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Copyright 2002
The Student Life
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More Letters, Still Less Diversity
I am a part of a minority group on campus. Unlike its
attitude towards most minority groups, Pomona makes no
effort to accept more of us. We are treated like outcasts
in conversations and are generally looked down upon. I
often hear comments such as “Oh, you’re one
of those.” Yes, It’s true. I am Jewish. Wait,
that’s not what I meant to say… I mean I am
conservative, or more correctly, a classical liberal in
the original sense of the phrase. Most people don’t
even try to understanding conservative viewpoints and
have considerable bias against them, primarily based on
ignorance. The philosophical underpinnings behind conservative
thought are not explored on campus. One Pomona student
asserted, “Conservatives are all just rich white
men.” This is just a taste of the pretense of open-mindedness
at Pomona. It can get better at times, but not often.
People probably think I use the blood of baby liberals
to make American flags on conservative high holidays.
I had people come up to me last year and ask, “You
mean you are actually for the war in Iraq?” They
couldn’t even fathom that there might be a valid
reason for the war, like stopping a mass murderer with
pre-nuclear capabilities. I may have been for Operation
Iraqi Freedom, but, unlike most people on campus, at least
I can understand that there are reasonable arguments against
mine. Many of my ideas really aren’t that far out
there either. I just don’t trust the government
to do anything as efficiently or as successfully as private
citizens. As P.J. O’Rourke wrote, “giving
money and power to government is like giving whisky and
car keys to teenage boys.” And, call me crazy, but
I don’t think socialism can ever work in practice!
I don’t think that Reagan was the worst president
we’ve ever had, I don’t think that Bush can
be compared to Hitler, I don’t think that Clinton
is an admirable or an honest human being, and I don’t
think the media really gets how far to the right mainstream
America really is. At this point, I’m already right
of 120% of Pomona. You’ll get a kick out of this
too: not only do I actually believe these extreme and
ultra-conservative deliria, I actually have some convincing
reasons to support my stance. For example, college dropout
Michael Moore claimed that we live in a left-wing society.
Never mind that 62% of California voters just voted Republican,
including 1 out of every 8 votes going to McClintock.
To support his allegations, Moore claimed that 2/3rds
of the country are women and minorities, mindlessly insinuating
that therefore 2/3rds of the country are liberal. Moore
is obviously blind to the fact that many women and minorities
vote conservative. With obvious ignorance like this applauded
on campus, what hope does a classical liberal student
such as myself have of being understood? I want to clear
up a common misconception about conservative ideology:
we’re not out to screw everyone else. To the contrary,
we believe that capitalism serves the poor better than
any other economic system. As outrageous as it may sound,
conservative ideas benefit society as a whole more than
most well intended but ill-conceived liberal thought.
That’s right. I’m conservative because I care
about other people’s welfare. The PSU is doing a
good job of promoting political diversity on campus, but
most students close their minds to political ideas on
the other side. Until students acknowledge that there
are legitimate and unselfish reasons to be a conservative,
Pomona will remain on the sinister side of the political
spectrum.
David Smith '06
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