Gilligan's Island

It’s easy to lay all of the country’s problems at the feet of Republicans or conservatives, especially when you spend much of your time inside a circle of liberals and progressives. But setting our society in the right direction is a task for which we bear equal responsibility.

In particular, if you want to occupy the moral high ground, here are two examples you should avoid in conversation:

a) While expressing outrage that a group of people you once worked with felt uncomfortable with gays and lesbians, you casually exclaim “That’s retarded!”

b) Issuing an invitation to a handful of people, you make sure to point out that you treat guests to luxury and avoid any of “that ghetto-ass shit.”

I don’t think I need to spell out the problem with either of these statements.

Both were parts of conversation I overheard last night at a Rootscamp after-party. The people attending this conference are the best and brightest young organizers - among them, my good friend Malinda, who I was there to visit. However we (and I do include myself) need to recognize and remember that we do not exist outside of the system, like women and men with the instruction manual to fix the world’s woes. We fall into the same behaviors for which we would be quick to criticize others.

I know that’s not the mindset that these young people operate with in their work. It bears remembering, though, because it is so easy to slip into the narrative of blame that engulfs our polarized political system.

EPPERSON: I want to turn the attention to why we’re here on this campus and what many students are very interested in, and that is the fact that, Congressman Paul, right now, we are looking at student loan debt that is near $1 trillion. Americans owe more on student loans right now than credit cards, and the average debt for a college senior right now is over $25,000. It’s obviously a very hot topic right here on this campus and with students across the country. Just listen to what they have to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(UNKNOWN): Tuition rates have increased roughly three times that of inflation over the last three decades.

(UNKNOWN): More students have to take out loans or forego college.

(UNKNOWN): My generation is graduating with student debt levels at an unprecedented level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EPPERSON: So, Congressman Paul, you’ve already talked about the fact that you want to get rid of the Department of Education. You’ve said that you want to get rid of federal student loans. So how would you make college more accessible, more affordable for these students and students around the country?

PAUL: Well, I think you proved that the policy of student loans is a total failure. I mean, a trillion dollars of debt?

(APPLAUSE)

And it’s going to be dumped on the taxpayer? And what have they gotten? A poorer education and costs that have skyrocketed because of inflation, and they don’t have jobs. There’s nothing more dramatically failing than — than that program.

So, no, there’s no authority in the Constitution for the federal government to be dealing with education. We should get rid of the loan programs. We should get rid of the Department of Education and give tax credits, if you have to, to help people.

But the inflation is the big problem. It’s three times the rate that the government admits that inflation is, and that is natural and normal. When governments inflate the currency, it goes in the areas that the government gets involved in, housing, high prices, stock market, skyrocketing prices, medical care, skyrocketing, education…

EPPERSON: But how do they pay for it? How do they now pay for college, if they’re not…

PAUL: The way — the way you pay for cellphones and computers.

(APPLAUSE)

You have the marketplace there. There’s competition. Quality goes up. The price goes down. Can you imagine what it would have been like if the Department of Homeland Security was in charge of finding one person or one company to make the cellphones? I mean, it would have been a total disaster. So when the government gets involved in the delivery of any service — whether it’s education, medical care, or housing — they cause higher prices, lower quality, create bubbles, and they give us this mess that we’re in. That’s why we have to eventually get our — we have to wise up.

And look at where the bubbles come from. It’s from the Federal Reserve. And we should start by auditing the Fed, and then we should end the Fed.

(APPLAUSE)

EPPERSON: Thank you, Congressman.

Speaker Gingrich, Congressman Paul just talked about a bubble. And there are many that are concerned that, unlike other types of debt, student loan debt does not have the same type of consumer protections. It cannot be wiped out in bankruptcy by law. There’s really little way to refinance it. Are you worried about student loan debt becoming the next government bailout?

GINGRICH: You know, this is a good place to talk about the scale of change we’re about to live through. We’re at the end of the welfare state era of dependency, debt, distortion, and dishonesty.

The student loan program began when Lyndon Johnson announced it, I think, with a $15 million program. It’s an absurdity. What does it do? It expands the ability of students to stay in college longer because they don’t see the cost. It actually means they take fewer hours per semester on average. It takes longer for them to get through school. It allows them to tolerate tuitions going up absurdly. By 2014, there will be one administrator for every teacher on college campuses in the United States.

Now, let me give you a contrast that’s very startling. The College of the Ozarks is a work-study college. You cannot apply to it unless you need student aid, and they have no student aid.

You have to work 20 hours a week during the year to pay tuition and books. You work 40 hours a week during the summer to pay for room and board. Ninety-two percent of the students graduate owing no debt, the eight percent who owe debt owe $5,000 because they bought a car.

Now, that is a model so different, it will be culture shock for the students of America to learn we actually expect them to go to class, study, get out quickly, charge as little as possible, and emerge debt free by doing the right things for four years.

Read more: http://thepage.time.com/2011/11/10/cnbc-transcript-of-your-money-your-vote-republican-presidential-debate/#ixzz1dJso7Vjv

I am more likely to say that student loans are best not mentioned. Not today, though, because a brief line of conversation at last night’s GOP 2012 Primary Debate (text above) pressed this overwhelming burden to the front of my mind.

Four years of undergraduate and two years of graduate school mean I will amass a fair amount of my own student loan debt before I’m finished. Each year I faithfully sign the documents and push the thought of paying to the furthest reaches of my mind.

My parents (thankfully) support me as much as they can; otherwise, my last five years would look dramatically different. Loans enabled me to pursue my dreams, as odd as that statement sounds.

But the student loan debt represents one of the largest threats to our economy, and to my generation’s financial security and success. Before long, students will owe more than $1 trillion.

Ron Paul believes that the marketplace can reign in the costs of getting a degree if the government eliminated the loan program. Meanwhile Gingrich suggests that if only college students understood the costs, the problem might resolve itself.

I believe Paul fails to address how the marketplace already exists - and fails to regulate prices. Colleges already offer competitive financial aid packages, build more impressive facilities, and offer cutting edge courses in every attempt to edge out others in the Higher Ed market. Nothing, as of yet (or that I know of), addresses the fact that tuition rates have risen three times that of inflation.

Meanwhile Gingrich does his best to play the stodgy statesman by insinuating that students don’t understand the value of a dollar. Because we are able to sign loans, we choose to put ourselves further in debt so that we can live leisurely on the government dime for an extra semester or year. I might remind Gingrich that college students today are more likely to be employed while maintaining their course load than ever before.

The other popular suggestion made by GOP Candidates is to privatize the student loan system. Capitalism, revered concept that it is, mentioned again. Keep government out — another popular idea. But tell me this: why should I be confident in the ability of Big Business to responsibly manage my loans? The track record of abuses doesn’t endear me to them. And until regulated (by that horrible specter, the federal government) this industry has been more likely to stick the customer with soaring fees. That sounds all too familiar.

For me, it always comes back to the colleges and universities. What can they do to lower the cost of attendance, without routinely increasing aid packages? I think the conversation has to begin there.

Harvey Levin spoke at George Washington University yesterday before delivering a keynote address at the National Press Club later in the afternoon. The audience at GWU was an undergraduate social media class and smattering of others. (The School of Media and Public Affairs extended an invitation to the rest of us, so you bet a few of us graduate students jumped at the opportunity.)

Search #SMPASocial on Twitter for a record of tweets from the talk.

He left us with a lot of good soundbites - not surprising from the man behind TMZ. But he also came across as something of a visionary.

His vision makes me nervous, in some ways.

Levin tells the story of TMZ-DC, which almost made its debut some three years ago. For whatever reason it didn’t work out then, but Levin remains adamant that he wants to bring TMZ to the capital. He believes there is an audience out there who is interested in politics, but feels alienated by the style of discourse that dominates this city.

The story he tells to demonstrate his point revolves around Aaron Schock’s abs. After publicizing the man in board shorts and shirtless, TMZ drew a crowd of thousands to Schock’s constituent phone conference. Suddenly, Levin remarks, Schock had a platform to share his message.

Do the people drawn by his physique really care about House Republicans’ work on trade, national security, and so forth? I’m sure some do, but how great is the media effect and how enduring is it? The pictures were posted in 2009 - I wonder how large Schock’s phone conferences are today.

Levin talked about injecting personality into DC politics. But he blurs the line between good communication practices and character performance. Research already demonstrates Americans’ preference for dramatic story frames. And goodness knows the amount of identity management and overarching campaign dynamics have diminished the effectiveness of our government. I worry that TMZ-DC would amplify these conditions.

I won’t argue that our politicians need to communicate on a personal level with constituents. Or that they need to convey complex policies and proposals in terms that can be understood by people from diverse backgrounds.

I just don’t think that needs to be facilitated by seeing pictures of a U.S. Representative sunbathing.

Although I am currently living in DC I don’t want to completely lose touch with the events in Nebraska. I still want to hear about my pup getting into mischief, the record of the Fremont High Volleyball Team (go Molly!), and the current events on the Nebraska Wesleyan campus.

Add to that list an interest in Nebraska’s political scene and you get today’s article about Chris Beutler beginning his second term as mayor of our state’s capital. The article stands out to me because it expresses vision and forward motion. And tangible steps toward each goal. By contrast, a letter in the Fremont Tribune back in January from newly-appointed Mayor Scott Getzschman fails to convey a much-needed plan to bring the city out of its debt and promote growth.

Thursday evening brings President Obama’s jobs speech, where he is expected to urge action from Congress. A disillusioned Ezra Klein concludes: “I’ve stopped pretending that the president’s jobs speech scheduled for next week is going to matter.” 

Our governments — local, state, and federal — need to see results. Beutler’s agenda is a good start.

 Shortly before I left Nebraska Wesleyan, Dr. Schaffer asked me about my political affiliation — he said that he never could tell based on my editorial choices for The Reveille. His comment gave me some pleasure, because I spent a good deal of time worrying about objectivity.

I understand why journalists (of the classic-type) strive to avoid partisan language. The mission for the profession, after all, is:

[T]hat the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust. — Written by Walter Williams in 1914, “The Journalists Creed”

Idealists prize “accuracy” and “fairness” in their attempt at fulfilling this doctrine.

But as a person in my own right, there comes a point when I stop saying “You have a right to your opinion” and respond instead, “Are you kidding me?” (e.g. Michele Bachmann ascribing “honor dignity to every person” despite standing by previous comments about gays and lesbians.)

I spent years silently fuming and venting to friends, but recently had the opportunity to witness a striking example of one friend — and hundreds of others — translate objections into tangible, political action.

Malinda Frevert, news director at BOLD Nebraska, was arrested alongside 1,252 other protesters during two weeks of civil disobedience. The group, organized under the moniker of Tar Sands Action, wants to stop the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline due to climate and environmental concerns.

As I watched the Parks Police tie Malinda’s wrists behind her back and lead her to the police transport I asked myself if there was any cause for which I would risk arrest. (That certainly seemed to be my mom’s fear when I called to share the experience.)

The answer is no, with a caveat.

Truth be told, the stakes aren’t high enough personally. No issue threatens my well-being so seriously that getting arrested as a form of protest would serve any purpose that I can discern. Will that always be the case? I don’t know.

My knowledge of the Keystone XL Pipeline is limited, but I can tell you this: people I greatly respect have voiced their opposition, so my attention is piqued. At the core of our political system, I can’t believe any other tactic carries more weight than the opinions of our friends, mentors, colleagues, and family members.

Momentum appears to be on the side of BOLD Nebraska and its allies. Two governors (NE and VT) issued statements opposing the pipeline. Meanwhile Malinda is back to work, mind you with plans to frame her arrest ticket.

I feel as though I am only now beginning to articulate publicly where I stand on the issues. But I agree with Malinda who told me yesterday that “activist Brad is in there and I’m excited to see what he’ll do.”