From the Trinity Tripod, by Jordyn Sims '10

On Monday Dec. 3, George Will '62, renowned political columnist, baseball enthusiast, Pulitzer Prize recipient, and arguably Trinity's most well known alum, visited Trinity. He delivered a lecture to a Cinestudio filled with faculty members, students, and community members at 7 p.m. and prior to that held a round-table discussion with students from the History and Political Science departments as well as several Tripod staff members. Friend of Professor of History Jack Chatfield and Associate Academic Dean J. Ronald Spencer, Will spoke on the entitlement mentality that plagues American political issues today. He also did not hesitate to answer questions from students during his round table discussion and from audience members during his lecture, replying to questions ranging from who will win the upcoming political elections to what he thought of fuel efficiency standards.

During the discussion earlier in the day, as well as the question and answer session following his lecture, Will discussed the upcoming presidential elections at great length. He discussed issues within the Republican Party as well as issues within the Democratic Party. Will named McCain as the most electable Republican, citing his honesty and the fact that he "is who he is." Giuliani faces so many adversarial social issues, Will went on, that it would be truly challenging for him to be elected, and Huckabee, meanwhile, is more or less working to get Giuliani elected through tactics such as refusing to answer negative questions about Giuliani. The two combined, with Huckabee as Giuliani's running mate, Will said, would be better suited to win an election, though Will hastened to add that running mates cannot actually fix problems.

Concerning the democratic nomination, Will placed himself in the camp, which he described to be small but growing, of those who believe Barack Obama will be the democratic nominee, trumping Hilary Clinton. "Politics is supposed to be fun," Will said. "She's not fun and he is […] He's the Fred Astaire of politics." Will went on to say that "this is very much a change election." The American public is not looking for another Clinton presidency. Americans will go into their polling booths, he said, and think to themselves, "Do we really want Bill Clinton wandering the halls of the White House with time on his hands?" He added during his lecture that the Democratic Party knows that "Republicans know how to run against Hillary."

Will also mentioned the only time that the American public has elected the same party after two terms of that party's leadership via the president was following the Reagan administration when George Bush, Sr. was elected. In Will's view this only happened because the American public would have re-elected Reagan if they could have. This is not the case in the upcoming election since, as Will said, "It's not just the 22nd Amendment that's keeping us [America] from re-electing George W. Bush."

During the round-table discussion, Will also discussed his work at the Tripod, recalling "the sheer mechanical work involved" as the most memorable experience connected to it. "It whetted my appetite to argue for a living," he said.

Will's lecture, meanwhile, concerned the American sense of entitlement. From this problem, Will conjectured, stem issues with Social Security, Health Care, and taxes. Social Security, as an example, is no longer the entity it was originally conceived as. With an increased life expectancy across America, Social Security is no longer equipped to support the number of retiring seniors. Will, with his usual wit, cited the statistic that by 2030 the average age across America will equal that of Florida today. Americans must let go of the sense that they are entitled to government fixing their problems, such as in the case of Social Security. "We are not used to being told by the government that we have responsibilities," Will said. Yet he ended on a hopeful note, pointing out that after the fall of fascism and Marxism, there are no longer rival models of how to run a modern society. In addition, Will added, "Americans understand that capitalism doesn't just make us better off; it just makes us better."