Pirate’s Presidential Campaign In-Class Debate

Instructions:
- You should dress appropriately and look presentable and serious!
- You may research information to answer all of these questions and bring whatever notes you
would like to the podium.
- These are not the only questions you may be asked. Make sure you are familiar with your
information you should not be reading straight from a piece of paper.
Please give an opening statement. (420 seconds) – Introduce yourself and explain why you want
to be elected as President of the United States of America.

Economy

Q: On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Do you support or oppose
this act? You must EXPLAIN your reasoning. (Make sure to include specific information from the plan in
your answer. Elaboration is key.)

The tax cuts and jobs act is meant to lower tax rates for individuals and businesses by increasing
the standard deduction and family tax credits and simplifying tax filing. Among other things it repents the
mandate for Affordable Care for individuals. The most controversial part locally is the limiting of SALT
deductions, a $10,000 cap on state and local income taxes and property taxes. This will hurt mostly high
taxed states like California and New York, especially Long Island. While this Tax Act might hurt some
locally. I support it because it might be what’s needed to force state and local government in New York to
act responsibly and address our over taxation. And if businesses see less taxes, maybe they will expand and
hire more people.

Q: What programs (you must identify SPECIFIC programs) do you intend to cut to decrease our deficit?
Explain.

Programs I would cut to decrease the deficit.

1) End tax breaks for the big oil, gas coal companies. These companies like Exxon have made
over $1 trillion in profit over the last 10 years. Ending these tax breaks can reduce the
deficit over $10 billion a year. Companies making huge profits do not need tax breaks. Let
them pay their fair share.
2) We need to stop countries that manipulate their currency, like China, from gaining unfair
trade advantages, causing us to lose manufacturing jobs. The economic policy institute has
estimated we could make over $50 billion a year and create over 1 million jobs over 10
years by instituting a fee with these countries.
3) The pentagon is always a way to save money. Over $100 billion can be saved by scrapping
programs designed to fight the Soviet Union, which no longer exists.

Foreign Policy

Q. Many of the campaign teams have addressed that they would intervene in foreign affairs if the United
States was threatened. What is your definition of a threat and how would you respond accordingly?

I would say my definition of a threat is simple, anything that can inflict pain, injury, or
damage to the United States. These threats can happen in many ways, the most obvious being a
direct attack, which is also the most unlikely. The other ways would be cyber attacks, local proxy
wars that disrupt our national interests or hurt our allies, and as always, volatility in the Middle
East and terrorism, both foreign and domestic. We combat these threats thru vigilance, funding of
necessary programs such as cyber security, deployment of funding of necessary programs such as
cyber security, deployment of troops and advisors where needed, aid to allies to defeat foes, and a
coordination of all law enforcement and security personnel to share information quickly and
efficiently.

Q. On January 2, 2018, President Trump tweeted the following: “North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just
stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food
starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more
powerful one than his, and my Button works!” Do you believe a statement like this from the President of
the United States is a sign of strength or is it damaging to the safety and security of the United States?
Explain.

While some would argue the tweet was childish, it probably served its intended purpose of
telling North Korean leaders that the United States in no longer willing to be bullied or tricked
into letting this tiny rogue nation threaten the peace of the region or world. For 30 years they
have been allowed to acquire deadlier weapons, this president is quite literally telling them, your
country will be destroyed 100% if you choose war. This I support.

Q. For many Americans, foreign affairs are not a topic they are knowledgeable. Do you believe that
awareness of foreign policy issues is important for Americans? Why or why not? How do you plan to
increase American engagement in foreign policy issues? Explain.

I do not agree with this statement. I believe most Americans have a deep knowledge of
foreign affairs in this post 9-11 world. I will do my best to continue to get news and facts out to the
American people.

Q: President Trump is frequently accused of not acting “Presidential.” Define what it means to be
President of the United States? How do you believe the President should conduct himself? Explain with
specific examples.

Acting presidential in my opinion is simply doing the job you were elected to do and
looking out for America’s best interests, without embarrassing yourself or the U.S. Some of his
tweets probably are ill advised, but this president is under attack like few before him, with the
overwhelming majority of media outlets and entertainment figures with vast audiences
constantly attacking. Acting presidential, I would advise Trump to limit his tweets and to not get
personal so many times as it comes across as angry, I would also tell him that he does not have to
personally defend every decision he makes. That’s why he has a staff. Let them explain the
reasoning. He would be better off trying to bring people together.

Education

Q. New York state recently passed the Excelsior Scholarship. Under this program 940,000 families in New
York making under $125,000 a year will have the opportunity for free college tuition at a state university.
Does your campaign team support the Excelsior Scholarship? Explain why or why not.

Our campaign supports the Excelsior Scholarship but we need to make sure that all
students need to be prepared for college especially if they are being offered free college tuition.
Hands-on career ready classes from 11-12th grade will help prepare students for the future and
help teach them how to be successful and use their money wisely so that poverty may soon
decrease. Topics like how to buy a home, how to take out a loan, how to buy a car..etc. As college
prepares you with options and plans, high schools should have future plan advisors to help make
sure after high school will be a straight steady path ahead
-9th-10th graders: Parent and student plan to help start future plan process such as profile,
permits, start health insurance process...
-11th-12th graders: Parents and student plan continues and goes more in depth such as bank
accounts, savings accounts, all insurances depending on student profile… In order to make college
more accessible and affordable to all students, financial aid should be provided to those who
deserve it and who need it because of their low income status. Low interest student loans should
be accessible without having to complete an enormous amount of confusing paperwork. Low cost
colleges should also be utilized.

Q: Standardized testing is a frequent topic of debate. If you support continuing standardized testing in
the U.S., please explain with specific, factual evidence how standardized testing benefits students,
teachers, etc. and why you will continue to use it. If you oppose standardized testing, please explain its
drawbacks and how you would alter assessment in the United States.

Standardized testing is valuable if questions are appropriately challenging, and well worded.
The scores for the standardized test should be a percent that is true reflection of how well a
student did on the exam. If for example, a student’s score was a 90, then it should be the case that
the student got 90% of the questions correct. Standardized tests that are well written allow for
better comparisons. For instance, you can say someone in the country is fast, but your description
of fast is more valid if you can say what time they ran in the mile. Because a “standard” mile is the
same distance all over the country, once you have a time, you know exactly how fast the person is.

Q. American public schools are in many ways more economically and racially divided than ever before
with radically different performance outcomes. How do we ensure that all of America’s students have
access to quality education. Be specific.

Teachers and students are sometimes not motivated to conquer the school day. If a student
is having a bad day or bad week, it can have a drastic consequence such as failing test grades
which can ultimately put a high schooler at risk for not getting into their desired college. Teachers
are not realizing the reality that without their motivation to work hard and earn their grades,
students are unmotivated and gives an excuse not to get work done ultimately leading to failure in
school and start to go on a path to a troubling route such as drugs, drinking, and more. Any
troubled student needs a team of professionals within a school building to help them. Extra
attention, counseling, after school programs and activities and sports can help any student. Also,
teachers need to get an attitude adjustment and every single student thrive. Parental involvement
is critical. Poor parenting can negate the effects of perfect schooling. Also administrators can
observe teachers, and their students. In addition to looking at how they interact, they could look
at test scores and discuss with the teacher how to help any troubled or struggling students.

Q: The average starting teacher salary is just $36,141 and the average overall salary is $56,383. This
means that the average teacher salaries are 40 percent less than those of other college-educated workers
in America. What problems does this create for recruiting and retaining qualified teachers? Explain.

If low teaching salaries make those who could be excellent teachers choose another career,
the schools could potentially have a shortage of highly qualified educators. The problems that
could potentially rise as a result of this, affect our entire society because all of our citizens attend
school, and the experiences and quality of education they get has a tremendous impact on what
kind of adults they become. We need to make every effort to ensure that all people have access to
that which they need to succeed, and the freedom to choose what they wish to excel at. A
children’s educational needs include their physical and mental health. Fit and emotionally healthy
children are likely to contribute positively to our society. Professionals in the school building are
needed to work together as a team to help children reach their potential in a myriad of ways.
Since children spend an enormous amount of their time in a school building during all the years
they are growing and maturing, a shortage of qualified educators well undeniably have a negative
impact on the development of children.

Conclusion Questions:

Q. Throughout this project you have participated in a variety of activities from research to
presentations. You have improved your knowledge of content and have improved a variety
of skills that you will need for your future. What is the thing that you have learned the most
from this project?

I learned a lot about what are country is dealing with today and how our president is
working on fixing these problems. I also learned a lot about where our money is going and how
the country is in debt.