Student fights for the right to be 'right' Conservative teen shakes up campus

San Francisco Cronicle ^ | January 31, 2004 | Peter Fimrite

[Syncro]

Tim Bueler, like many cocksure 17-year-olds, is strident in expressing his political beliefs.

And to him, the Republican Party leans too far to the left.

That was the spark that launched his Conservative Club at Rancho Cotate High School in the Sonoma County town of Rohnert Park and ignited two months of rhetorical ugliness on campus. It also put him on the conservative talk show circuit, including an appearance Thursday on Fox television's "The O'Reilly Factor."

[ohioman]

Up yours! This guy is a good kid.

[Pitchfork]

No, I've simply recognized and rejected the racism inherent in the arguments made by what I think is an undesirable strand of American conservatism. America is a nation built on ideas, not on some racial or cultural foundation. Not that the less intelligent among us haven't tried to assert this nativist argument today and in the past.

Here is a quote from the the Chicago Post and Tribune circa 1850 at the height of Irish immigration:

"The Irish fill our prisons, our poor houses...Scratch a convict or a pauper, and the chances are that you tickle the skin of an Irish Catholic. Putting them on a boat and sending them home would end crime in this country."

"Who does not know that the most depraved, debased, worthless, and irredeemable drunkards and sots which curse the community are Irish Catholics?" the Chicago Tribune (1855).

In the 1840s the "American Party" formed to prevent Irish immigration from undermining American ideals.

Given that Ronald Reagan was of Irish decent this looks pretty stupid today doesn't it?

The Italians faced the same prejudice, ironically some of it came from the Irish. the United States Congress (1911) found:
"The South Italians are slow in becoming Americanized and many in the coal regions who have been in this country from fifteen to twenty years are scarcely able to speak English. They live in colonies, have very little association with natives, and show little interest outside of their own immediate neighborhood. They are suspicious of Americans, do not trust their money to the banks,and trade at American shops as little as possible. They are making little progress toward Americanization. Each year the South Italians are investing more money in homes and real estate,and in becoming property owners, they are naturally led to take more interest in civic affairs. Even after the South Italian, however, has made his permanent home in the Southwest, he seems to make little effort to adopt American ways. He does not encourage his children in attending school but takes them away at an early age, thus preventing the second generation from having the opportunity of becoming assimilated. The children hear only Italian spoken in the colony and in the home, and their only opportunity to learn English is at school. . . . The Poles, Slovaks, and Magyars are almost as backward as South Italians

Of course Justice Scalia or Rudolph Gulianni might want to argue that this was all BS.

Frankly I'm sick of racists and rednecks covering their bigotry in some 'defense of the homeland' veneer.
So rmlew are you a Klan sympathizing bigot or have you simply assimilated their norms and act as their addled mouthpiece?

[Piquaboy]

It seems that when they passed out brains you thought they said trains and missed yours.

[Pitchfork]

Oh, that's brilliant. I'm glad you're adding to the quality of intellectual exchange on this forum. Now go play with your pre-school friends.

Every post like this simply evinces my claim that the kind of people who support the views of Bueler are complete morons.

[Piquaboy]

Truth really does hurt, doesn't it?

[ladylib]

We are going to have a war in this country -- jobs going overseas, illegal aliens sucking the breath out of this country, PC crap in schools (homosexual indoctrination, extreme environmentalism, stupid zero-tolerance rules), denigration of culture (last night for instance), Christianity marginalized, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

It's only a matter of time, and these kids will be in the forefront and God help this country.

[freebilly]

I'm denigrating him because he's a racist

I'm not so sure he's racist. I think he, like most Americans, are fed up with America's unwillingness to address illegal immigration. He's expressing the frustration.

Anyone who supports tough stands on immigration these days is branded a racist, by conservatives as well as liberals.

Personally, I think he's fighting a losing battle.

[freebilly]

are = is

[freebilly]

Ping me if this happens. I'd like to know.

[freebilly]

Debate?

What's the point? We have a preview of the left's "intellectual" arguments from some of these posts. I've heard it for four decades. It never changes.

To wit, you are a racist, I bet you have Nazi tattoos, go back to your compound in Idaho, you should be tolerant of other's ideas as we tolerate others' ideas (except yours), you should be tolerant of others as we are tolerant of others (except you), we're good and you're not, we believe that America welcomes immigrants and you want to hurt them, you're mean, you have free speech but you must be careful how you express yourself, you are a bigot, you hate people who are different from you, we don't like your short haircut or your German-sounding name, we believe in tolerance but. . . .

Exactly. People would rather engage in public speaking than be called racist....

[freebilly]

I saw this kid on O Reilley and he scares me. He will one day start a compound in Idaho

A compound of 100 people in Idaho scares you? What about 10 million people from Mexico here illegally. That doesn't scare you?

Al Qaida slipping across our porous borders doesn't scare you?

Illegal (and legal) immigrants operating sex slave rings in Plainfield, New Jersey and San Francisco, California don't scare you.

You, my friend, have an overactive imagination if you think a few nutbars in Idaho compounds are scarier than the realities that exist as the result of our border policies....

[Pitchfork]

I think there are two strands of argument in the illegal immigration debate.
One strand argues that immigrants are a drain on our economy becuase the demand social services, send money back to the home country etc. However, to make this argument you must acknowldge the positive economic impact that these illegal aliens make (working low wage jobs, paying taxes both directly and indirectly). That is an empirical question and one I'd like to see more discussion about. What is the net loss or gain from illegal immigration to the country?

The other argument is rooted in a 'protection of American culture' perspective. This approach begins assumes a greater degree of cutltural homogeneity in the USA than really exists (or ever existed) and then insists that we enact policies to achieve it.

[princess leah]

The Public School system in America is a joke and an excuse for socialists to teach their crap, especially at the college level...My kids are thankfully in a private school where they are learning and able to talk freely about God, their opinions, etc without fear of retribution...I think the whole public school system ought to be overhauled but there as long as politicians hold the money box, the only opportunities for kids lie in the parents willing enough to sacrifice for their kids and send them to private schools - imagine if even 50% of the parents decided for 1 year to pull their children out - why it would cause a revolution!

[gunnedah]

Listen, every wacko that comes to this country can say and do as they please. Most of our teachers in public schools and on college campuses are liberals and spout their rhetoric. Even illegal immigrants are complaining about being called illegals. Get off this kids back he has a right to be heard like anyone else.
Have we become a nation of cowards. I dare say so when a citizen born in this country is not allowed to speak his mind and any liberal and illegal can.

[luckydevi]

"He's a kid. How much subtlety and discretion do you expect out of him?"

I am 20

[freebilly]

One strand argues that immigrants are a drain on our economy becuase the demand social services, send money back to the home country etc. However, to make this argument you must acknowldge the positive economic impact that these illegal aliens make (working low wage jobs, paying taxes both directly and indirectly). That is an empirical question and one I'd like to see more discussion about. What is the net loss or gain from illegal immigration to the country?

The economic questions are the interesting ones. The cultural homogeneity stuff I've never bought. I'm the son of an Asian immigrant, so few can accuse me of being biased against people from other cultures coming to the US.

The real answer is I don't think anyone has a realistic answer about what we do with those who are here illegally. My daughter has married into a family full of illegals from Mexico. There are those who post here who think I should turn them in to the INS. Fat chance. Now I don't want to dismiss their being here illegally; however, I don't particularly fault them for coming SINCE OUR GOVERNMENT HAS CHOSEN TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY about their presence.

My mother had a great saying-- "Never complain about what you let happen."

Well, our government-- WE-- have let 10 million people come here illegally. We've permitted it. There ain't no way in the world that genie's going back in the bottle.

I wish I had a simple solution, but I don't.

[Woahhs]

I am 20

Then I'd have to say you are relatively new to the culture wars. You've picked a good place to hang out.

[Ohioan]

I'm denigrating him because he's a racist.

Which judging from the context, you must define as being someone who wants to protect the continuity of his own culture and lines of descent--in short any normal person in the world, before the advent of deceptive Socialism, seeking an undifferentiated humanity, under a one-world system!

The bandying of insulting and emotional terms in the place of reasoned argument, is a technique of the far left. Conservatives and moderates make a terrible mistake, playing their game.

As for the immigration question, see Immigration & The American Future. As for the Leftwing war on continuity of culture, see Destroying Cultural Continuity. To recognize who really are the bigots in the argument, see How To Recognize The Bigot In The Argument.

William Flax

[Ohioan]

His position is indefensible unless you think America is for white people only.

It is nice of you to cavalierly assume that the position of those of us who want to preserve the character of the America, created by the Founding Fathers, in and immediately after the Revolution, is indefensible. No one is denying the rightful presence here of the American Indians, or the American Negroes, nor of the more recent settlements by Asian immigrants, etc.. But the legitimate presence of these groups, does not, in any way, negate the legitimate interest we have in preserving the basic character of the American mainstream.

It is idiotic that we are trying to preserve--and should try to preserve--other species and cultures on this earth, but have no interest in preserving the culture and ongoing character of the American mainstream. What is indefensible is your apparent hostility to the concept.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[WilliamofCarmichael]

RE: "Exactly. People would rather engage in public speaking than be called racist.."

Yes. My point was suppose to be, what good does it do to simply respond emotionally without making any effort to debate facts.

For example, some here attack the young man as a "racist" because he has a problem with some legal immigrants. Well so do all rational American citizens of all races and ethnicities! Here's why.

Problems of welfare use by legal immigrants. Quite a bit of material here on this controversial topic.

http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/pub/Immigration/WelfareUse/Index.html

It got so bad that there was welfare reform in 1996 that specifically EXCLUDED non-citizens from receiving welfare and such things as Section 8 housing. The problem continues.

Heather Mac Donald of http://www.manhattan-institute.org

has had a couple of articles covering recent legal imigrants' use our welfare system

Perhaps the best source is the Center for Immigration Studies, cis.org

A good start is a CIS study at

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10761

It shows that immigrants (legal and ILLEGAL) use welfare far more than native born -- by a rate of 25 percent to 16 percent.

It is NOT racist to question people flocking here to use our welfare systems!!

It's better to light a few brain cells than curse people with ad hominem, emotional irrational "arguments." But feeeeeeeelings are all liberals have to work with.