Sen. Carl Levin Addresses Plymouth-Canton Students

About 250 Plymouth-Canton students in a packed auditorium quizzed U.S. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan on hot national and global topics Friday during the senator's swing through southeastern Michigan.

Levin, who said he last visited Plymouth-Canton Educational Park about three years ago, spoke to Political Economic Systems (civics) students on a variety of topics, including partisanship in the Senate, media coverage of politics, the economy and his cameo during a pivotal point in the Academy Award-winning documentary Inside Job.

Levin was invited to the park in a letter from a group of students earlier in the school year.

Addressing partisanship in the Senate and Congress, Levin said not too long ago, politicians with vastly different ideologies could work together, as evidenced by the late Sens. Ted Kennedy and Strom Thurmond who, despite being on completely opposite ends of the aisle, were able to eventually establish a sliver of bipartisanship. 

Many politicians today, he said, are so "ideologically rigid" they won't budge to work together for the common good of the nation.

He also tackled issues regarding the national deficit and efforts to reduce it.

"How do you reduce the deficit while at the same time you maintain your commitment to important programs such as education, whether it's higher education or K-12, or whether it's support of our infrastructure, of our roads, of our energy independence, of our environmental cleanup, how do you do both?" he asked. "How do you both reduce the deficit while at the same time you maintain support for those kinds of programs?"

Levin fielded student questions regarding the recent repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," a military policy passed during President Bill Clinton's administration, that allowed gays to serve in the military, but prevented them from identifying themselves as such.

Levin said many gay soldiers have died for the country and are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and that he completely supported the repeal. He said the repeal allows the soldiers to be truthful about who they are, and won't affect conduct for those on duty. He said existing rules still apply regarding sexual misconduct in the military for both homosexual and heterosexual acts.

When asked about the status of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Levin said President Barack Obama wanted to close the prison, sending dangerous detainees to prisons inside the U.S. and sending those deemed not a threat back to their home countries. He said closing the prison would be largely symbolic, because many terrorists associate it with illegal torture and can use that as motivation for violent acts against the U.S. and its people.

After the hour-long presentation to students, Levin told Patch he was impressed with the students' questions, feeling they came well-prepared. He said most students likely are interested in learning how he and his political peers will help create jobs.

"Will there be a job there for them? Will there be an educational opportunity for those going on to college?" he said. "The difference in income between those who go to college and those who don't is a very, very big difference."

Levin also made stops Friday at Livonia City Hall to address the Conference of Western Wayne, a consortium of 18 communities in Western Wayne County, and in Westland at one of the few electric vehicle charging stations in Western Wayne County.