Political Triangle

This is something i think WE all can relate to... Does any of this sound familiar to anyone??





CATHY YOUNG

Balancing views on campus

By Cathy Young | November 27, 2006

DIVERSITY in higher education was a major topic of discussion at a recent conference in Cambridge . The focus, however, was not on the familiar concept of diversity as a desirable mix of races, genders, and ethnic groups. Rather, participants deplored the lack of intellectual and political diversity on college campuses.

The National Organization of Scholars, which held the conference Nov. 17-19, emerged in the late 1980s in response to "political correctness" in the academy. The group is widely perceived as conservative, much to the consternation of some members who are liberal Democrats but are put off by the prevailing orthodoxy in the universities. One star speaker at the event was Boston-based lawyer Harvey Silverglate, a liberal champion of civil liberties, who noted that many statements that would be considered normal, if debatable, expressions of opinion anywhere else are regarded as discriminatory on college campuses.

Numerous studies confirm that most college faculty lean left, especially in the more prestigious institutions. At a time when political discourse in American society in general has shifted noticeably to the right, some people wonder why an academy that tilts left is a problem: The universities, they argue, are islands in a sea of conservatism. But no academic institution can thrive on uniformity; liberalism itself can turn illiberal when isolated from different ideas. What's more, the marginalization of right-of-center ideas in the academy may have a lot to do modern conservatism's transformation into a caricature of itself.

That marginalization is evident. Some academic programs, particularly in such areas as women's studies, education, and social work, explicitly push for left-leaning social change. On one panel, Brooklyn College historian Robert Johnson offered a striking example of intellectual uniformity. He noted that, according to its website, the University of Michigan history department has 26 full-time professors teaching American history. Eleven of them focus on race and ethnicity in America, while another nine specialize in women's history. There are no military or diplomatic historians.

To what extent this imbalance penalizes alternative viewpoints is hard to establish. In a recent survey by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni at 50 top colleges and universities, nearly half of students said the presentation of contemporary political issues and controversies in classes, campus panels, and lecture series was too one-sided, and nearly a third felt they had to agree with a professor's political views in order to get good grades. On many campuses, there is a general sense that you have to be a liberal to fit in. In a post-conference interview, Johnson said that the problem was not so much retaliation against students with dissenting opinions as "one-sided instruction to students that don't have the educational or intellectual background to detect the bias and challenge a professor's viewpoint."

Some conservatives advocate legislative interference as a solution. Activist David Horowitz has been pushing for an "Academic Bill of Rights" that would not only protect dissenting students from classroom retaliation but also guarantee the inclusion of balanced viewpoints in the curriculum. This effort has gone nowhere.

In his talk at the conference, Johnson took a dim view of such efforts. Given conservative support for including "intelligent design" in the biology curriculum, he noted, a mandate of "balance" in teaching could be used to smuggle creationism into science classrooms at public universities. Yet he also outlined legislative remedies that could work: Fund programs that would expose students to ideas currently neglected or marginalized in the academy; conduct oversight hearings on the lack of intellectual diversity on campuses; abolish speech codes that often result in suppressing politically incorrect opinions on race, gender, and sexuality within college courses.

When stifled on campuses, right-of-center ideas don't just go away. These days, they are expressed -- in pungent manner -- on talk radio, and in overtly political journalism and publishing. Such outlets have increased in prominence, and universities have lost influence over American politics. When intellectual life is seen as a bastion of the left, conservatism devolves from intellectual giants like the late Milton Friedman to intellectual thugs like Ann Coulter -- with dangerous consequences for the political climate.

Cathy Young is a contributing editor at Reason magazine. Her column appears regularly in the Globe.

The N.A.A.C.P: Friend or Foe.

I was browsing the RBE site today and was happy to find this link. Not because I get any particular joy out of seeing more black Republicans being involved with the NAACP; but because the idea of us being involved with the NAACP is one I've internally debated for years. I should note, when I refer to the NAACP in this post I am talking about the national organization, although some local NAACP groups fit the same description

By all means today's NAACP is a left-wing organization. Like its ideological counterparts, Rainbow Push and BAMN, it has become a mouthpiece and PR machine for the Democrat party and other left wing causes. Sometimes I wonder why the DNC even needs a black outreach program when the NAACP subserviently does it for them--for free!

The puppet masters who really control the NAACP put a so called "moderate", Bruce Gordon, at its helm in an obvious attempt to take attention away from their extreme left wing views. From Julian Bond to Hilary Shelton, the NAACP's true power brokers are all committed Democrats with communist leanings.

Do we really serve the conservative or even moderate causes by aligning ourselves with them? Does giving the group any type of recognition contribute to the widely, yet ignorantly, held view that the NAACP represents "us" as a whole?

In my honest opinion, I think black conservatives and black Republicans would be better served by joining black conservative and black Republican organizations. This would be a perfect time to stake out a move like this. The NAACP, contrary to popular belief, is growing weaker and weaker by the minute. I recall Gordon saying its membership total had them at a little over 200,000 members. This means there were more black Bush voters in 2004 than are members of the NAACP. It's time for right of center blacks to start reaching out to these people, drawing the line in the sand and engaging in political warfare with the NAACP and its ilk.

Make no mistake about it, the NAACP is our adversary and they've put themselves in that position. Joining them and paying them membership dues would be the equivalent of Michael Newdow joining the 700 Club. As long as we credit them with our involvement and membership dues we help them spread the lie that the NAACP is fighting for "black people".

--Scooter

The loneliness of Black Conservatives

One of the major problems today is that when we look at Blacks in politics, we are often overrepresented by one Party and under represented by the other Party. African Americans are the Democratic Party's largest, most conservative and most loyal constituency. Yet, it seems when election years roll around, the Democratic party is much more keen to talk about getting out the vote while actively courting constituencies whose values directly contradict those of African-Americans. We have always been a church going people-from the spirituals born out of freedom, to the church leaders that led us through the Civil Rights movement, to today where African-Americans clergy have warned against the dangers of abortion, which kills 450,000 black babies every year. But with the Democrats actively courting the pro-abortion feminists in a campaign to preserve the Roe v. Wade Court decision that they could never pass in a legislature, Blacks are being left behind. And with a wave of illegal aliens coming in, taking away jobs from poor Americans, one would think that the Democratic Party would stand with Republicans in supporting the construction of a border fence and preserving jobs for American citizens. Instead the Democratic Party has courted the illegal non citizen vote, and Blacks are being pushed out of the Democratic Party's Small Tent, which begs the question, are Blacks ready for the Big Tent?
President Bush stated before the Urban League in 2004 when he came to court African-American voters, "Blacks are gagging on the donkey, but don't seem quite ready to swallow the elephant." Indeed Mr Bush, fair or unfair, the perception of the GOP as hostile to African-Americans is one that the GOP must actively work to get past if the GOP is to erect the permanent majority that it claims to want. Indeed it is why former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman has spoken at over 500 Black events since 2004, and why the GOP ran 2 African American candidates for governor, and 2 for Senator, doubling the Democratic Party's efforts on both counts. Now to quickly answer the question what about Obama? Obama is the Democratic Party's hero more for his story than who he is-a man with a white mother from Kansas and an African father from Kenya, than for his positions. Obama has called the idea of removing God from public life ridiculous, and called for the Democratic Party to embrace evangelical Christians. The on top of that, he campaigned for Harold Ford Jr, the Black pro-life Senator that tried to out conservative his Republican opponent in the election, yet was defeated by the Republican in extremely Republican Tennessee. So what are Blacks to do-leave the Party that has historically been the Party of Civil Rights? Well, yes-and some are starting to here that message.
Losing Senate candidate Michael Steele was able to capture some of this Black disaffection gaining more than 30 percent of the Black vote, well over what Republicans have garnered in recent elections. If Harold Ford ran his same campaign as a Republican, he would have won in a landslide. The fact is, the GOP is trying to reform its image as the racist party by giving minorities more opportunities than before. From Bush's Cabinet where he appointed the first Black and Black female secretaries of state, the first Black National Security Advisor, the first Black secretary of education and had a Black domestic chief advisor, to the elections where the GOP tries to recruit Black Republicans to run for state and national offices, the GOP is trying to grasp onto disaffected Black conservatives whoa re lonely within the Democratic Party and give them opportunities in the Big Tent where Blacks belong. Remember, Blacks started out as Republicans, and should end up as Republicans. In the words of Ken Mehlman, "The Republican Party will not be complete until more African Americans come back home." It's time to go out of the lonely wilderness into the open arms of the Big Tent.

Where is the Love?

So much is happening in the party right now I don’t know which way to turn! But something stuck out o me. I read an editorial on RealClearPolitics.com and it's headline stated- The Only Real Option: Leave Iraq Now.
-WHAT! I need my American people to sit down and really look at what they are asking for! If we pull out of Iraq do we honestly think that that will be the end?? (Of course not) No one starts a war and then says -"Oh, we are sorry for disturbing your life, we are going to leave now and expect you not to form alliances, and retaliate against us. We are going to take the advice of our citizens and "pull-out'! No people it doesn't work that way. Wars are not just won over night. This country was built to last- because of war! This is an excerpt from the article- - Sen. John McCain has planted his flag at one extreme of the debate, making the counterintuitive argument that the way to get out of Iraq is to send in a lot more U.S. troops who would stabilize the country as a necessary prelude to withdrawal. By "counterintuitive," I mean, "divorced from reality as we know it." For one thing, the troops McCain wants to send do not exist -- the military is stretched paper-thin as it is, and I don't think Rep. Charles Rangel's proposal to reinstate the draft is going to get very far. For another, McCain doesn't specify how all those magically conjured reinforcements are supposed to accomplish such a mission. - This was stated and I found it a little alarming being that I am around veterans and current military officials on a regular. This is what I found on the Army's web page. (www.army.mil/recruitingandrentention)-On October 11, 2005 the Army announced that the active-duty Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve exceeded Fiscal Year 2005 retention goals for the year, with annual recruitment numbers falling short of projected enlistments.

• the active-duty Army closed the fiscal year at 108 percent of its retention mission. The goal was to re-enlist 64,162 Soldiers and 69,512 Soldiers actually reenlisted.
• The Army Reserve closed out fiscal year 2005 at 102 percent of its retention mission, with 16,485 Soldiers reenlisting. The goal was to retain 16,248 Soldiers.
• The Army National Guard finished 2005 at 104 percent. The Guard reenlisted 33,804 Soldiers, surpassing its goal by 1,233.
- With these FACTS, I would like to say know your research before running off at the tongue. Wars take time, and they take encouragement, and also a little force and maybe some mistakes. But don’t be ignorant, be AMERICAN and be glad there aren’t bobs flying over your head as you take that redundant trip to McDonalds with your happy-meal indulging offspring.

Congrats to Democrats

Well, i hvae never had bad sportmanship, CONGRATS TO THA DEMOCRATS! (Just dont do anything TOO liberal) I also wanted to address the issue of How many of my peers dont know their history. Sometimes i have to wonder- you say that you are democrat but the democrat candidate may not even sahre the same religion as you, nor do they have the same beliefs as you. But you are voting for them JUST BECAUSE your mom and dad told you to vote democrat, or my abosolute favorite- "democrats help the black people". - which hasn't been done under their control for the last 40 years.

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