Luke Finklestein and Kayla Bleier
Political Action Club President and Lead Editor
Welcome to the Club Corner, a new addition to the Cougar Chronicle where you can get to know the clubs at Barrack! This is a way to learn about what clubs do on a daily (or weekly) basis -- not just their “Club-Fair” pitch.
Barrack’s Political Action Club (PAC) fosters meaningful debate and conversation about domestic political issues. Through examining these topics in a lively and respectful manner, PAC seeks to increase political participation in ways that matter. In addition to weekly club meetings, PAC leadership organizes special events like Barrack’s mock election and has brought in relevant speakers covering topics ranging from gerrymandering to American influence in foreign affairs. The club is a place to listen, agree, challenge, and learn, and it has a leadership that believes our society thrives when more people participate in thoughtful, educated policy discussion.
A Review of Barrack’s Mock Election, organized by PAC
Following a lively, ethical, informative debate and campaign season, the results of the Barrack Mock Election are official! The student body overwhelmingly supported the Democratic nominees Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, giving them a count of 256 votes; President Donald Trump and VP Mike Pence came in far second with 59, and Libertarian candidates Jo Jorgenson and Jeremy Spike Cohen followed with a paltry 15. Many thanks to Ben Beal ‘21 and his campaign team for an excellent portrayal of President-elect Biden. His debate performance was much commended for its accuracy and phraseology, including such classics as, “l\iLsten, folks,” and, “Here’s the deal.”
Also, a very kind thank you to Maddy Denker ‘20 for her portrayal of President Donald Trump. She rocked the debate with her fine line of accurate portrayal and adherence to our Derech Eretz values, and her content was superb. Furthermore, she awarded attentive listeners with impressive rebuttals, and it was a thrill to see a full devotion to a Trump wig to get in character.
Lastly, special recognition of Rabbi Judd Levingston, Director of Jewish Studies, for serving as our Ethics Watchdog and for compiling our ethics guidelines. With his help and expertise, we were able to conduct a completely ethical election!
We all have our biases, hopes, fears, and passions surrounding the actual election -- not to negate our own -- which makes it all the more impressive how our candidates and campaign teams showed great leadership through kindness, accuracy, and genuine civil discourse. Thus, no matter how the U.S. election unfolded, the Barrack community can be quite proud of their own.