By Alicia Henry
Correspondent
With election day around the corner, TCNJ Votes!, along with Student Government, hosted the College’s first Dialogue for Democracy. The College Democrats and College Republicans came together in the Brower Student Center to discuss the various issues facing the country today.
The event was moderated by The Signal’s editor-in-chief, Matthew Kaufman, and managing editor, Ally Uhlendorf, who were responsible for maintaining time limits and keeping the participants of the debate on topic. The dialogue was open for all students.
For each topic, the organizations were allowed 30 seconds of thinking time, two minutes to answer the moderator's questions and two minutes of open discussion.
The dialogue started with opening statements and why each organization felt that the nominee for their party was the best choice.
Representing the College Democrats were Daniel Wilson and George Donnelly, who said that Vice President Kamala Harris was the best option because she could relate to the American people, and for her promise of a better global future.
Representing the College Republicans were John Rendzia and AJ Difalco, who stated that the economy was better under former president Donald Trump.
The first topic was immigration. The Republicans began by prefacing that they were not against legal immigration, while also pointing out that many members of the audience descended from immigrants. The Republicans continued by asserting that illegal immigration takes away many resources from American citizens.
As a rebuttal, the Democrats said that the immigration process is much harder now in comparison to a couple of decades ago. They proposed a solution to make the immigration process easier to reduce the number of illegal immigrants.
Another issue covered was the economy. Both organizations agreed on the need to end tax loopholes for the wealthy. The Republicans stressed the importance of tax cuts and how recent inflation was caused by what they believe was unnecessary spending during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The final topic before a five-minute break was abortion. The Republicans stated that the decision should be at the state level, and the Democrats said that reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade will lower the current mortality rate of unsafe abortions or medically dangerous pregnancies.
During the open discussion, the Republicans questioned when the Democrats believed life begins, to which the Democrats responded saying that would be a moral debate, not a political debate.
This break prompted discussions about voter turnout, the aim of TCNJ Votes!, and a goal for the host of this dialogue.
“I knew I wanted one of my main goals for TCNJ Vote! is to increase voter education, increasing voter empathy, and just bettering the understanding of students all across campus,” said Aria Chalileh, Student Government’s vice president for government affairs and senior political science major.
After returning from the break, the topic was healthcare. The Democrats started, stating that Americans need affordable and quality healthcare. The Republicans then introduced the problem of healthcare firms merging and forming monopolies to increase prices. Both organizations agreed that stronger regulations are needed to stop price increases.
The organizations were then asked about the environment, specifically after the recent events of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The Republicans stated that the $750 in aid that people received after the hurricanes was an incredibly low amount considering the damage.
The Republicans also argued that too much environmental regulation stifles the economy, and America needs to focus more on nuclear technology.
While the Democrats agreed that the financial aid from the government was considerably low, they stated that a federal carbon tax would incentivize industries to reduce their carbon emissions to limit the effects of climate change.
According to FEMA, the $750 payments have been mischaracterized as the only aid victims will receive. In fact, the payment is just one of several opportunities for federal relief.
On the topic of foreign policy, the Republicans claimed that the United States should focus on itself. One example mentioned was the United States sending money to Ukraine, with the Republicans claiming it has not helped Ukraine’s efforts against Russia. The Democrats responded saying that peace around the world is in everyone’s best interest, including the U.S.
The last topic was education, with the Republicans saying that the government should not play a larger role in higher education. They also said there should be more options for private and charter schools because funding public education does not seem to be working well in its current state.
The Democrats argued that Americans should have the opportunity to receive higher education without going into debt. During the open discussion, the Republicans said that community college is an option instead of the government getting involved in canceling student loan debt.
After the debate closed, there seemed to be a positive reception to the dialogue.
“There was more common ground that we found than I initially expected, frankly, and I think everyone did a great job,” Donnelly said.
The College Republicans and College Democrats were able to show a more intimate side of politics that students may not have been able to find during the presidential debate.
“When you go to something like this and you see both sides talking about what they believe in and what they stand for, that adds that personal layer, that adds a face to the policy,” Rendzia added.
Audience members remained very civil and voiced the pleasant surprise of a productive dialogue
“A lot of people beforehand may have had different expectations from the event, but it was nice to see everyone just come out and be respectful,” said Keya Chatterjee, a senior marketing major who was in the audience.
Before the night came to an end, both parties made sure to stress that the future is in our hands and that there is power in voting and showing up.
