More than 60 Douglas High School government students and JROTC members filled the school's library on Wednesday morning for some serious face-time with U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.
"You know you're in Nevada when a U.S. senator will come to talk to a high school," said government teacher Roger Rusmisel.
"It's a great opportunity for the students," added fellow teacher Steve Gustafson.
Ensign took the stage after a brief introduction by Douglas High Principal Marty Swisher, during which it was pointed out that the senator had attended Whittell High School up until the 10th grade, when he moved to Las Vegas.
"One reason I like to go to schools is that I remember being your age, and how I hated learning about government and history," Ensign said. "I never thought I'd end up in the position I am in. Now, I know how it important it is to study government and the Constitution."
Ensign told students that the majority of the federal budget is spent on people 55 and older, because they're the ones that vote politicians into office.
He said much less is spent on those 25 and under.
"We're in a situation now where there's the first generation of Americans not sure they're going to have what we had," he said.
Ensign described historic cycles, and how democracies of old collapsed under too much debt.
"It's always preceded by a moral collapse," he said, "when the people are not moral enough to care for the next generation."
He told students the federal budget has been building up over the years, and is set to double under the Obama administration.
"We spend $180 billion in interest on the debt," he said. "In 10 years, it will be over $800 billion, more than what we spend on the military. We will be paying more interest on our national debt than our whole national defense.
"The reason I'm telling you this is because it's unsustainable, and means higher taxes for you in the future."
Senior Nick Hales asked Ensign if he regretted voting for any bills.
"The first TARP funds, the bail out," Ensign said. "I struggled whether to vote for it. We were being sold this scenario where the financial world was freezing. But I'm still not convinced it was the right vote."
Another student asked how many senators actually read the president's stimulus bill.
"None," Ensign answered. "It was a 1,400-page bill that spent a trillion dollars. It was really outrageous. People wanted to get out of town and go on vacation, and that's why it passed. A trillion dollars is a terrible thing to waste. The number is so big it's beyond the comprehension of humans."
Senior Andrew Solomon asked the senator what he's doing to create jobs in Nevada.
Ensign said one solution is to offer tax incentives to small businesses.
"If you want employees, you have to have employers," he said. "The way to have employers is to have capital. We have the second highest corporate tax rate of industrialized nations. Lower the corporate tax rate, lower the cost of capital, and create jobs. It's a better way to stimulate the economy than mass government spending."
Seventeen-year-old Ally Reith questioned the senator's stance on gay marriage.
"In 2006, you voted yes on a constitutional ban on gay marriage," she said. "How do you justify your stance against homosexuality when you have continually used the same old rhetoric that adheres to the idea of marriage as a fundamental institution, when 50 percent of marriages end in divorce?"
Ensign acknowledged what he called Nevada's "libertarian streak," the desire to keep the federal government out of people's personal lives. However, he said every study he's seen shows that children benefit from having parents in a traditional marriage.
"From a societal standpoint, it's ideal," he said. "And that's what the government should endorse."
