We learned something
Posted by Michael Sears on November 30, 2007
By Mytae Carrasco
The Brookings Institute was a great follow up to the debate. It was nice to have dialogue with people who are really in the know about what is going on in Washington. The panel that spoke covered a lot about policy– something most citizens are not aware of. I think the Brookings Institute was a great way to show civic journalism because people were engaged and asking questions. It’s hard for people to understand politics at times. Personally, I find politics to be hard to follow because they are so many sides to a vote, veto, passing legislature etc. that you can get confused in the mumbo jumbo. I think it’s too bad that not enough people showed up to the event, because many knowledgeable people like Strobe Talbott, Zoe Baird, David Chalian, Kenneth Duberstein, Martin Indyk, Carlos Pascual, and Peter Rodman are people who know policy and know how things need to be changed.
I think it’s great that the Brookings Institute is actively involved with Opportunity 08, because citizens need to know more than what they know now. People should be accountable for knowing about the issues that will affect the country in the next couple of years. Since the presidential debates and the Brookings Institute events happened on our campus, I think students should take it upon themselves to learn more about the upcoming election. Whether or not that happened, who knows? If you have been a student at UNLV the past week, then you should know a little of what’s going on at least.
I think that engaging people is the best thing to do to get people to learn and take action. The Brookings Institute took action by coming to our school, and some students learned by what they had to say. My favorite part of the debate is in this following link and I think it gives you a taste for what is was like.
http://blogs.lasvegassun.com/politics/2007/11/17/brookings-debate-recap/
Unfortunately, not that many students showed up to the Brookings Institute event either. More students could have had a better idea of what policy and politics are if they had been more involved in the debates and Brookings Institute event.
