Conservative Chic
Reader comment on item: Conservative Professors, an Endangered Species

Submitted by j rifkin (United States), Apr 13, 2005 at 08:01

The division of America into conservatives and liberals, rightists and leftists, has left a country divided, a country angry and a country that is increasingly closing something more significant than its borders--its minds. We have become a country of catchwords and beginning with our White House leadership, conservative equal good, liberal equal bad.

Conservatives deserve their dominance, they sold it to America fair and square. The elderly who are now somewhat disappointed with the Administration loved their medicines, loved the idea of fighting a war that might give them opportunity to resurrect their own wartime experiences as relevant. The armed forces, now somewhat disappointed with cuts proposed to their hospitals, somewhat concerned with extensions to their military service, somewhat concerned that they are spread thin in dangerous places, supported the nationalistic gobbledygook that gave us the amorphous, ever-present, ever-growing threat that we named "terrorism" and exploited to export American children to countries they forgot studying in elementary school. And Israel, the former depository of hopes and dreams of Zionists and regular Jews worldwide, confident of the continued "support" of our American Administration, flooded our election with absentee ballots in support of a President who has, in his first days since election scolded Sharon for his failure to adhere to a road map being used as toilet paper by the Palestinians. Ah, but in for a penny, in for a dollar. Can Conservatives now exhale and let their aging puffed out chests sag to their bellies and admit that they have been sold a bill of goods, can they allow the next generation in universities the same privileges they took for themselves? The opportunity to think, to make mistakes, to change their points of view based on open study and debate? This is what liberals support.

Ideas that we disagree with are no more dangerous than ideas that we agree with, they are ideas. Universities must RELIGIOUSLY protect the opportunity for students to become adult citizens who can consider improving our medical care system, our educational system, our judicial system and yes, even our government without being openly criticized as ugh..."LIBERALS."

When Americans listen to Rush Limbaugh's conservativism in spite of his own addiction to and questionable activities regarding prescription drugs, when they applaud George Bush who was born again after years of being a rich, Northeastern, beer drinking, drug taking neer do well, when they listen to Pat Buchanan's opinions, now editorially excluding his famed hate speech, let them applaud the LIBERAL society that allowed their leadership to reach its current heights, the LIBERALS who acknowledge that people and viewpoints can mature and change without the penalty of a life sentence for a bad choice regarding drugs (Limbaugh), a lifelong penalty for taking illegal drugs and engaging in illegal activity (BUSH) or prosecuting them as "terrorists" for speech that is hateful and targets Americans (BUCHANAN).

Taking for yourself and then changing the laws, the rules, the opportunities and options for others is stingy, closed-minded and tyrannical and to wrap up these policies in any religion is blasphemy, and false prophecy. Our college campuses are not churches, synagogues or mosques and religious studies should be religious studies. They are also not intended to be recruiting grounds for the military or even credit card companies. Tolerance is Liberal, it is the hopeful, thoughtful confidence that thinking people who are exposed to facts can see through salesmanship, hipocrisy and exploitation. Our political labels have created cartoon characters. Conservatives marching through the flag draped Main streets of America preaching hellfire as they succumb to the same human weaknesses as others, Liberals who are all abortion advocating, money wasting lowlives on the take --- The world is bigger than a two-D catgetorization of human beings.

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