The WCU Honor’s college and Political Science Club put on a mock presidential debate on Nov. 1 in the Turner Auditorium in which students representatives debated on the republican, democratic, and libertarian platforms.
Representing the Republican College was Reagan Hartley, Lucie Bowman represented the Democratic College, and Colton Overcash represented the Young American Libertarians.
The same rules as a typical presidential debate were in place – two minutes per question per person, everyone gets a one minute rebuttal, there is no opening statement but each representative got a one minute closing statement, and the first speaker is decided by a coin toss.
Congressional Candidate Mark Meadows was in the crowd. Also, there was an on campus police officer in attendance incase anything got out of hand.
Among many topics discussed were education, research and development of renewable energy, healthcare, and the federal debt.
The libertarian platform seemed a bit contradictory at times. When discussing education, free college was encouraged but when talking about healthcare, Overcash said that “ObamaCare” borderlines socialism.
Healthcare seemed to be the hot topic of the night. Bowman and the Democratic Party believe that healthcare is crucial and that “government is responsible for 100% of the people.” Hartley repeated the GOP stance that the government has overstepped and people should decide for themselves. Overcash said that “people don’t want healthcare shoved down their throats.”
Hartley was the main aggressor of the debate with direct statements attacking a lot of Bowman’s statements. When discussing healthcare Bownman talked about her mother’s high blood pressure and how children don’t want to go to bed worrying about their parents. Hartley’s rebuttal was, “I’m sure children don’t go to bed worried.” Also, when Bowman used a personal story about the price of asthmatic inhalers, Hartley made the statement, “I’m not going to compare stories.”
“Things didn’t get as heated as I had expected, but I think each representative did a good job of getting their point across,” said audience member, WCU junior Julianne Modjeski.
Overall, the Democratic platform was strong government involvement, the Republican platform was every person for themselves, and the Libertarian platform was encouraged free enterprise.
