Mon, January 26, 2004

Welcome to a new feature that I hope will becoming a long-standing tradition on this site. Each time, ARCC Joe Mulder and I will debate a new topic of relatively current interest. We disagree on plenty of things. Politics, for example. The Thin Red Line. The relative merits of Julianne Moore. It should be informative, or at the very least entertaining. Let's save some babies!

Topic:

The official weblog of the Howard Dean presidential campaign posts a brief story about a young girl who is volunteering for the campaign and phoning Iowa voters. (Link at left.)

Point: Jameson Simmons, Columnist Emeritus

I think it makes a profound statement about the viability of the American system of democracy and the promise of future generations that young Sarah recognizes, at such an early age, the importance of civic involvement. Although she is too young to vote, Sarah understands the values that are in play in the 2004 presidential election and wants to participate in whatever way she can. It's heartwarming that she has made the choice to give up a few valuable hours of her childhood – hours she could be spending catching fireflies in Bell jars or rolling a hoop with a stick – and devote them to the fight for a better future for herself and her school chums.

At the same time, the story exposes a dangerous undercurrent of voter disillusionment which persists even in an election year when the stakes are so high. Voting-aged Iowans are content to stay home and leave the political process to others, leading to a government elected by only a few of those constituents whom it represents. It is through the fortunate intervention of young Sarah that these apathetic undecideds recognize their folly. "Why, if this articulate young girl believes in the democratic process enough to volunteer for a candidate for whom she can't even vote," they must think, "I shall reconsider my decision to observe the political process of our great nation from the sidelines!"

It's an encouraging depiction of activism at its finest, and I applaud the Dean bloggers for profiling Sarah and expanding her reach beyond the Iowans she speaks to by phone.

CounterPoint: Joe Mulder, Frothing Lunatic

We all know it's nice when kids get involved, and aren't so much with the PlayStation and the rap music and the navel piercings, but, really. This is pretty much the exact problem we've got with your big lefties. People weren't going to go to the caucus, but they were motivated by an E-FUCKING-LEVEN YEAR OLD????? Aw, children are our future, children are wise and yet innocent and yet wise and... yeah. Children are little savages. I'm sure this young girl is very nice, and it's not her I'm worried about...

"This mature eleven year old sounds much older on the phone, so she revised her call script to include her age to make more of an impact."

That pretty much says it all. Apparently, your Dean voter is more likely to heed political advice from a young child than an adult. "Hm, I know that most of the leading influential Democrats, both here in Iowa and nationwide, have endorsed Governor Dean, but what does Emily think? I can't really make a decision until I've consulted Emily."

Just wonderful.

And, you know, when I read that that little girl had a different last name than her mom, it was just about the least surprising thing in the history of the world. That's all I'll say.

Rebuttal: Jameson Simmons, Columnist Emeritus

Well, color me surprised. I appreciate a lively discussion of our differing viewpoints, but I had hoped that at least we could keep this civil. I can tell from your multiple question marks that you are surprised to the power of five about "Emily's" [sic] ability to influence Iowa voters, but that shouldn't open the way for personal attacks. It's neither Sarah's fault nor her mother's that her father was killed in service in George W. Bush's immoral war in Iraq and her mother was forced to re-marry because she couldn't get a second job to feed her children due to the gross mismanagement of the American economy by the Bush administration – which is the only possible way to read the whole surname thing.

© onebee · all rights reserved