I Sat Down With College Republicans to Watch the Democratic Debate

I sat down with the College Republicans club on campus in order to watch the Democratic debate. It was a little depressing watching some of it, but overall it was a rather exciting time. It was interesting because it was everything I thought it was going to be; dominated by Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton with the occasional words from Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, and Martin O’Malley.

The general consensus among the young Republicans was that Clinton was not genuine at all. She came off as forced and scripted. Bernie Sanders, as usual, was laughed and mocked because of his economic views and his belief that we needed to be more like Denmark and Sweden. I pointed out to the rest of the gathered Republicans in attendance that the Scandinavian countries actually have lower taxes when it comes to corporations and businesses and a relatively flat tax when it comes to taxing income. Of course Bernie wants to focus on the free aspects of that and not how to pay for it.

What’s surprising is that we sort of had a mini-debate within the Republican Party about foreign policy. One of the attendees was in favor of interventionism and we had a back and forth, which highlights real divisions within the GOP as well as differences in foreign policy between Democrats and Republicans.

It was also surprising to see how Hillary Clinton decided to rip into Sanders on his (according to progressives) less than stellar gun control record and accused him of moving left on positions he is historically moderate on.

Then there was criminal justice system. Once more, there is general consensus that the criminal justice system hits non-violent drug offenders hard; however, I pointed out, that Republicans like Rand Paul have been pushing this issue much more than Democrats in recent years. Rand Paul started talking about criminal justice reform back in 2013, while Clinton, Sanders, and O’Malley have only recently come along. Webb is probably the only one  who has a record of actually addressing this issue and even he’s  given Rand Paul credit for talking about it when Democrats haven’t.

One of the more laughed at moments was when the Black Lives Matter question that came up. Everyone of them said Black Lives Matters, except for Jim Webb (though Hillary Clinton wasn’t even asked the question). There is understanding that the criminal justice system and the war on drugs have created racial disparities in the system, but then again, most of the policing strategies we see now were created under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

Then, of course, the rest of the debate went according to plan. The College Republicans ripping apart each of the candidates for their stances on everything from free college to free healthcare. But in the aftermath, there was a conversation about Trump v Sanders. One called it free entertainment. Who could destroy the country faster? A Trump supporter mentioned Trump’s business record. When it came to Sanders, there was a general agreement that at least he is honest about his intentions.

If there is one thing I think we could all agree on was how well Anderson Cooper did. He was tough and fair. He ripped into all the candidates equally, not allowing for personal attacks and extended back and forth like someone else from CNN did (Jake Tapper). I hope he continues to moderate debates. It was especially entertaining to watch Hillary Clinton’s explanations for all her flip-flops within the last few years (which means she’s going to win; Mitt Romney had the same problem back in 2012).

In the end, the Democratic debate was both surprising and predictable at the same time. The College Republicans don’t like any of the candidates and many believe that Hillary Clinton should be in jail. They don’t like Bernie Sanders because he criticized capitalism. And they don’t like O’Malley. Webb and Chafee? Who the hell are they?