The Chronicle of Higher Education: Colloquy

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Whither student Deaniacs?

Author: Colloquy Moderator
Date: 02-26-04 13:13

College students were a key component of the presidential campaign of Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who recently ended his candidacy for the Democratic Party's nomination. In an essay in this week's Chronicle Review, Warren Goldstein, an associate professor of history and head of the department at the University of Hartford, reflects on student involvement in politics, past and present, and urges students disheartened by their candidate's failure not to abandon the political arena. What should those students do now? Support Ralph Nader? Be true to the Democratic Party? Vote for President Bush? Read more ...

Re: Whither student Deaniacs?

Author: Dowell Caselli-Smith, Tch OLC
Date: 03-01-04 09:31

Kucinich has the platform most similar to what attracted students to Dean on the war, health care, world trade, etc. He also has the best recrod for being consistent and transparent in his philosophy, views on war and trade, and for standing up in a centered rational way with integrity and courage. He will be left standing when the other flashy darlings of the moment have fallen.

and the moral of the story is?

Author: David Allen Harvey
Date: 03-01-04 10:15

It's not clear at all to me what the moral of Warren Goldstein's story is. He compares the grass-roots enthusiasm generated by Howard Dean to the student movement that rallied behind Gene McCarthy in the late 1960s. While it's true that, had he not been assassinated, Robert Kennedy might well have won the 1968 presidential election, the net effect of the grass-roots agitation that pushed the Democratic Party farther to the left in the late 1960s was nothing short of disastrous. The Democratic nominee produced in the following election year, George McGovern, was trounced in an almost unprecedented rout. In the quarter-century that separated Gene McCarthy from Bill Clinton, the Democrats won just one presidential election, and that owed more to Watergate than to any positive support for the party. Most of the remaining elections were not particularly close. All of the causes that progressives hold dear (peace, the environment, women's rights, social justice) suffered serious setbacks as a result.

What should today's student Deaniacs do? If they care at all about the issues that mobilized them behind Howard Dean over the last few months, they should rally strongly behind the Democratic Party's nominee, who, by all appearances, will be John Kerry. If they drop out of politics or give their votes to Ralph Nader, they will only make George W. Bush's reelection campaign that much easier. Sure, Kerry isn't perfect. But across the board, he is far preferable to four more years of corporate greed, class warfare from above, and made-for-TV wars.

Re: Whither student Deaniacs?

Author: Dr. Bert Garskof/Quinnipiac U.
Date: 03-02-04 09:06

It clears my head to think of the quest for needed progressive/left social change as "building the Movement." With that as the superordinate goal, I think of electoral politics as a tactic not a strategy. I do not think elections will never be an avenue for genuine sociel change. But, there are times when we can get "exposure," by running campaigns. So, when I ran for Congress in 1968, we did it with no illusions. It was a chance for me to speak more times in front of more and different constituencies. That was all. And that was when the Democrats were running the war. Now, with the radical right in charge, our tactics need to change. To defeat Democrats hurts the people we most care about. That is true because although the 2 parties are indeed tweedledee and dummer, they get into office by gleaning the votes of different groups and so the Democrats,to some extent, within the narrow parameters allowed for change within the "system," vote differently on people issues. We care about these people and these issues and cannot let the Republicans control them.

Re: Whither student Deaniacs?

Author: Jeff Morris/EMU
Date: 03-03-04 19:55

I think they ought to just go back on their meds and sit this election out as a protest. Or they could write in Dean. Or, vote Nader!

Re: Whither student Deaniacs?

Author: L Hoefer/Univ of Tampa
Date: 03-27-04 08:11

The student Deaniacs will definitely not be sitting this election out or going back on meds any time soon, judging from conversations I've overheard. The should -I -vote -Nader question seems to be front and center, because they all have been brainwashed into believing their votes will, when taken collectively, knock the Bush camp off its cowboy boots to resurrect Kerry (or, to be accurate, RE-resurrect) in all his fabled dovish Democrat glory. Somehow very few seem to have read the "Give up now and nobody gets hurt" memo sent repeatedly via rationale de la republican.