Election 2008

In a small storefront at 105th Street and Broadway, 50 local Democratic activists gathered Thursday night to watch the vice presidential debate in movie-theater screen proportions. Sitting among Barack Obama posters in the main room of their campaign base, members of the Three Parks Independent Democrats and the Broadway Democrats passed around Palin bingo cards and sipped wine from plastic cups.

With the election only weeks away, Spectator Opinion asked six different campus political groups to write about the most important issue in this campaign.

The most important issues for the election year are not what is discussed during the campaigning period, but what happens before and after a new president takes office. As history has shown, the U.S. government does little for working-class people without pressure from below.

The American and Iraqi governments are prodding Iraqis to return home, although it may mean their death. Neither presidential candidate has spoken forcefully about this tragic situation.

Even though McCain and Obama differ on Iraq, their respective failures to articulate a general standard by which the use of military intervention could be justified is a great concern.

Recent financial turmoil has caused some to question the validity of the free-market capitalist system. We are in danger of turning toward what Friedrich von Hayek called “the road to serfdom,” or the path to the welfare state.

Fixing today’s economic woes should be the focal point of this year’s presidential campaign. We need a president with a plan to get involved and focus his efforts on rebuilding what is essentially a broken system.

It seems like more people than ever are paying attention to this election, and that’s a good thing. But still, too many people are left out or opt out of the democratic process for the wrong reasons.

Last Thursday campus was buzzing with excitement over ServiceNation’s Forum featuring presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. This Monday, Spectator Opinion offers three reactions to the event.

Senator John McCain, connected to Columbia as the father of alumna Meghan McCain, CC ‘07, is returning to Morningside Heights as a presidential nominee. He will speak about service back-to-back with his political rival. Both campaigns have issued a joint statement pledging to keep Sept. 11, 2008 nonpartisan, and their student constituents have said they would follow suit.