentionally seems to depict a sort hostage situation: women wouldn’t kill their babies if only we would give them certain things. (It’s a twist on the typical hostage scenario of “give me what I want or I’ll kill your kid,” it’s “give me what I want or I’ll kill mine.) At any rate, I don’t believe society should have to bribe any individual not to commit murder. I approve of supporting women who have already chosen to keep their children, in a charitable manner. But, any quid pro quo strikes me as repugnant and as leading to perverse incentives.

On a lighter note, Tufts Republicans is bringing its annual speaker next Monday @8:30 in Barnum 008. David Horowitz will be speaking on the necessity of academic freedom as well as his own personal journey from leftist radical to conservative bulwark. I am greatly looking forward to this event and hope to see lots of people there.

-Mike

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

Finally…A Plan!

Red, Brown, and Blue (with Shana Hurley and Brian Agler, and Tufts Republicans' Evan Lacher and Mike Hawley) - Mon, 03/23/2009 - 7:30pm

After a week of distractions with politicians fighting each other to look more outraged than the other in regards to the AIG bonuses, we finally can move on to the real problem: toxic assets.

Secretary Tim Geithner, who I thought was going to do a good job, finally showed some signs of that today. He has finally proposed a plan to purchase the toxic assets that led to the economic downturn. He is getting private investors involved and I applaud the outreach. While I don’t know if this plan is the answer for the economy, it’s nice to see that the Obama Administration finally has a plan in place 4 months after being elected.

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

St. Paddy's (whoooo) Roshambo

Progressive Bellwether (by Beata Bujalska) - Tue, 03/17/2009 - 9:46am

That's evacuation day to you, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. By the way, try to cherish your beer, because Pennsylvania has NONE!

• It's a stand-off between Dodd and AIG.
• You can't always get what you want, Sanford!
• Cheney hates the Constitution.

Your editor has been trying to figure out that whole Palestine thing all morning (you know the one I'm talking about), so her head is not in the right place to report much more. Appease yourself:

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

Spring Break (whooo) Roshambo

Progressive Bellwether (by Beata Bujalska) - Mon, 03/16/2009 - 9:40am

Try to pay attention while passed out poolside in MEHHIICOOO.

• Ulcer suffering is up.
• Kathy Lopez trying to be relevant and sexy.
• Is Howard Kurtz aware of the "MTV-editing" concept?
• So, I'll be able to pay my rent later this year....

Meghan "Daugher of Walnuts" McCain has porkphobia.

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

Hello and Introduction

Red, Brown, and Blue (with Shana Hurley and Brian Agler, and Tufts Republicans' Evan Lacher and Mike Hawley) - Mon, 03/09/2009 - 10:22pm

After realizing that this blog has quickly turned into Mike Hawley’s private soapbox for his crazy rantings, I decided that I have to get on here, if only for a brief post.  Also, I suppose I should introduce myself as that new guy on the Left of the banner (the good-looking one).  I’m Will Ehrenfeld, class of 2010, and as you may have guessed, I’ll be representing the Democratic point of view here.   A little more about myself: I’m twenty years old and originally from Vernon, Connecticut, which is a town of about 27,000, located in Eastern Connecticut, about halfway between Hartford and the University of Connecticut.  Vernon is home to another famous Democratic Jumbo (in addition to me); 2nd district congressman and family friend Joe Courtney is a Tufts Alum (A75) and neighbor.  I’m a double-major in political science and peace & justice studies (ask me about it!) and I’m involved in a bunch of clubs on campus, including the Tufts Democrats.  I blog occasionally at a few other sites–some you may have heard of, like Daily Kos and MyDD, others are a bit less prominent, like MyLeftNutmeg.com, which focuses on Connecticut politics, and one I’m sure you’ve never heard of: my personal blog, which among other things will contain cross-posts from here and from my column in the Tufts Daily–always an interesting, if rabble-rousing addition to campus news.

I will briefly get in to my political background and, yes, philosophy, although Mike certainly knows after taking Western Political Thought II with me a year ago that he’s much more knowledgeable and interested about that subject than I am.  I first got seriously involved in Democratic politics in the leadup to the 2006 cycle, just before my freshman year at Tufts.  At this point, my now-congressman Joe Courtney was an up-and-coming challenger to incumbent Republican Rob Simmons.  I volunteered for the campaign a few times over the summer, but when I got to school I was quickly distracted by the million and one things going on during the first few weeks of anyone’s freshman year.  One day I fortuitously saw a flyer advertising a Tufts Democrats’ campaign trip to Connecticut to campaign for the Courtney campaign, and I eagerly attended the first meeting and ended up going on a few trips to my home district to campaign.  We were able to attend the results-watching party, held right in my hometown, but it ended up not being much of a party at all.  The results were agonizingly close, and it was only weeks later that Courtney pulled out a razor-thin 83-vote margin of victory.  

After this, I was hooked.  I started to follow political news more closely, reading mainstream newspapers, watching cable news and reading and contributing to a few blogs.  And then, one thing led to another, I led the charge at Tufts for President Barack Obama’s primary victory, and here we are today.  In the hopes of not boring you all too much with my first post (and also getting back to writing that mid-term…), I think I’ll leave it at that.  Look forward to future posts on issues such as education reform and NCLB, healthcare, and whatever else comes up in the news.

-Will

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

Reconciling America (Ha!)

Progressive Bellwether (by Beata Bujalska) - Sun, 03/01/2009 - 1:40am

I caught Alexandra Pelosi's Right America: Feeling Wronged today. While I wouldn't hail it as particularly enlightening (I was there, on the frontlines, listening to these comments), it is still schocking to hear some of the commentary, and the hatred, and incredible pride some people take in their sheer ignorance.

But I wouldn't be completely forthright if I didn't admit to noticing one thing in the film: the stages of grieving, front and center. Once it becomes obvious that the McCain Straight-talk Express is headed to fly off a cliff, his supporters go into denial, fall into depression, or - worst of all - become very angry. The grieving process really does pop up in a plethora of situations.

While it is true that the rampant use of the N word is not endemic to the South (as pointed out by an astute gentlemen who scorned Pelosi in the film), it is very particular that huge crowds collectively use it in sentences such as "I would never vote for that ni**er." The hositility is thick and it's tough to think that these people could actually accept a black president. And that makes me worry.

But I've said this before, and I will keep saying it - there are many genuinely great people here in this nation. And for every scary, ignorant, hostile person, there are ten caring individuals who are willing to fight for the rights of those who need to have their concerns voiced (yep - THE GAYS!).

Excuse me whle I go spread the Democratic, anti-family agenda.

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

Sesame Street and conservative views

Progressive Bellwether (by Beata Bujalska) - Fri, 02/27/2009 - 1:09am

To paraphrase the great and legendary Dan Scarvs, if it sounds like Jindal is speaking to fourth graders in his speech, that's because he is. Because those are the people who might feasibly vote for a Republican again.

This is the person who, after Palin, is being called the new face of the Republican party. Anyone with half a brain knows what's going on here lately. African-American leader of the RNC. Indian-American conservative governor of Louisiana. The woman from Alaska. The Republicans, tapped out of talking points and left only with trite platitudes, are turning towards the road of diversity. Too bad that they are failing to gain perspective from this venture. A wolf in sheep's clothing is still a wolf. Especially if it can't control its growl.

I want to play a game. Give me your favorite phrase from the speech. Mine? "Eruption of spending." Leave it to a sexy Republican to spice up the economic crisis.

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats

Been a While, eh?

Blog Without Preconditions (by Matt McGowen) - Fri, 02/20/2009 - 6:52pm

So first in a LONG time guys, sorry about that. Been UBERbusy this semester. But I'm here to tell you all about what's up for me next weekend:

POWERSHIFT '09.

Yeah that's right, an environmental conference. It's legit.

There's conferences and lobbying and stuff. Some of the things on my mind:

-Getting "clean coal" off the table: it simply does not make sense.
-Pushing for less oil drilling, haha like that's gonna happen.
-And gaining support from my congressman, Delahunt, for the Cape Wind project.

There's going to be a blog for the whole team (that will be hypertext pretty soon btw), and you can look forward to me writing here more often too.

So thanks for your patience!

Categories: Election Coverage from The Tufts Democrats