Correction Appended
The College Republicans and Democrats exchanged words mostly along party lines on Wednesday night in a debate about the $787 billion stimulus package and President Obama's proposed heath care plan.
"Republicanism is about you and I," said David Lindgren, a freshman in the School of International Service and one of the debaters for the College Republicans. "It is about self-responsibility."
Maia Tagami, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and debater for the College Democrats, rebutted Lindgren's argument.
"That's only true if you're a wealthy, white male," she said.
While the College Democrats praised the government for taking action with the recent stimulus package and support Obama's health care proposal, the College Republicans said they were wary that the government's plans will not produce the projected results.
Differences in opinions were not reserved to the debaters. Some of the audience members said they had their minds made up on the issues before the debate even started.
"I came to support my side," said Michael Monrroy, a member of the College Republicans and sophomore in SPA.
Will Haun, a senior in SPA and debater for the College Republicans, said when it comes to health care, he agrees with Obama on some things.
"I think that Obama is right in principle," he said. "I think we do need a system that provides a shopping mall of options ... I totally agree with that. I think where the plan would go wrong would be the pressure to apply a public plan."
Obama's health care plan would provide public health care for those Americans who currently do not have health care, while giving those who already have health care through a private provider the option to stay with their private provider or sign up for the public plan, according to Obama's presidential campaign Web site.
Haun said he is concerned the government is making promises it can't keep and is concerned that Obama's plan will allow the government to "set the rules and play the game" at the same time.
Quinn Hurdle, a debater for the College Democrats, said this is not the case.
"Obama's plan is not collectivization like the Soviet Union," she said. "His plan calls for simply expanding existing programs in addition to allowing for innovation in a free market system."
Haun said he was concerned about the cost of Obama's plan.
"It says that it can provide everyone with universal health care, but what it doesn't tell us is that the only way to do this is to give everyone the same bad care," he said.
The current way of providing health care is more costly than Obama's alternative, Hurdle said.
"The market has failed," she said. "If we do not move quickly on national health care, cost will continue to rise and as workers continue to earn less, the standards of living will fall, and our way of life will be lost."
Disagreement on money matters continued when the debate transitioned to discuss the stimulus package that President Obama signed into law on Tuesday.
The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is designed "to build new roads, modernize schools and create new jobs," Obama said in a video posted on recovery.gov, a Web site launched by the Obama administration that allows taxpayers to track where the stimulus money is going.
The plan is not going to make the country better off, Lindgren said.
"Democrats don't have a way for paying for this," she said. "Simple math shows us that the current stimulus package is not going to help us."
Tagami said the College Democrats saw the package as essential for the economy.
"We must consider that Republican economic principles have failed," she said. "In January alone, the economy shed 600,000 jobs. The need for the stimulus package is undeniable."
While the debaters found little to agree upon in Wednesday's debate, the moderator, School of Communication professor W. Joseph Campbell of the School of Communication, said he thought the debate format was productive.
"It fosters civic engagement," he said.
You can reach this writer at news@theeagleonline.com.
Correction: In "Political clubs discuss health care, stimulus," The Eagle incorrectly identified Quinn Hurdle as a female. Hurdle is, in fact, a male. The Eagle regrets the error.
