Tuesday was a busy day! We started out the morning with an exploration of Capitol Hill (so students would know their way around for Hill Day). We took a group picture in front of the Capitol before workshops 1-6 headed to a seminar with a speaker from AIPAC–the strongest Israel lobby in the U.S. (He shared the importance of Israel as an ally, but did not mention the P-word, until a student asked point-blank about Israel’s relations with Palestine.)
Then, after lunch, we hit up the War memorials to discuss the theory of just war and the representation of American wars on the Mall. Students debated the timing of our entry into World War II and reviewed just war theory in the cases of the Korean and Vietnam Wars. (At the Vietnam, one student got a rubbing of his family member’s name who died in that conflict.)
Then we returned to the hotel for dinner and a student-run mock Congress in further preparation for their Hill Day. Students took on the roles of chairpersons, lobbyists and reps in the House. While the group on the whole is rather conservative, there was a lot of good debate on current issues and bills under consideration, today.