Rich Eisenberg: Plenty of new ideas to go around

In his Oct. 6 column, Dan Gomez, chairman of the Penn College Republicans, criticized Democrats for lacking any new ideas, referring to the Democratic Party as "a party devoid of both charisma and ideas." Instead of proposing new and promising ideas, Gomez argues, the Democrats focus their efforts entirely upon negative campaigning via Bush-bashing.

The notion that the Republican Party serves as America's bastion of progressive thought is as ludicrous as it is insulting. Indeed, the Grand Old Party thrives on the oldest of ideas, promoting its conservative agenda by capitalizing on deeply rooted prejudices, engaging in liberal-bashing and employing scare tactics and the terrorist threats facing the nation to galvanize its base and scare others into voting Republican.

No doubt, this country faces great threats from rogue nations and terrorist entities, but countering these threats must be a bipartisan patriotic effort, not an object for Republicans to thrust at Democrats come election time. Last year, Reuters reported that Republicans sold a photograph taken of President Bush aboard Air Force One immediately after the attacks on New York and Washington to raise campaign funds. Facing criticism for politicizing this tragic event, then-Press Secretary Ari Fleischer ironically responded, "Democrats are having a very difficult time coming to grips with the fact that this is a very popular president."

In the 2002 Congressional Elections, Republicans across the country ran on the issue of homeland security, claiming that Democrats had stalled the Homeland Security Act in Congress, to the endangerment of the American people. In the Georgia Senate race, Republican challenger Saxby Chambliss ran a particularly offensive ad against Democratic incumbent Max Cleland, who lost three limbs as a volunteer during the Vietnam War. The Republican ad charged this American hero with being soft on defense. As if this claim were not ridiculous enough, the ad featured photos of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Senator Cleland, in that order.

This ad was taken off the air after an uproar, but it served its purpose, and Chambliss defeated Cleland. For the record, Congress passed the Homeland Security Act, an idea initially proposed primarily by Democrats and rejected by the Bush administration, and the administration has consistently balked in providing states the resources necessary to fund first responders and security efforts.

The College Republicans need look no further than their national organization to see this kind of scare-tactic politicking. At the College Republicans' national convention this past summer, a number of extremely insulting T-shirts were sold. According to The Associated Press, one shirt featured the phrase "Clinton's Legacy," along with a photograph of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Another shirt screamed "Bring Back the Blacklist," showing a picture of Spike Lee. Another simply featured the slogan "No Muslims, No Terrorism," a phrase as eloquent as it is intelligent, and another ridicules Rosie O'Donnell as a symbol of homosexuality.

Last semester, the Penn College Republicans took part in a national campaign against affirmative action through an "affirmative action bake sale"; they stood on Locust Walk and sold baked goods, charging white men three times the amount they charged black and Hispanic women.

Are these the kinds of "new ideas" that Dan Gomez is talking about?

In his column, Gomez specifically refers to the College Democrats' "Issue of the Month" campaign, stating that our "anti-Bush rhetoric shows that they really have no new ideas of their own." (As if our College Republicans are out proposing legislation.)

In reality, this campaign provides real information about the Bush administration's policies on a different issue each month; last month's issue was higher education and this month's is civil liberties. Along with the posters that Gomez refers to, we provide detailed issue sheets each month which are available through our Web site. This is an attempt to educate the campus, to inspire healthy and informative debate and, yes, to show how the Bush administration has failed on each of these issues.

This mode of campaigning is quite different from the starkly cynical and propagandistic work of our Republican counterparts.

It would behoove the Penn College Republicans to renounce the sort of propaganda that appeared on the T-shirts at their convention and to henceforth choose intelligent debate over mindless, hateful propaganda, to appeal to the highest in people rather than to the lowest and to encourage their party as a whole to do the same.

Rather than presenting sound bites on a few issues in The Daily Pennsylvanian, the Penn Democrats aim to inform and promote discussion. We invite the College Republicans to distribute materials on important issues like civil liberties, gay rights, effective foreign policy, the environment and economic policy. We look forward to debating the Republicans on these and other issues that are important to the Penn community.

Rich Eisenberg is a junior PPE major and president of the Penn College Democrats.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.