Friday, March 19, 2010
By Kyle Allen
Sports Editor
There are only two politically oriented clubs on the Mira Costa campus, Young Democrats Club and Young Republicans Club. This narrow political environment polarizes Mira Costa’s student body and creates a partisan divide that is bad for Mira Costa.
This environment is exactly what the American people should be afraid of: the stubborn quarrelsomeness of America’s future leaders. If politically active high school students won’t listen to each other’s ideas while in school, there is absolutely no reason to believe this will change if they are to become politicians.
For example, senior John Burke, co-president of Costa’s Young Republicans Club, attempted to make a bipartisan effort by attending a recent Young Democrats Club meeting. Burke showed his political partisanship when he spoke to Young Democrats’ Club about his opinions on national health care legislation.
Burke, using statistics regarding uninsured Americans, showed unwillingness to compromise on this issue. He went beyond correcting the flaws in the Democrats’ opinion and blatantly rejected their ideology.
Instead of taking the opportunity to make cooperative progress, he simply delivered partisan rhetoric.
Furthermore, Burke showed little desire throughout the meeting to listen to liberal ideas, and at one point, criticized Obama’s health care agenda by calling the liberals in Congress “stupid.”
The radical and partisan rhetoric spread in these meetings is unhealthy. Instead of accomodating a variety of ideas it funnels students into partisan blocs. If these politically active students are to have an active role in our government as adults, they must be well-rounded and open to all ideas.
However, Costa’s political activists have shown bipartisanship in the past, and it is at these times that they provide a proper political outlet for students.
By having a wide range of Democrats like Manhattan Beach mayor Mitch Ward, assembly candidate James Lau, and Winograd speak at their meetings, Costa’s Young Democrats seem to be headed in the right direction.
At a recent Young Republicans meeting, Burke and his co-president, senior Davis Waddell, spoke about their ideas on issues like health care and the California gubernatorial race.
Waddell presented a much more desirable moderate and bipartisan approach throughout the meeting, by praising California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, a social moderate. He admired her progressive, but business-like approach to the governor’s seat.
Each club can take steps to make Costa’s politically active groups less radical and more moderate and bipartisan.
A coalition of bipartisanship between the two clubs would be a significant step forward in breaching the gap between the ideologies of the clubs, as well as introducing the members of the clubs to centrism and working with the other side.
This coalition could hold town-hall debates, have integrated joint sessions or even work within the community to experience a bipartisan type of activism, one that values listening over shouting.
The outlets for political activism on this campus currently promote partisanship, as the Young Democrats and Young Republicans clubs only accentuate the current polarized political mood.There must be more effort to bridge the divide between these two parties and to create a more moderate, more collaborative political environment for this campus in the future.
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