Tomorrow night, March 16th, the Mizzou College Democrats and College Republicans are having our Debate! It starts tomorrow at 7pm in Stotler Lounge II in Memorial Union. It’s completely free so make sure you come out and show your support for the Mizzou College Democrats! Questions will be taken from the audience on the subjects of Federal Education Policy (Dept. of Education, NCLB, Race to the top, Teachers Unions, etc.), U.S. Foreign policy towards renegade states (Iran, North Korea, etc.), and Fairtax on a national level. So make sure you come prepared with questions beforehand so we can fully explore each party’s position, and don’t forget to bring along your friends!
A Week in Politics (3/10)
Welcome to the Mizzou College Democrats’ new column! I conceptualized this column to contain the most interesting stories of the week, whether they be news or commentaries. A bulk of the content will probably be news however, as we’ll try to give more prominence to editorials in separate posts. We’ll try to write a short description with each link to try to catch your attention, hope you enjoy!
Zachary Henry – Communications Director
A Week in Politics:
Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, Flip-flops and Passes Union-Busting Bill
After being exposed as a deceitful politician, it seems Governor Walker has sheared any pretense of being about fiscal responsibility. He has tried numerous times to present his ideological crusade against the working class as the solution to the self-created deficit for Wisconsin, but now it seems he has separated the elimination of collective bargaining from the financial provisions, allowing the bill to pass.
Senator Roy Blunt‘s “Approval Numbers Already Under Water”
It seems Senator Roy Blunt got very lucky last year. His approval ratings are so dismal it seems to be that he would have lost in any other election cycle.
The Republican State Legislature Votes to Undo the Voters’ Will
Republicans in the Missouri State Legislature seem to be in a hurry to reverse what the people of Missouri have voted for. Not stopping at removing the Minimum Wage law (which passed with 76% of the vote), it seems that the Republicans are busy working on repealing the Puppy Mill law voted on in 2010.
United States Senate Votes Down the House’s Budget Plan
The United States House’s Budget, (which would cripple environmental and financial regulations, make draconian cuts in essential programs, and actually add to the national deficit) was thankfully voted down in the Senate. Here’s to hoping the Republicans can create an intelligent plan before they effectively shutdown the government.
Filed under Uncategorized
A Bipartisan Proposal to Shrink Missouri’s Government
With the new census numbers in, Missouri’s growth is a wash. On one hand, Missouri’s population grew faster than most midwestern states, but was sluggish compared to most of the country. In fact, once the redistricting process is completed, Missouri will have one less representative in the United States House. This highlights an interesting fact about Missouri’s state government. Missouri’s population rank out of all the other states is 18th, while the size of the Missouri Legislature is 4th in the nation!
Susan Montee, the Head of the State Democratic Party, wrote a piece in the Missouri Record about an initiative that could possibly be on the ballot in 2012. It would shrink Missouri’s House of Representatives from 163 members to 105 members and take effect in 2023. She’s says,
“Politicians spend a great deal of time talking about reducing the size of government. A true reduction in the size of government should begin with a reduction of the number of politicians.”
See the letter here.
Not only would this make our state’s house more efficient, it’d save taxpayers millions of dollars a year! About $5 million to be exact. Other states have realized this long before; the Texas house has 150 members but the state of Texas has a population of more than four times Missouri’s population. This petition is currently collecting signatures to have this measure put up to a vote to the people of Missouri to amend the Missouri Constitution. And this idea is getting bipartisan support! Peter Kinder, the Lt. Governor, who happens to be a Republican, agreed with the idea. The idea was first proposed by Missouri’s Republican Governor John Ashcroft in 1990.
When the nation and the state have been forced to make cuts to all types of programs, we need a way to make our government leaner and more efficient! This proposal would save Missouri taxpayers millions of dollars, a noble goal especially in these challenging times. And it would have the effect of making our elections more competitive so that only the best candidates get the privilege to serve Missourians. The Mizzou College Democrats supports this proposal to improve the Missouri House of Representatives.
Filed under Uncategorized
Blog Redesign Part Deux
I may have been a little premature with the last post, so I have decided to give you all an updated idea for what’s ahead for the blog!
Our first priority is to try to post new content on the blog as much as possible for the run up to the presidential election in 2012. Our goal is to inform the student body on issues and combat the misinformation that some contemporary new outlets are presenting these days. We’ll probably expand the number of writers for this blog in the future so that we can keep posting interesting content often!
Our second priority will be getting the Mizzou College Democrats our own domain. We’ll probably getting a .com name, however, which one we go with will probably voted on. (mucollegedems.com, mizzoucollegedemocrats.com, etc) We’ll be setting up a custom wordpress site at that domain so we can have a little bit more flexibility in design.
And lastly, we’ll be having some custom made graphics for the new site to make it look more official. The overall layout of the site probably won’t change drastically, but things may change as we go forward and as we learn how flexible the new domain will let us be.
Along with any news related to College Democrats, I’ll be introducing some new columns on the blog this week and I’ll be posting another editorial! So make sure to keep checking back!
Zachary Henry – Communications Director
Filed under Uncategorized
Blog Redesign!
The Mizzou College Democrats’ Blog is changing for the better!
This is still very much a work in progress, but I decided to recreate the blog for a number of reasons. I wanted to make it more attractive, somewhere where people would want to stay and browse. Secondly, I wanted to make it more functional. I tried to cut down on the most of the clutter and just leave what was necessary.
I’m still deciding on what the blog will ultimately settle into, but if anyone has any suggestions or criticisms please feel free to comment or email us at mizzoucollegedemocrats@gmail.com
Thanks for your support, and know this is just the beginning of things to come!
Zachary Henry - Communications Director
Filed under Misc.
The Month in Review and a Look into March
Before I get into the post, I just wanted to quickly thank everyone who reads the blog! It’s the Mizzou College Democrats’ aim to create a lively and active progressive community at Mizzou, and we think that the blog let’s the community stay informed and have a place to voice their opinions. With that said, this past February, the blog has gotten the highest average amount of views in a month than it has had in almost 2 years! (and that’s off the weakest January numbers yet!) Thank you everyone!
It’s been a successful past month for the Mizzou College Democrats and it’s been a really great start to the semester. Our Trivia Night Fundraiser with the Young Democrats of Missouri had a great turnout, thanks to everyone that attended! We raised a nice sum for our future plans. Our February General Meeting’s attendance was an improvement over January’s and we hope anyone that couldn’t come tries to make it to our March meeting. At the general meeting we heard from Coal Free Mizzou and Mitch Richards, who is running for a city council seat in the first ward. Check out his website here.
The Boone County Democrats are having a Chili Supper tomorrow February 28th. It’s $10 and it starts at 5:30pm. It should be a good time, it’s at the Knights of Columbus Hall. Also, the 40th Annual Missouri Democrat Days is March 4th-5th. We have a group going and they’re expected to hear from Robin Carnahan among other Missouri Democrats! We’ll have a write up of the event on the blog.
Lastly, I just want to plug our Debate with the College Republicans. It’s March 16th at 7pm in Stotler Lounge II. The topics of the debate will include Education, Foreign Policy towards renegade states, and Fairtax on the national level. Make sure you come with questions so you can fully explore each party’s positions! It should be an entertaining night for both sides of the political spectrum.
Filed under Misc.
Reminder for the February General Meeting
We had a good turnout at our Trivia Night Fundraiser and we would like to thank everyone who came out to support us! This is just a reminder that the Mizzou College Democrats will be holding our February General Meeting on Thursday, the 24th at 7pm in Arts & Science, Room 114. We will be discussing Dem Days and the upcoming debate with the College Republicans. Coal Free Mizzou is also going to be there to speak with us.
Come on out to make sure you stay in the loop on what’s happening inside the Mizzou College Democrats, and if you have any friends who are interested bring them too!
Filed under Misc.
