I Am America and So Can You!

I knew this kid in high school who played a bunch of D’n'D, always won at Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments, and was in Model Congress. Through an incredible display of imagination and skilled manipulation of his peers - crafts no doubt perfected during his other hobbies – he ended up drafting a bill to mandate a new safety policy in all public schools. The bill was successfully passed in the Model Congress Championship, and while that isn’t the same as D.C., he’s now at Harvard, so that must count for something.

The point is, you’re never too young to be writing the policies that affect your life. Really, look at these 10 policies written by your peers. These are actually legitimate solutions to legitimately troubling issues, and if these policies don’t end up on Capitol Hill, the kids who wrote them certainly will. How do you get in on the action? Check out the first meeting of the Roosevelt Campus Network. Lemme riff for a second:

The Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, a national student initiative, engages young people in a unique form of progressive activism that empowers them as leaders and promotes their ideas for change. [...] students identify pressing issues facing their towns, counties and states. Taking advantage of the unique resources on their college campuses, they engage in policy research and writing and then connect the fruits of that research to the political process, delivering sound, progressive proposals to policymakers and advocacy groups.

In other words, you learn how to make your pet political issues stand a chance against the big, bad, old white men of the current political system. Dope. See that part about “taking advantage of the unique resources on college campuses”? That’s the moneyshot.

Don’t despair kiddies!

Thursday 10/6 @ Ladd 206

Hey, folks. Great news…Obama’s headed for the White House. But voting last week was just the democratic bare minimum. Now is the time tell those newly elected politicians what to do.

This is too important to let slip by. Don’t let what happened to the Georgians happen to you. If you believe you’re a registered voter here in Saratoga Springs, and are turned away at the polls (@ the ICC in Case Center), you have options:

1. Request a Court Order by calling the Saratoga County Board of Elections @ 518-885-2249 and asking for Bill Frucci. A judge will be on-call so they can make an executive (that is, judicial) decision on the validity of your voter status.
2. Fill out an affidavit (paper) ballot available on the site of the polls.
3. If you’re not registered, locate one of the election inspectors at the polling place and ask them what to do next.

I’m tired of hearing about all of this voting business. Skidmore Unofficial is tired of posting about it. So, with one last plea, VOTE!

After you vote you can head over to Case Center where the people who brought you that series of Debate watching parties (Skidmore Dems) will be hosting an Election results party. (fbook).

Following such memorable speakers as Harvey Mansfield, who spoke about “Manliness,” and John Ashcroft, the only person on campus to ever confuse Barack Obama for Osama bin Laden, the Skidmore Young Republican Assembly (yeah…they’re a thing) will present this year’s first speaker, Richard Lowry, this Wednesday.

Don’t know Dick? Well, he has been the editor of “America’s most widely read and influential magazine and web site for Republican/conservative news, commentary, and opinion,” the National Review, since 1997. As a frequent guest on Fox News, as well as author of an Anti-Clinton book Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years, it should be no surprise when Lowry states his endorsement of McCain, nevermind his support for waterboarding. Keep in mind, this guy is famous. No big deal, but he is currently ranked as Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World.”

Show up prepared to hear some genuine, “out-of-the-box” conservative agenda that your socially liberal mind hasn’t been exposed to since you’ve arrived back in our 900-acre “Obama bubble.” Rich Lowry will speak on Wednesday, Oct. 29, in Gannett Auditorium @ 8:30pm.

Dear Readers,

I cannot tell you how psyched I am that the first three conversations I overheard in the D-hall Friday morning were about the VP debate Thursday. In fact, I felt that heady elation that I usually only associate with snow days and good sex. I feel we are at a watershed moment, that America, and our age group in particular, are reengaging in a national dialogue, are sitting up and taking notice, are investing themselves in candidates and in issues. And come November 4th, I get the sneaking suspicion that young peoples, that students, will buck the stereotypes of apathy and malaise sometimes assigned to ua and vote.

So vote. Please vote. Vote til your ballot-checking fingers bleed. Vote like its going out of style. For our nation’s highest offices, for members of legislatures large and small, for your town planning board, for the next open seat in SGA, VOTE. Vote like its American Fuckin’ Idol.

But here’s the catch – voting isn’t enough. Its your unalienable right and delicious obligation as a free citizen of these United States. But we can be more than our vote. Once those politicians are given the keys to their mahogany desk drawers of power, they tend to forget the reasons we put them there in the first place. And that’s where we remind them that they work for us

I guess by this part in the post I should introduce myself. I’m the chair of the EAC’s (Environmental Action Club) Political Organizing Committee – congressional lobbyist, student organizer and practical optimist. And, for once, I’m not here to talk about recycling, climate change or organic deodorant. My partners-in-activism and I will soon be starting regular posts concerning current political issues we think you’ll find interesting from an environmental standpoint (and by environmental we mean involving social justice, economic reform, public health and spotted owls), followed what we can do. What we can do beyond hauling our bleary-eyed selves to the polls on November 4th.

So how do you, you and your student loans and your busy schedule, effect policy and shape your world? By being a good, tough-love boss to those elected officials who are buying groceries and sending kids to college on your tax dollars.

Call. You’re educated, you’re informed, you pick of free copies of the New York Times in D-hall and then leave them on the table covered in ketchup – and so I’m guessing you have opinions. On the bail-out bill, on the farm bill, on renewable energy, on funding for the war, on abstinence-only education, on something, on anything! And the best way to get those opinions across is to call. A lot of people (justifiably) bitch and moan about the State of Things, but surprisingly few pick up the phone and say “I believe…”, “I feel…” and, most importantly, “You should….”. The person has to take down your name, what you’re calling about, and tell their congress(wo)man. Especially if they start receiving a lot of said calls about an issue from, I dunno, you and all your friends. Write. A simple, well-formed letter has to be opened, read, and noted by the office. Even your emails are filed by topic of complaint. Why do they bother reading your letters and receiving your calls?

Because corporate campaign donations don’t actually vote. Because all the money from Big Fill-In-The-Blank (Oil, Coal, Pharmaceutical, Insurance, Guns) doesn’t get to fill out a ballot. Because a concerned, informed, activist constituency (the people registered to vote in a politician’s district) gets politicians sweating. Because they know that if by some chance you guys get organized, or if you even seem organized, you can be powerful. Because they’ve been let in on the secret that the individual can be a dynamic, glorious, highly-caffeinated agent of change. And that, frankly, is terrifying to them.

From our somewhat insular Skidmore life, its easy to view the marble halls of Washington as remote, the proceedings obscure in topic and impenetrable in language, the politicians as dour, disconnected and in desperate need of a hug. Its easy, if you’ve moved beyond apathy, to then get politically cock-blocked by intimidation.

Don’t. The Washington machine is lubricated with the blood of underpaid 23-year-old interns.
Very polite, 23-year-old, interns, sitting behind desks, waiting for you to interrupt their game of solitaire. Let them know you’re thinking of them.

To find out who’s representing you on the Hill:

http://www.house.gov

With love and youthful vigor,
The political organizing committee

p.s. – We meet at 9pm in Ladd 207 on Mondays if you’re at all interested. Because you don’t have enough to do on Monday’s already.

The Film Appreciation Troupe  will be screening “Why We Fight,” a film by Eugene Jarecki. Although Maverick himself may not be appearing on campus, you should prepare yourselves for a riveting 98 min run time (assuming you’re in Davis—3pm Sunday, Oct. 5—and not in Norway where they only have to sit through 55 min of Maverick mayhem) of gut wrenching, arm not reaching above your shoulder entertainment. Thanks to those wonderful folks at Wikipedia, here’s a brief synopsis:

“Why We Fight describes the rise and maintenance of the United States military-industrial complex and its fifty-year involvement with the wars led by the United States to date, especially its 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The documentary asserts that in every decade since World War II, the American public was told a lie, so that the Government (incumbent Administration) could take them to war and fuel the military-industrial economy maintaining American political dominance in the world. Interviewed about this matter, are politician John McCain, political scientist and former-CIA analyst Chalmers Johnson, politician Richard Perle, reporter William Kristol, writer Gore Vidal, and public policy expert Joseph Cirincione.”

Click here for trailer

(Not picking up what we’re putting down, here? Check the screenshot’s time and date, chief.*)

For those of you who care about having your say on such issues as the fate of the global economy, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s creepy shit-eating grin, and the career of attractive albeit frighteningly ill-prepared hockey moms, voter registration continues on campus for the next two weeks. The table, sponsored by Skidmore Democrats,  has been outside of Case all week and is trying to make its hours a bit more uniform, so any time you can offer would surely be appreciated.

Email Mariale Renna, Skidmore Dems Secretary, at mrenna@skidmore.edu with whatever time 12-4 Monday through Thursday you can offer.

*Insult to injury addendum: Gentleman Johnny hadn’t even decided on whether or not he would attend the debate at 10:16 AM. Yikes.