Page One

Popular knowledge pigeonholes our nation’s young adults as being both ignorant and apathetic when it comes to politics – not that they’d know or care.  

Yet despite the empty-headed slacker image thrust upon anybody too young to clearly remember the 1969 World Series, quite a few young adults do indeed care about the political future of our nation.  

A group of 40 or so UC Berkeley students who fit the above criteria squeezed into the ASUC senate chambers in Eshleman Hall Thursday afternoon for a Cal Democrats/Berkeley College Republicans-sponsored event billed as a “debate and dinner.” And while Cal Dems and BCR couldn’t deliver on the “debate” portion (their chosen debaters were unable to attend), after an hour the pizza man did indeed show up, to the bipartisan delight of all.  

Stuck with an hour to fill and no scheduled speakers, Cal Dems president Andy Katz and BCR head Robb McFadden decided to turn the floor over to the audience, kicking off a loosely-moderated panel discussion.  

The students, who, perhaps unwittingly seemed to seat themselves accordingly on the left and right sides of the room, touched on the benefits and negatives of both parties’ candidates, as well as arguing the finer points of gun control, capital punishment, campaign finance reform and the Supreme Court.  

As might be expected, the highly contentious issue of gun control elicited sharp feelings from both sides. In a bit of a surprise, however, every acknowledged Republican present admitted he or she differed with the NRA, and wished to see some sort of gun control instituted.  

“As terrified as we all may be by NRA members – and I know if I see Ted Nugent knocking on my door with his bow and arrow, I’m gonna run. NRA members are not murderers. You only have to fear NRA members if you’re a deer, and last I checked, deer do not vote,” said junior Westy Donohue.  

“Can gun control keep kids or people who are unfamiliar with guns from killing themselves – which is the No. 1 cause of gun death? Yes. Can it prevent crime? No.” 

Democratically leaning students argued coddling the NRA allows guns to fall into the hands of supposedly normal people who may later undertake deranged activities, and pointed to the Columbine High massacre as an example. They also mocked George W. Bush’s institution of voluntary gun lock programs in Texas.  

“Unless it has a sign reading ‘no guns,’ in Texas you can take a gun into a church, temple or mosque,” said Katz. “I like the Democrats because the people they take money from aren’t as scary.” 

Continuing the gun control debate, Donohue claimed that it wasn’t the duty of the executive branch of government to prevent people’s stupidity. Sitting across the room, freshman Patrick Hammon disagreed.  

“I think it is if the stupidity effects all of us,” said Hammon. “You have to be 16 years old to be licensed to drive because the consequences of allowing younger people to drive would effect us all.” 

Finally, freshman Brad Hamburger pointed out that both parties are associated with less than upstanding donors.  

“If you look at the campaign finance issue, it’s bad on both sides. Al Gore is very hypocritical to make that the first agenda on his list,” said Hamburger. “And Gore has money from the Chinese. They support guns – they like to shoot their own people!” 

While the students were, on the whole, notably intelligent, well-spoken and emotionally under control, the debate lacked somewhat because both sides were preaching to the respective choirs. The Democrats and Republicans certainly weren’t going to pluck voters from the other sides, or even win concessions for that matter. What’s more, many of the Democrats and Republicans, while supporting their candidates, were not overly enthusiastic in their support. After the pizza arrived and the debate transformed into a mixer, several liberal and conservative-leaning students admitted they were toying with the idea of casting their votes for Ralph Nader.  

Still, the sight of students of such obviously differing views laughing, joking and exchanging high-fives over pizza and sodas was a heartening one. After all, could Michael Kinsley and Pat Buchanan behave so maturely?