The loud, rather
obnoxious minority
By MARTIN SANTALUCIA A week and a half ago the conservative Tea Party
Copy Editor Movement descended onto Washington D.C. with
mfsso7s@psu.edu 70,000 protesters, according to ABC News, rallying for
decreased government spending. The mob of angry conservatives wielded standard
issue D.C. protest ephemera as they marched through the city proudly exhibiting that
they had at least picked up the main characters of their high school history classes’
WWII chapter, though watching footage of the protests forced me to wonder how many
of those protesters actually know what Hitler and Stalin did to be globally reviled.
Watching the clips of the protest that weekend, I realized that the same treatment
George W. Bush had to endure from long-haired, un-bathed hippies will now be applied
to Barack Obama by angry, old conservatives. Extra weight was added to the protest
as it punctuated a summer of town halls that were hijacked so that every local lunatic
in America could have some airtime on CNN. Cable news and the Republican Party
may be interested in spinning these outbursts, even from their own party members, into
something more dramatic even if the incidents are only a result of legislators actually
trying to engage their electorate. Defining moments of my experience as staff on the
Obama campaign taught me that crazy people are everywhere and they are always
planning to attend your public event. One may recall that even Bush’s screened town hall
audiences occasionally had a protester among them, a protester who was immediately
removed by security and, presumably, shot by the winner of a coin toss between Karl
Rove and Dick Cheney.
What strikes me most about these events is the degree to which amnesia factors
into Republican complaints of the Obama Administration. After Obama’s health-care
speech, social networks exploded with cries of injustice and desecration of the House
floor, many wanting to know why the president appeared to get a pass for pushing
a political agenda during his speech. This is absurd. The building, the very room
they were standing in, was built as a shrine to the American political process and the
ideological battles between our elected officials. If one was to chastise Obama for
politicizing anything, it would have to be the office of the presidency, an office George
Washington hoped would remain an apolitical institution. To make a valid argument,
however, you would also be required to reprimand every president since Washington
for the same offense. To argue that Obama’s speech was anything more political than
any other president had delivered from that podium is, apolitically speaking, stupid. As
a recent example, George W. Bush routinely used his State of the Union addresses to
promote his foreign policy agenda, even as it became increasingly unpopular, divisive
and clearly wrong.
Republicans are currently attempting to rewrite the history of their twelve-year
majority, portraying themselves as the giving and benevolent leaders of the past. They
are trying to erase the style in which they wielded their power, maliciously beating the
perpetually stumbling Democratic Party on “national security” in the same manner the
Democrats are currently beating them with health care and other domestic issues. The
GOP had simply forgotten how unpleasant the business end of a baseball bat could be;
what they are experiencing is called “loosing” and, to quote Jon Stewart, “It’s supposed
to taste like a s**t taco.”
The illusion of the Republican base’s current activity over that of the Democrats
during the Bush Administration is a product of media manipulation. Bush was followed
everywhere by protests varying in size from state to state and anti-war/Bush protests
became weekly occurrences in places such as my own hometown of West Chester,
regardless of Bush’s travel to the area. To report on an anti-Bush rally past 2004 did
nothing for ratings. Opposition to Obama’s charisma, rhetoric and decisive electoral
victory on the other hand, is currently proving to be yet another way to capitalize on
the Obama brand. These stories will probably remain interesting until he has a full year
in office under his belt and then coverage of anti-Obama rallies will too die off. I hope
whoever the 45 th President will be is watching this and preparing.
Considering the airtime is only temporary, and screaming of non-existent death panels
does next to nothing for the democratic process, I would recommend to anyone thinking
of attending one of these media circuses that it might be a better use of their time to put
down the swastika-covered donkey poster and participate in a rational debate.
Unfortunately, as I type this, I realize it will most likely in vain because, as we have
all seen over the last several years, the only thing that ever really changes in D.C. is the
face behind the Hitler mustache.
THE CAPITAL TIMES
Cheated by the
American scheme
By ANTONIOS AVRAMIDIS Million dollar homes, salaries and bonuses with so
Staff Writer many figures it would hurt their parents feelings, and the
awasolB@psu.edu ability to do whatever it is you love doing . That’s the
American dream, the pie in the sky that every student is trying to get a piece of, it
almost sounds too good to be true, but we’ve all been given the promise. Work hard,
study hard, and show up to that 6-9 basket weaving class for no other reason than your
degree audit says you should; in just four (or five, or six) short years, you’ll be getting
that dream job, no questions asked. How were 18 year old high school students going
to pay for the college that would give them the keys to the kingdom? Easy, take on a
crippling amount of student loans. Don’t worry, though. That dream job you landed
before the ink on your diploma had dried would pay those loans off before Sallie Mae
knew what hit her. Then the picture only got better, the Baby Boomers and Generation
X would be retiring. The opportunity for real professional growth and promotion would
be so abundant, you were on the fast track to becoming the youngest CEO in history. If
only Alexander the Great knew, he would be jealous.
That was before the global economic crisis began and students began to graduate
with less opportunity for being hired than those the year before them. According to the
National Association of Colleges and
Employers, students who graduated
in 2008 were about half as likely
to apply for a job and have one as
students graduating in 2007, down
from 51% to 26% respectively. With
good reason, students began to worry
about their future, how would they
buy their low emission vehicles if
only one in four of them were being
hired right out of college? Then the
answer came in the form of a Harvard
graduate, who himself embodied
the dream. Students mobilized and
worked themselves into a frenzy with
new found fervor. The prophet had come, he had brought the message, and the message
was change. This sparked voters age 18 to 29 to go out and vote. Their voices were
heard, and Barack Obama was elected President. The change came, but not in the form
that many students had expected. NACE reports that in the year 2009, only nineteen
percent of graduating students who applied for a job, got the job.
This information combined with the report from CBS News claiming that eighty percent
of Baby Boomers plan on working well past the previously established retirement age of
63 spells out a few universal truths for the college student. One such truth being that an
education will be no longer be a commodity, but a prerequisite for successfully entering
the workforce in their desired fields. Unfortunately, the New York Times reported that
overall, college students are now covering more of the cost of educating themselves,
while the cost of instruction has decreased. The reason for increasing rates while cost
and comers are cut in the classroom? Higher spending on administrative costs. With
the costs for attending a university now being higher than before, with less being given,
and less opportunities for being hired, the American Dream seems to be slipping further
and further away. According to the Associated Press, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bemanke has proclaimed the worst recession since the 1930’s is probably over, while
unemployment will remain high for a few years to come.
The tune of the average student is changing, as their diploma’s in less than concrete
majors with little to no hiring opportunity in today’s economy become worth as
much as the place mats where they are waiting tables. I suggest we worry less about
the degree and more about getting an actual education. Those with the hunger and
knowledge to succeed in today’s harsh employment environment will do so because
of the education they received, not taking classes simply to get their degree. Someone
I rarely see eye to eye with on social or political issues recently told me “I go to
work to get an education and I come to school to get a degree.” I can’t agree more.
I’m not sure what the solution is for graduates who are genuinely concerned with their
employment opportunities, but I hear if you continue to work on your degree by piling
on student loan debt for graduate school, that seven figure bonus is only a call away.
tember 23,2009
Students who graduated
in 2008 were about half
as likely to apply for
a job and have one as
students graduating in
2007, down from 51%
to 26%.