LIMIT TO CHANGE IN POLITICAL POLITICS

Published Jan. 22, 2008 in "The Oklahoma Daily"
Viewable Online Here

For the first time in quite a few election seasons, would-be presidential candidates from both parties are campaigning on a somewhat universal common platform.

This sort of agreement, though unusual, is good.

Also good is the fact that the key player of this platform is change.

Change is sorely needed in this country and its governmental policies on a number of levels. The potential of change also seen among the candidates themselves, as a woman and an African-American man are the front-runners of their party’s candidates and arguably are in the strongest position to make a bid for the White House.

That in itself is huge. And if one (or perhaps both) made it onto the Democratic ticket, and then won, the biggest change in American politics will have taken place.

Change is good, it keeps things fresh, so they say.

But in politics, particularly presidential politics, only so much can change.

As much as the candidates’ platforms may focus on it and as much as the candidates themselves embody change, not all aspects of this all-important quadrennial election are subject to any sort of transformation.

Not by a long shot.

Dirty politics will always remain a fixture of presidential races.

Take the recent debacle in Nevada regarding the Democratic Caucus. The caucus system requires its voters to meet or “caucus” at a particular time at a particular place in the area or “precinct” where they live. In Nevada, that particular time was during the midday lunch break.

Out of concern for the thousands of casino and hotel workers in Las Vegas who would not have sufficient time off from work to travel home, caucus, and travel back, the Nevada Democratic Party created several “at-large” precincts in casinos on the Strip.

The idea was that any worker with valid employment ID that worked within 2.5 miles of the at-large precinct location who was verifiably scheduled to work during the lunch hour would be able to caucus at these locations and make their voices heard. All relevant procedures and statues were followed in this process.

All was well until the Nevada State Education Association (the teachers’ union) filed a lawsuit on Jan. 11, to block the at-large precincts on the grounds that they violated election laws and would proportion support unfairly.

Suspiciously, this was only two days after the powerful 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union in Nevada endorsed Sen. Barack Obama. The well-organized and heavily Hispanic CWU gave Sen. Obama a huge boost in the Nevada electorate.

Even more suspicious were the somewhat concealed ties between NSEA’s leadership and Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was running slightly ahead of Sen. Obama in Nevada polls prior the CWU endorsement.

Of course, Sen. Clinton’s campaign denies any involvement, and this may be true on an official level. However, the peculiar coincidences of the timing of the NSEA’s challenge so soon after the CWU endorsement leads one to believe that a carefully orchestrated effort to disenfranchise a large group of people (who were likely to not vote Hillary) was under way by people certainly connected with the campaign in question.

On the elephant’s side of the pasture, presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s faux pas in creating a virulently anti-Mitt Romney television spot and then deciding to not air it, except for a screening for the press corps, has been widely discussed and often ridiculed.

While it’s not exactly a dirty tactic, and is even admirable on some levels, it’s still a little puzzling.

Huckabee’s camp maintains that the ordained Southern Baptist Minister felt that attacking Romney in such a manner would have been wrong.

The withdrawal of the ad also had the, I believe, intended effect of highlighting Huckabee’s human decency, often a rare trait in presidential elections. It also made sure the he and his campaign stayed in the media spotlight for the few crucial days prior to the Iowa Caucus. He of course won Iowa, largely as a result of the Christian right, whose poster child in earlier weeks had been Romney. Thus, the fiasco with the withdrawn ad seems not entirely a candidate’s succumbing to his human sense of compassion, but more a calculated ploy to win over his main opponent’s chief supporters.

Neither of the two examples above deal with anything illegal. No one acted outside the bounds of the law, although many will argue that their actions were questionable at best.

What is certain is that these actions certainly do not convey or conform to the optimistic image of a new America, changed from the cruel years of the past into a new bastion of hope, freedom, and prosperity that is touted by virtually all the candidates at the moment.

No, these actions are decidedly reminiscent of the shady and cutthroat campaigning that have been a fixture in American politics for many decades now, and if these examples are any hint, will remain for many decades to come.

Some change may be forthcoming a year from now, when a new president is sworn in, and we may be closer to a more united, happier, changed America.

Just don’t expect to see much of that change in practice anywhere near the presidential election between now and November.

BUDGET CUTS HINDER OK PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Published Jan. 15, 2008 in "The Oklahoma Daily"
Viewable Online Here

Budget cuts. These are not anything new in Oklahoma, especially at Oklahoma City Public Schools. For more that two years we have heard about various arts programs being cut and funding being dropped. But what impact are these cuts having in the art classrooms?

A good place to look for the answer is Classen School of Advanced Studies. Classen, in addition to its renowned IB academic program, is the only school in the state to have the nationally-recognized Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) program. To gain admission into Classen through this program, students must audition in one of seven disciplines. Upon acceptance, VPA students begin a rigorous arts curriculum centered around their discipline or “major”. Unfortunately for Classen students, the budget cuts don’t just affect one area, but the entire program.

Usually, the district supplies each art teacher in the district with $500 each year to cover supplies. As art teacher Karyn Stafford puts it, “I teach about one hundred students every year. That comes out to $5 per student, which is nothing as far as art supplies are concerned. We usually have to rely on donations from individuals and from groups.”

Last year was even worse, as the district could not afford to give the teachers any money.

“You can see first-hand the effects of the budget cuts at art competitions,” Stafford says, “The private schools’ stuff is more, bigger, flashier. We would be a force to contend with if we had that kind of funding. That Classen holds its own at these competitions is testament to the enormous talent of the students.”

Classen’s instrumental music departments have also felt the impact of tightening belts. For example, the orchestra department does not receive nearly the funds necessary for regular maintenance and upkeep of its instruments. Classen is a public school and cannot charge its students anything, therefore fundraising is the only option.

Jordan Morris, a past member of Classen’s Jazz Band, talks about another problem. “Most of the instruments we use are owned by the district, and not by Classen. We borrow them from different schools that aren’t using them at the time. Now that there’s no money to replace or repair worn-out instruments, the other schools want their instruments back. We’ve already lost some instruments.”

This is a shame as Morris considers the Classen jazz band a great opportunity to play with gifted musicians and the aspiring talents of his generation.

The problems aren’t just limited to music. Facilities badly in need of repair are not being worked on for lack of money. “We don’t have money for newer costumes, we have to share our practice space with other groups, and our studio has zero heating,” said Lauren Bond, senior dance major.

Faced with obstacles such as these, one would expect the Classen arts departments to wither. The fact that Classen arts students continue their excellence is testament to not only the enormous talent praised by teachers as being “beyond compare and full of character,” but also to the teachers.

Students receive basic skills from the teachers, but the rest is left for them to master. Yet, without proper funding students at Classen and across the state are forced to make due with what they are given.