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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2004-01-07

A Clarification

In last nights' posts I referred to the Academic Bill of Rights (authored by Colorado Senate Majority Leader Jon Andrews (R)) 'goofy.' That might not be the right word, but let me elaborate on my thinking on this issue.

I was raised Catholic, went to public schools, got my undergrad at U fo Colorado-Boulder (the Peoples' Republic), my post-grad at Northern Colorado, and work in the field of education. By all rights and expectations, I should be a flaming liberal--but I'm not. At some point in this process, the rational thought process kicked in and I saw the world for what it is, which has led me to espouse the views that I have. And the facts show that those who are not still in the campus environment and have had to actually produce in the real world tend to go more Conservative (look up the 'education gap' from the 2000 election--Dems dominate with those who don't have degrees or diplomas). In fact, Victor Davis Hanson wrote a great piece a couple months back on how the generation that just ran roughshod over Iraq is the same generation that two years ago was just a motley collection of directionless, foul-mouthed, disrespectful punks.

I think the point I'm trying to make is twofold: 1. no matter how liberal-dominated the campuses are, there is little evidence of an overwhelming long-term effect on students' views; 2. at any rate, the campuses are, by and large, a self-selected environment which the government should do as little as possible to mold.

My father-in-law and I have discussions frequently about who's the greater threat to liberty--the right or the left. For reference, he's a labor-type Kennedy-style Dem. I make the case that the PC police from the left are the ones who are the greatest threat to our liberty. When we in the center-right start creating our own thought police, my argument loses a lot of power. Let Boulder, Berkeley and Boston be what they are--when the kids return to Arvada and Lakewood and have to earn a living, they'll figure out what's real.
Posted by: Michael / 1/07/2004 12:38:00 AM

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