Students around Grounds have cooled off from the Bush/Kerry debates that filled the first semester, and once again the sociopolitical mood has shifted back to the criticism and defense of national policy.
With every major political student organization stressing the importance of voting in the latest election and an apparently strict divide growing between the stances of the candidates, people have begun to associate the personality of parties with their respective presidential candidates rather than with party ideologies.
But how accurate are the associations made between candidate and party by the casual political observer, and what impact do they have?
The departure from a gray public to a black and white, Bush or anti-Bush, public can be largely attributed to George W. himself. His administration has been controversially conservative, taking a major step backward in non-denominational politics. He does not use the general pandering techniques that Kerry used to win mild support while offending few. His hard-line approach and dramatic catchphrases have generated an ardent following and fervent opposition. His campaign has drawn lines to divide the student body along with the majority of the nation and now is erroneously being considered the litmus test for party affiliation.
"There is a disparity amongst Republicans -- just look at the progressive support of stem cell research by Arnold Shwarzenegger and the strong opposition of it by George Bush," College Republicans Chair Ali Ahmad said.
There is life after Bush in the Republican Party, and you don't need to live by the Bible to agree with it. Ahmad said he does not see being a strict Bush supporter as the test of a person's political stance because "you can't compare yourself to each candidate issue by issue."
"In order to join a party, you have to find an underlying ideology that you can buy into that can overcome specific party issues," Ahmad added.
Despite the growing distance between Republicans and Democrats in recent years, University Democrats President David Wasserman agreed with Ahmad.
"I do think that you should judge each candidate individually," Wasserman said.
Yet while there seems to be a basic understanding among students that each candidate needs to be assessed independently of his or her party affiliation, this understanding is not always acted upon.
Living in today's post-Sept. 11 world of Bush ubiquity, students such as first-year College student Raj Jain often do not separate the individual from his party.
"This past election it didn't really matter what Senator Kerry said -- I supported him because he was Bush's opponent," Jain said.
Jain said he believes this phenomenon occurs because students are bound by the assumption that being Republican is being pro-Bush and being Democratic is nothing more than being anti-Bush.
"I think Bush's extremely conservative views have warped people's perceptions of the Republican Party," Jain said. "I know his stances on stem cell research and gay marriage have turned me against the Republican Party."
With Bush's irreverent statements and aggressive action widening the ideological gap between Republican and Democratic public images everyday, the democratic process becomes less effective with every election.
Instead of forcing each candidate to compete for the most efficient national, state or local plan, increased personal identification with parties causes American politics to become even more about the image than about the issue.
There is an advantage to party affiliation. To assess the policies of each candidate of each election at every level would be a full-time job. By finding a party that you generally agree with, you can support its candidates with the hope that the ideology that initially attracted you to that party is carried through in its terms. Whenever there is an opportunity to study the candidates, however, it is imperative that you base your decision solely on the qualifications of the candidate and not on party loyalty.
The strength of the democratic process lies in its ability to allow the people to select the official best suited for the position. This asset is compromised by the recent departure from politics based on the plan of the politician and the advent of politics based on the persona of the politician.
As the Republican Party image evolves to keep up with Bush's ultra-conservative stances, the party may not have any other direction to go in the next four years. Old ideology forsaken, our current political spectrum is being reshaped and, for better or for worse, the practice of judging the candidate for his or her ability -- not party membership -- is being forgotten.
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