by Sam Royer ’15 with Matt Koehler ’15
On October 15, students representing Ignatius’s three political caucuses met in a spirited debate to present their positions on three political issues on the tenth anniversary of the original all-school political debate, almost a decade to the day after the United States invaded Iraq.
This year, Mr. Howard skillfully managed representatives from the Conservative, Liberal, and Libertarian caucuses through three major subject areas: the role, if any, of federal government in funding student loans, the legalization of marijuana, and how the United States should deal with countries developing weapons of mass destruction.
The heated debate began as the student debaters argued the question of whether or not the federal government should fund student loans. While the Conservatives and Libertarians fought against it, the Liberals argued that the federal government should take an active role.
On the contrary, the Libertarians maintained their belief that when loans get higher, tuition gets higher, and Conservatives added that the funding was backed by good intentions, but was ultimately disastrous. In the end, the three judges unanimously picked the Libertarians as the winner.
The second subject to be debated was the legalization of marijuana. The Conservatives took the opposite approach and fought that legalizing marijuana would only harm Americans and result in negative health effects. This time the Libertarians and the Liberal caucus, represented by sophomore Jacob Pilawa, came together and felt that the legalization would be good for the economy and could decrease teen drug use.
“The illegal status of marijuana is as archaic of a law as the 18th Amendment. It holds no legitimacy and therefore it must be done away with,” Pilawa said. “Prohibition has not, does not, and will never work in this country.
The debate heavily emphasized audience participation, which was especially vocal during the marijuana debate. While one audience member demanded to hear proof from the Conservatives that marijuana would result in negative health effects, another questioned the Liberal and Libertarian stance after watching a friend use marijuana as a gateway drug that would eventually lead to his death. Ultimately, the judges unanimously chose the Libertarians as the winner for a second time.
Finally, the third topic debated was whether or not the United States should be able to use force against countries using weapons of mass destruction. Once again, the Liberals and Libertarians sided together, believing that the United States should not use force.
Junior Zach Fechter led the way on foreign policy for the Conservatives, who claimed their only topic victory on the back of his strong primary speech and nimble response to an audience question about the parallels between weapons of mass destruction and a misbehaving neighbor.
The Caucuses will meet again this spring, leaving students with another spirited and heated debate to look forward to.
