2008 Woodie Awards
Leaning to the Left
Josh Justice
Issue date: 9/25/02 Section: Commentary
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“If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.” Confucius.
The beginning of this fall semester has brought dozens of speakers to the Hilltop with topics ranging from the threat of globalization to the plight of the Tibetan people. Being a rather curious freshman coming from the uniform depths of conservative suburbia, I rushed around from lecture to lecture trying to make the most of my time here. Yet there was something I found missing in each lecture I attended, and as I listened to more speakers’ views and stories I began to realize what it was. All the viewpoints, though often reflecting my own, blended together into a bland mush of liberal rhetoric.
For a point of clarification, I happen to be a Democrat and not just one because that is what I feel a college student should be. I am a true liberal and political arguments in class or among friends dominate my sober discussions. Yet I come from the South and my family is almost overwhelmingly conservative in most issues, Reaganites to the core. After walking onto campus this fall, however, I found myself in the nation’s capital, the center of our political clockwork without a single strong voice coming in from the right. And so that is where those ancient words of wisdom seem to become most applicable; if all we hear on this campus are liberal opinions and arguments how can we ever look objectively and intelligently at the issues confronting the world?
I have heard half a dozen solid reasons why not to attack Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power in the coming weeks. I have heard urgings for social justice and calls to march on the Justice Department to show belief in civil liberties. But I have yet to hear a single reason to attack Iraq or a strong argument for restricting civil liberties in the interest of national security. I may not agree with a speaker who would call upon the United States to bomb Baghdad, but the intellectual stimulus of a dissenting viewpoint would be rather refreshing in the wave of liberal speakers that have come to campus so far.
The beginning of this fall semester has brought dozens of speakers to the Hilltop with topics ranging from the threat of globalization to the plight of the Tibetan people. Being a rather curious freshman coming from the uniform depths of conservative suburbia, I rushed around from lecture to lecture trying to make the most of my time here. Yet there was something I found missing in each lecture I attended, and as I listened to more speakers’ views and stories I began to realize what it was. All the viewpoints, though often reflecting my own, blended together into a bland mush of liberal rhetoric.
For a point of clarification, I happen to be a Democrat and not just one because that is what I feel a college student should be. I am a true liberal and political arguments in class or among friends dominate my sober discussions. Yet I come from the South and my family is almost overwhelmingly conservative in most issues, Reaganites to the core. After walking onto campus this fall, however, I found myself in the nation’s capital, the center of our political clockwork without a single strong voice coming in from the right. And so that is where those ancient words of wisdom seem to become most applicable; if all we hear on this campus are liberal opinions and arguments how can we ever look objectively and intelligently at the issues confronting the world?
I have heard half a dozen solid reasons why not to attack Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power in the coming weeks. I have heard urgings for social justice and calls to march on the Justice Department to show belief in civil liberties. But I have yet to hear a single reason to attack Iraq or a strong argument for restricting civil liberties in the interest of national security. I may not agree with a speaker who would call upon the United States to bomb Baghdad, but the intellectual stimulus of a dissenting viewpoint would be rather refreshing in the wave of liberal speakers that have come to campus so far.