With prominent advertisements springing up across campus, the Les Aspin Center for Government has been gaining more attention from students this semester than ever before. Widely seen as merely an internship in Washington, D.C. for Political Science majors, the Les Aspin Center is actually open to all majors and offers a program in Milwaukee, an exchange program in Africa and summer internships in D.C.

Previously known merely as the Marquette Washington Intern Program, The Center was renamed in honor of its benefactor, Les Aspin, after his death in 1995. Les Aspin was an assistant professor of economics at Marquette University before his election to the United States House of Representatives. He was named the Secretary of Defense in 1993 under the Clinton administration, where his term was racked with problems, including the infamous fiasco in Mogadishu.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense Web site, as a result of his refusal to send tanks and armored vehicles to the U.S. forces in Somalia, enemy “forces in Mogadishu killed 18 U.S. soldiers and wounded more than 75 in attacks that also resulted in the shooting down of three U.S. helicopters and the capture of one pilot.” Aspin claimed that the request had been made in the context of humanitarian aid, which had prompted his refusal. He resigned shortly after in 1994, citing personal reasons and returned to Marquette University as a professor of international policy. Due to his influence in creating the internship program, Marquette decided the Center should be renamed in his honor.

Although the Les Aspin Center is focused on students with an interest in public policy, it does not limit programs to political science majors. According to Kathryn Hein, the Assistant Director of the Center in Milwaukee, the number of communication and journalism majors in the program is rapidly increasing. Over the past few years, the Center has sent approximately 10 biomedical engineers to Washington per year for internships at the Food and Drug Administration. Communication majors often intern in press offices or at local newspapers, such as the “Washington Post”.

While in Washington D.C., students take 15 credits of classes two days per week, then intern three days per week. Internships are matched to the students’ interests and political views, and allow them to be a part of day-to-day activities in the Capitol.

Kyle Mayo, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Aspin Council, a committee of program alumni, said, “I went to committee hearings, wrote memos…I wrote amendments to the federal budget!”

Kevin Seifert, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, alumnus of the Washington program and co-founder and chair of the Aspin Council, said he gained immensely valuable experience, while at Les Aspin. As an intern in Congressman Tom Petri’s office, he gave tours of the Capitol building, attended hearings and worked alongside the congressman.

“It got my foot in the door for a lot of opportunities for after graduation…You need that in Washington,” Seifert said.

In addition to the Washington D.C. program, the Les Aspin Center sponsors a program based in Milwaukee, placing students in local, city and state government offices for a three-credit internship. The Kleczka Internship Program is also available to all majors and targets students with financial need, allowing them a stipend of up to 1500 dollars, so that students can focus on the internship and not a job.

The Center also sponsors an exchange program with Africa, which brings approximately 18 students from East Africa for six weeks and 18 from West Africa the following semester also for six weeks. Participants spend five weeks in Washington, D.C., learning about the American process of government and American culture and another week in Milwaukee on the Marquette campus. Over winter break, about 18 Marquette Students spend a week in Africa meeting with government leaders and talking to graduates of the Aspin Africa Program.

The Center’s programs take student needs into great consideration to allow them a glimpse into the workings of the country. Marquette is beginning to accept applicants from other universities to partake in this opportunity to work in the Capitol as well, including students from Loyola, University of Wisconsin- Madison and University of Pittsburgh.

“You are in the power hub of the country,” Mayo said.

Popularity: 14% [?]

As you may know, Marquette has two papers that serve the community. I make it a point to read both. In last week’s Thursday issue of the other paper, columnist Brandon Stokes wrote about his desire to “socialize higher education.” Many liberal professors and administrators here at Marquette may agree with Stokes, but take it from Mark Twain who said not to “let your schooling get in the way of your education.” So, I’ll venture to do what many of your professors are afraid to do: give you an alternative opinion. Think of it as an “alternative lifestyle” if that turns you on to it. Stokes says that “Students are being priced out of good universities and they are forced to look at less qualified schools for the sake of affordability” and that if you go to a more expensive college and take out loans you’ll have huge debt. Well no kidding Mr. Stokes. So what? You mean to tell me that the laws of supply and demand apply to college, too? That’s like saying if you don’t want to spend money on a keg of Rolling Rock, you may want to buy a cheaper one of Milwaukee’s Best. That’s called a cost-benefit analysis, we do them everyday. Faced with a choice, you look at the options and decide whether the benefits you’ll get from a transaction outweigh the cost. It’s kind of like deciding to go on a first date; on the one hand you may miss a night out drinking with your buddies, but on the other hand, you may be meeting your future wife.

Mr. Stokes then asks how any student could “feel good” about themselves upon graduation “because of loans.” Maybe this person decided that the Catholic education at Marquette was worth it. Or maybe it was the connections they were able to make here that they couldn’t at, say, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Or maybe it was the fact that they will now make $60,000 a year because they went to a place like Marquette.

Next Mr. Stokes says there is a bleak outlook for college graduates who leave college to face “a job market that has been weakening for years…” Unless he’s talking about the job market for Brewers playoff t-shirts, he lost me there. The unemployment rate has dropped to 4.6 percent, a hugely significant drop since 1983 when it was above 10 percent.

Stokes then contends that it’s “the duty of our government to provide [higher education]” and that “the government should model itself after some European countries and socialize [it].” What he doesn’t tell us is why it’s the government’s duty to pay for everyone to go to college. Is it because it’s good for people? Well so is tuna and the government doesn’t provide tuna for us. Ask yourself, if the government has a duty to pay for you to go to college, what doesn’t it have a duty to do? Government is not bound to do things that are good for its citizens.

Perhaps most dubiously, Stokes claims that within his version of socialization of higher education, “people would be able to study things that interest them without the burden of worrying about finances.” No doubt, he’s right. What Stokes doesn’t question is whether or not taxpayers should be forced to essentially pay for me or you to learn about whatever we want to. A secret dream I have is to be a country music singer. Should other taxpayers pay for me to study country music? Absolutely not. I’d venture to say that if people were entitled to study whatever they want, we here at Marquette would have a lot of Green Bay Packer majors with an emphasis on Brett Favre studies. Studying to become a doctor, lawyer or accountant are not things usually interesting to a person, many do it out of motivation for long-term payback. Mercifully, Stokes’ article finally ends with a claim that “We do not revolve around money, but money revolves around us.” It seems like that contradicts his earlier claim that no one could feel good about him or herself with college debt. Central to the idea of socialized higher education is money it requires the taking of money from one group of people and giving it to another. It’s plain to see, Stokes’ whole article revolves around money. And on that he’s right, when it comes to socializing things; it’s all about the Benajmins.

Popularity: 8% [?]

In its profile of the Wisconsin Governor’s race, the New York Times said incumbent Democrat Jim Doyle “comes off more as a technocrat than an ideologue.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines a technocrat as “a technical expert, especially one in a managerial or administrative position.”

Jim Doyle was re-elected yesterday by the voters of Wisconsin because he’s more of a technocrat than a politician. He’s a man of small ideas, not grand visions, and sometimes, often actually, voters like that.

On values issues, Doyle is a liberal’s liberal. He’s often wielded his veto pen to please the pro-gay marriage crowd, the pro-abortion groups and the gun control crowd. During the campaign he characterized his veto as the only thing stopping enactment of Republicans’ “extreme right-wing” social agenda, and he prodded liberals to get out and volunteer for his campaign.

But even with gay marriage and the death penalty on the ballot, Wisconsin voters choose Doyle based on his perceived moderate stances on economic and social questions. Doyle’s “Affordability Agenda,” which encompassed issues like health care, education, jobs and taxes, seemed to find solid center-left ground upon which to stand.

Health care
Doyle’s health care plan is a story of conflicting tax breaks. On the one hand, Doyle supports expanding the tax deduction for an employee’s share of the cost of health insurance. But on the other, Doyle is the only governor in the nation to veto a state tax deduction for health savings accounts. Still, tax credits and deductions are more moderate that standard liberal health care welfare programs.

This summer, Doyle created a bi-partisan “Healthy Wisconsin Council” to look at pooling catastrophic insurance purchasing in Wisconsin. What Doyle really wanted to do was replicate such a program in New York, but he lacked the political will. It may turn out to have been a campaign-season stunt to make Doyle appear concerned about health care. But if the Council’s Republicans get on board, it may become a bi-partisan program that saves the state and businesses on their health insurance premiums.

Doyle’s campaign ran a TV ad touting his work on FamilyCare, which allows some seniors to choose to stay in their homes rather than being placed in a nursing home. Because home care is generally cheaper than staff-intensive nursing homes, this program saves the state money. With bi-partisan support, FamilyCare will likely expand statewide over the next four years. This is typical of Doyle’s moderate tendencies: Find a program that saves taxpayers and provides state benefits for seniors. Education
Doyle has assiduously crafted his image as “the education governor.” So far, he’s pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into public schools. No doubt this school-spending spree will continue during his second term, which will make the teachers’ union very happy indeed. Still, do not expect Doyle’s second term to produce a comprehensive revamp of Wisconsin’s education funding system, which analysts on both sides of the aisle believe to be terribly broken. It is doubtful Doyle and Legislative Republicans could ever find an agreement that meets the needs of Doyle’s teachers’ union pals and Republicans’ anti-tax agenda.

Doyle’s “Wisconsin Covenant,” which guarantees high-performing eighth-graders admission to a college in Wisconsin, has already secured significant support from both public and private institutions of higher learning. This initiative’s success will be his signature second-term accomplishment for higher education.

Jobs and taxes
Here again, Doyle has managed to seek out a mushy center-left existence. During his first term, Doyle signed Jobs Creation Acts I and II to repeal various environmental and other regulations and reform the single-factor sales tax to help business in Wisconsin grow. He also signed two minimum wage increases, but only after convincing business interest groups to endorse the proposals and the Republican Legislature to pass them.

Given Doyle’s environmentalist campaign rhetoric and endorsements, it is highly doubtful that in his second term Doyle will pass any new regulatory relief. It’s also pretty unlikely Wisconsin will get another minimum wage increase after passing two in recent years. Rather, it is expected that Doyle will focus on passing a “Living Wage Tax Credit.” As a refundable tax credit, it is basically a welfare program – we’ll see if the Republicans in the Legislature bite.

On taxes, Doyle vetoed a strong Republican property tax freeze, and then used his line item veto pen to write his own watered-down property tax freeze. Still, however weak, it was a property tax freeze. In his second term, taxes will continue to grow incrementally, as Republicans continue to pass tough budgets and Doyle continues to use his veto pen to craft weak “freezes.”

Alternative Theory
The overall prediction is that Doyle will continue to govern from the mushy middle. On values questions he will wield his veto pen to stop Republicans from passing concealed carry, abortion restrictions etc. On social questions, he will continue his current track of spending more on education and using targeted tax credits and deductions to help working-class families.

Wisconsinites will see taxes continue to inch up incrementally under a quasi-freeze, but Doyle won’t be able to stray too far because his starting point will always be the Republican Legislature’s budget.

Yet Doyle suggested on WISC-TV this campaign is “quite possibly my last.” (Republicans have capitalized on these rumors to motivate their base, suggesting that Doyle has only been moderate during his first term because he wanted so badly to be re-elected. Once the need to appeal to independents and moderates is removed because he’s not running again, Doyle will govern from his hard-left heart, as the theory goes. Only time will tell if that theory is proven true; regardless, Doyle will still be limited to governing from the common ground he can find with Legislative Republicans.

Conclusion
No one will accuse Doyle of being the heir to John F. Kennedy. He’s bald and bland on the stump. But maybe that’s why the undecided voters went with him – he’s safe. He makes the trains run on time. He’s not flashy, but he not threatening either. And he’s a technocrat, not a politician. So even though only 32 percent of voters think Wisconsin is headed in the right direction, the incumbent governor wins. In a quintessentially purple state, Doyle navigated the last four years just right. He used his veto pen to keep his liberal base happy, and he used his bully pulpit to push small ideas that appeal to moderates. Toss in $12 million of television advertising, and in a heavily Democrat cycle you clinch four more years. What he’ll make of them will be as much up to the Republican legislative majority as Doyle himself.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Perhaps you’ve heard the rumor, and I hate to be the one to break it to you, but it’s true. In the state of Minnesota, you are now not legally 21 years old until 8 a.m. on your 21st birthday. Is this some sick joke Minnesota politicians decided to play on newly-christened 21-year-olds to make them wait before the inevitable binge? No, it is just another instance of our government thinking they know better than the people themselves.

The Minnesota State Legislature heard a rumor that people like to go to the bars and get really, really drunk on their 21st birthday at 12:01 a.m. “Well,” they thought, “that’s unacceptable. How can we change that?”

Before you could say “governmental interference,” a law was passed and signed into law by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Now, new 21-year-olds cannot drink until 8 a.m. on their actual birthdays.

In practical terms, is this really a big deal? Obviously not. However, it is emblematic of the ridiculous legislation that is all too common in the United States. Think about mandatory seatbelt laws, mandatory helmet laws and numerous others like them.

They are an assault on the common sense of citizens. People know wearing a seatbelt while in a car is a safe and logical thing to do. Trying to scare people into doing so is not what the government should focus on. I am no more likely to wear my seatbelt now that I know I’ll get fined if I don’t than I was before said law was passed. If anything, it makes me want to not wear it so as to “stick it to the man.”

If I want to ride my motorcycle without a helmet, I may be stupid, but the government shouldn’t be able to tell me not to. If I get into a crash and get hurt, I’m the one who will suffer. I should have the right to chose for myself the risks I want to take. It’s obviously smart to brush my teeth every morning, but that doesn’t mean the government should mandate teeth-brushing and make it punishable by a fine.

Beyond all that, this law is a fiscally irresponsible decision for the state of Minnesota. Twenty-one-year-olds who want to drink on their birthdays at 12:01 a.m. could theoretically step across a state line into, say, Wisconsin, and enjoy their first legal alcoholic beverage. For my 21st birthday this summer, this Minnesota resident held his party here in Wisconsin so he could go out to bars at 12:01 a.m. All of the money my group spent could have been “poured” into the Minnesota economy, if not for the knee-jerk, reactionary politicians who legislate common sense.

In college, we are told the answer to many questions about societal ills is— and should be— the government. After all, the government exists to help solve our problems for us, right? Take a step back when confronted with a societal problem, weigh individual liberties and try to think logically before supporting a reactionary policy. Keep in mind that while the government does fix some problems, it creates an awful lot, too. In this case, it may be an all—day binge that starts at 8 a.m.

Popularity: 3% [?]