Filed under: Uncategorized
We will be having a debate with the College Republicans on Thursday, November 3rd. Please contact us if you are interested in debating.
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follow us: @NYUDems
NYU College Democrats will be having a voter registration drive this Thursday, October 13th from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm! We will have tables in Founders Hall, Hayden Hall, Third North, and Weinstein. Volunteers to man the tables are welcome!
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Our first meeting of the semester will be held tonight at 7 pm in Kimmel room 909. We will be discussing our agenda for the upcoming semester. There will of course be free food as well. Everyone is welcome whether you have attended a meeting before or not.
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Just a friendly reminder from the College Democrats to GO VOTE TODAY! Remind your friends, families, and neighbors to get out and vote, too. Polls are open in New York from 6:00am to 9:00pm. Prove the trends and predictions and media wrong by showing up at the polls during a midterm election. The enthusiasm gap, and the possibility of a stalled Congress and economy for the next two years, can be eliminated if enough of us vote and encourage others to vote in this pivotal election.
Registration: http://www.canivote.org/
Polling Place: http://maps.google.com/vote
NY’s new voting procedures: http://www.votethenewwayny.com/en/default.aspx
OFA Phonebank: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpmpfs/?override_wrapper_id=1w3hA
or phonebank from home: https://call.barackobama.com/error/time_window
Have a good election day.
Every little bit counts. Get involved and make a difference today.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Al Franken, Democrats, e-day, GOTV, jon stewart, midterms 2010, VOTE
Some final thoughts on E-day Eve.
-Nate Silver at 538 has a scenario about how Democrats could defy the odds and pull off only minor hemmoraging tomorrow. His narration of how tomorrow night could go is spooky..and awesome- especially the part where someone at the NRCC punches a hole in a wall. Essentially, he thinks there’s room for error in 5 issues– the cell phone effect (or rather, the lack of cell phone users surveyed), problematic ‘robopolls’, problematic ‘likely voter’ models that favor the GOP, the awesome Democratic ground game (woo woo!), the general consensus that it’s not going to be as awful as it could be for the Dems. Let’s hope he’s right.
- Political Wire has a path to Democrats maintaining majorities in Congress– with a list of the important races to watch tomorrow night.
-In case you didn’t see this in the Sunday NYT, Frank Rich (who you should all read) really nails the country club elite that is the GOP leadership. We all worry about some of the crazy right wing candidates that might win tomorrow (Angle, Paul, Rubio, etc) but I think Rich has it right when he predicts that they won’t have any say in what legislation gets written and what programs get cut. It’s not going to be much of a (tea) party in Congress next year as some people think.
-Michael Kazin at The New Republic offers some thoughts on the Rally to Restore Sanity and why Jon Stewart isn’t enough. As liberals, we have to do MORE, be MORE engaged, vote MORE, engage eachother MORE. Satire will not save this country, even if it entertains us. Houston, we’re not in the Bush years anymore– do something tomorrow.
-Finally, to get you pumped up, here’s another comedian (this time, one who actually decided to take his political side and make himself a Senator.) GET OUT AND VOTE!
-Maddie
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: campaign, first amendment, NYU College Democrats, republicans
Christine O’Donnell’s statements in a debate Tuesday with her democratic opponent, Chris Coons, such as, “Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?” have drawn a huge amount of backlash from those who say she clearly knows nothing about the Constitution.
I have to side with O’Donnell for the first (and likely last) time on this one.
After the debate, O’Donnell said that she was simply pointing out the (true) fact that the exact words “separation of church and state” do not appear in the text of the Constitution. Some in the media have insisted that O’Donnell is still wrong, however, since the establishment clause of the First Amendment (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”) clearly lays out the principle of the separation of church and state. While I completely disagree with Christine O’Donnell’s assertion that separation of church and state does not exist, I don’t think she was simply showing her ignorance here – I think she honestly does not believe in the separation of church and state. O’Donnell has proved that she is a strict textualist, and therefore if the exact words “separation of church and state” don’t appear in the Constitution for her to read, she does not believe that it is a true founding principle of the document.
It remains to be seen whether the majority of the general public, however, are also likely strict textualists or are simply ignorant. According to an article written by Josh Schwartz and published in the New York Times (“Name That Freedom,” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/weekinreview/24schwartz.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper), only 61% of those surveyed knew the First Amendment protects freedom of speech. Only 66% agree that the First Amendment requires separation of church and state, but 53% believe the Constitution establishes a Christian nation. The fact that only 61% of Americans know the First Amendment protects freedom of speech is just mortifying and frightening, but after recently seeing the documentary “Waiting for Superman” on the sorry state of many of America’s public schools, I’m unfortunately not shocked. These numbers are a testament to the many failures of our public education system. The result about the establishment of a Christian nation is likely also a result of the many poorly educated people in this country, but I believe it is even more dangerous than the lack of knowledge about freedom of speech. The belief held by over half of our citizens that America was established as a Christian nation is not only 100% wrong, (even O’Donnell would have to agree here – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”) but I believe it is at the root of many of the continuing societal problems we face today. The immense prejudice against and hatred for Muslims, for example, could logically be stemming in large part from the many people who hold this false belief that we are a Christian nation. If people truly believe that this country was founded on Christian principles and should continue to be run by them, there will always be debilitating religious prejudice preventing all of our citizens from reaping the benefits we are all guaranteed – the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If we believe we are a Christian nation that means we also believe the government should uphold Christian values – which would bring the religion into all sorts of governmental decisions. The people who hold this belief are likely also using it to back up their arguments that government should prohibit gay marriage and abortion.
I don’t believe that we will ever be able to move forward on what are now extremely divisive issues until the entire country understands the principles of religious freedom and the separation of church and state (or at the very least the prohibition of an established national religion) as articulated in the First Amendment. Which brings me back around to the topic of public education in the United States – if we can’t teach our children the founding principles of our country and our government, we are going to continue to perpetuate these debilitating and divisive social arguments which are holding back the progression of our society.
-Rachel Simon
You can see more of her work at her blog http://thedreamliveson.tumblr.com
Filed under: Campaigning, Healthcare Reform, Media, New York State | Tags: 2010 Midterm Elections, facebook, federal deficit
E-Day is in just 14 DAYS everyone, so things are getting down to the wire. If you haven’t come out canvassing or made phone calls for vulnerable Democrats, there’s still time! Come out to Philadelphia with us this weekend or come to our next two meetings this Thursday and next to make calls. For more info, email me at madeline.labadie@nyu.com. Now for some good reads from political blogs this week.
-Last week in FL, health care reform’s individual mandate was challenged in federal court. A main part of the Republican attack on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is this legal argument. Dismantling the individual mandate would unravel the economics of the bill. Here’s Jon Cohn’s take on why the mandate is constitutional.
-Ezra Klein thinks we treat the issue of the federal deficit like it’s a second-grade math problem but it’s all about growth.
-More Facebook privacy issues and Congress has something to say about it.
-Our own Senator Gillibrand was profiled in Vogue this month and it comes complete with a photo spread of the sexiest member of the Senate.
-TPM does a round-up of the 2010 midterms.
-Finally, this is clip of Jimmy McMillan of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party from the NY gubernatorial debate is just amazing. Fantastic facial hair.
-Maddie
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bigot, Democrats, gay, NYU College Democrats
Tony Perkins recently wrote a very bigoted editorial for the Washington Post. In this article he discusses the tragedies of the recent teenage suicides. He believes that,
“homosexual activist groups like GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) are exploiting these tragedies to push their agenda of demanding not only tolerance of homosexual individuals, but active affirmation of homosexual conduct and their efforts to redefine the family.”
He later discusses how being gay is destructive behavior, and then compares it to drinking or doing drugs. With all the recent tragedies, an article like this is not what we need. To read the full article go to:
-Milo
Filed under: Uncategorized
So I try to be as good a liberal as possible and as polite as possible, when it counts. I don’t believe being a leader of this club gives me a soapbox to rant but rather an opportunity to effect positive change through youth participation in politics. Here’s where my line is drawn, though– when an openly-bigoted and gay-slurring candidate for state-wide office in New York shows up at NYU’s doorsteps.
NYU is well-known as a gay-friendly mecca for higher education and therefore attracts many LGBT students and their allies. I count myself and the NYU College Democrats among those allies. This Friday, Republican gubernatorial candidate for New York, Carl Paladino, is coming to NYU to speak at an event sponsored by the NYU College Republicans. While I don’t think there should be any general animosity between two groups who share interest in politics and public service, I think this crosses a line. This is not about Albany or politics in general; it’s about taking a stand for something important and confronting those who choose to attack a minority group. We cannot allow our politicians or public figures to use campaigns and media outlets to push hate, fear, and discrimination in our own backyards without accountability.
If you’re as enraged as I am about Mr. Paladino’s recent comments (especially tone-deaf in a time of crisis in the gay community) I encourage you to join me this Friday to protest his visit to NYU.
Protest Carl Paladino at NYU
2:30-5:00pm on Friday, October 15th
Washington Square Park, outside the Kimmel Center.
FB event here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151620834880023&index=1#!/event.php?eid=151620834880023&index=1
Please come out on Friday and be heard.
-Maddie Labadie
