By HANNAH CUNNINGHAM
On Monday July 11th in the Schoolhouse Reading Room, the two presidential candidates for the United States of America from the St. Paul’s School Advanced Studies Program, Carolyn Keyes from the American Solutions Party and Molly Kepner from the Block Party, went head to head in a debate.
“Debate” may not be exactly the correct term to describe this exchange, though. As the candidates stood in front of their peers in the Law and Government class, the Mass Media class, and the four cameras capturing their every move, Keyes and Kepner agreed on nearly every topic. The topics addressed ranged from the right to die to illegal immigration to minimizing the country’s deficit. In many aspects, the candidates’ views were as similar as their matching outfits.
After the debate Keyes said that she thought “(her) opponent did a nice job. Although we did agree on many things, we both agreed on bettering this country.” Kepner also admitted that the two candidates were surprisingly similar. The two candidates agreed so much that the time slots given to them for statements, rebuttals, responses, and re-responses were hardly ever filled.
When the slots were filled, it was often with scripted sentences, read aloud by a politically-correct robot of sorts. Perhaps this was due to nerves, or maybe inexperience, or perhaps these two candidates were too afraid to passionately advocate for their ideas. When asked about this potential reluctance, Kepner rejected the accusation when she stated that she “didn’t just read a script and that (she) got the emotion and feeling of the room.”
While Keyes and Kepner did agree on most topics, a few questions garnered unique answers. When asked “How do you plan to address the problem with illegal immigration?” Keyes responded by saying that “illegal immigration has a detrimental effect on American civilization.” On the other hand, Kepner claimed that “we don’t have the manpower to collect every illegal immigrant because we can use our resources better and the border patrol is good how (it is).”
This disagreement was a rare occurrence throughout the night. Addressing the deficit, Kepner said her solution is to, “reduce unnecessary government programs such as NASA. That money is good elsewhere.” Likewise, Keyes said she plans, “to work to make our government more efficient.”
In dealing with the right to die, both passive candidates replied similarly. Kepner asserted that “people do have the right to die. The First Amendment gives liberty and life and therefore the right to die,” while Keyes said, “[It’s] not the government’s choice to decide to let people die.”
As the so-called debate came to a close, the candidates each said a few cordial words. Keyes finished by saying that she “look(s) forward to talking to everyone soon.” Kepner closed her speech with that statement that “(her) main goal is to better this country.”
The two candidates will meet again tomorrow night in Memorial Hall for another debate and the voting for the election will be held later this week (details had yet to be finalized in time for this post).
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