On Thursday October 19th, I went to the Stockton Student Senate’s first annual Stockton Democrats vs. Stockton Republicans Debate. Three students from each party debated current and New Jersey related topics, ranging from local energy sources, to gun control, and minimum wage. The debate was mediated by two senate members and had a very strict time form. Each side was given two minutes to address the topic, and then was allowed to converse back and forth in one-minute intervals, before the mediators called for the two-minute concluding statements.
The sides that debated held beliefs that were very similar and in line with the political parties that they represented. The Democrat side promoted liberal and humanitarian views while the Republicans often voiced conservative and traditional views. These views were quite apparent in each of the topics, as the Democrats often advised for options that would primarily help the people, and were best for the society, while the republicans often cited opinions that would benefit the economy or international structure.
The topics, though applicable to the state of the entire country, were presented through the eye piece of the State of New Jersey. This was incredibly poignant, especially for a non-New Jersey native such as I, to understand the political climate of the state as they pertain to the specific topics. The issue of New Jerseys power dependency, and the origin of the power were discussed, the minimum wage and its impact on NJ were explored, gun control laws in the state in the wake of yet another tragedy, and the possibilities of free community college were all discussed as well.
These topics and discussions, especially in accessible and public forms, such as this debate are important to understand the view of our political equals, and form a more educated and grounded personally philosophy in the bipartisan arena that we all influence. It is even more important for these events to be held for the young adults of the nation, for our generation is the one that will inherit the system in just a few short years.
The regimented formats of the debates kept the discussion civil, informative and constructive. When the debaters became more excited than was preferable the mediators were able to step in and provide an unbiased middle man to bring the discussion back to an informative tone. This happened a few times, and while, the mediator stepped in, the debaters responded in kind, keeping a passionate, but respectful tone of the topic at hand.
I really enjoyed the debate, and was happy that the student senate chose to hold such an event. Such discussions can influence individual philosophies, and strengthen the understanding of our peer’s views as well. Political discourse needs not be disrespectful and angry, they can very well be civil and informative, as was seen with the first Stockton Democrat vs. Stockton Republican debate.