Left Out On Campus

NRO: Outside Groups Push To Enhance Collegiate Partisanship

(National Review Online) 

At universities, conservatives are no stranger to being called "Nazis." Thomas Frank decided to keep that spirit alive. According to him, "They [Republicans] didn't have any problem with Hitler, other than the fact that they thought he rocked."

One young progressive asked how to campaign in the suburbs. He was not given an answer, but a specious sound bite. It’s difficult to campaign in those areas, said Ruy Teixeira, author of "The Emerging Democratic Majority". "They are not our base -- the white married couples who moved away from the cities to get away from minorities and smog."

David Halperin, senior adviser for Howard Dean’s presidential bid and the conference coordinator, bemoans the millions of dollars having been spent instigating conservative activism on college campuses. He told the Washington Post that "We've been on the defensive for 25 years." Yet he and other liberals routinely miss the fact that groups such as Campus Progress are wholly unnecessary. The counterpart to organizations such as the Young America's Foundation is the university itself.

Schools habitually offer courses in "ethnic studies," "queer studies," "gender studies" and have set up institutions such as multicultural student unions and women's centers to spread liberalism under the rubric of tolerance and diversity. It's a canard to say that liberalism is not embedded in the university, as Campus Progress purports. Schools don't have courses on "Conservatism and American History" and surely would never invite Thomas Sowell or Clarence Thomas to speak at commencement, but have allowed Wesley Clark and Thomas Friedman.

It's not the lack of resources, but the tactics used and ideas professed that cause student apathy toward progressive activism. The Left's routine support for divisive concepts such as racial preferences, the banning of ROTC recruiters from campuses, and their widespread commitment to enforcing political correctness will keep them as second-rate activists. Soros's millions will not help.

Liberals had their chance at this conference to discuss something original. Unfortunately, they took the occasion to cast aspersions on conservatism with empty, dubious, and hateful rhetoric.


Jason Mattera is the spokesman for the Young America’s Foundation. Lindy Dinklage, an intern with Young America’s Foundation, provided research for this article.