Do you know a former college liberal?

The Arrakis Street Journal | March 9, 2001 | Paul Atreides

[Temple Owl]

Bump! That is really a great post!!!

[lkside]

I've got a guy I used to sing barbershop with.... he even went and got a full Liberal Arts Degree. I see him often at his window. He always asks me if I want fries with that!!!!

[JENINMO]

Usually people who never leave academia remain liberal. They don't know what the outside world is like, so why change, why not indoctrinate? They are usually afraid of the real world, anyway. There are exceptions (my brother, the Clinton-hating, Bush-loving Conservative) but he is a professor of plasma physics, the sciences are sometimes different.

[M. Thatcher]

having been there and thought that themselves

Absolutely. We have the advantage of knowing precisely how liberals "think" (or more accurately, feel), while any liberal opponent is completely unfamiliar with conservative thought (and it is thought). Which is why liberals are typically bested in the argument and quite quickly are reduced to the usual "Oh, yeah? Well you're a racist-sexist-homophobe-meanspirited-hatemonger...."

[RaginRak]

I'm an oldie. Grew up in a Democrat family. The McGovern race for president opened my eyes. Now I'm a down and dirty Conservative.

[wardaddy]

Me too son...in the mid to late 70s. Let's see:

State co chair of NORML

ACLU member

Sierra Club member

Friends of the Earth member

Greenpeace early member

PoliSci major

Campaigned for Carter

Took the LSAT..LOL

Subscribed to Prarie Fire

Ditto Mother Jones and New Republic

Studied Che's Diaries (good read actually)

Was happy when Somoza fell (later became a contra supporter) Hair to my waste and a chronic

Is that enough?...there's hope for anyone...now I'm only slightly to the left of the Turner Diaries..LOL

[beckett]

I know quite a few, including myself and several members of my family. It's extremely common. Since Leftist political philosophy relies upon a flawed and incomplete understanding of human nature and economics, but an understanding that has a certain appeal to those with little life or financial experience along with an inclination to rebel just for the hell of it, college kids are perfectly suited to fall for it. I would estimate that the majority of trendy Leftist kids on campus abandon those views, or certainly the hardcore ideology from which they spring, within five years after they graduate.

It's only the small minority, usually those who intend to remain in the cloistered halls of academe for their entire careers, who bury themselves so deeply in Leftist text that they remained chained to it into mature adulthood. Good examples of the species are guys like Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, authors of the leftwing sensation Empire, a book that is all abstract jargon and obscure neologisms, except when it is childish drivel with no connection to the real world.

[f.Christian]

If you think you're... cured---you're still a liberal...it's a fight--struggle to the day you die!

[germanicus]

Recently, I was going through some old boxes of college books and folders (circa 1970-73) and found a folder with a couple dozen handouts (mimeographed-they still smell bad) of locations and times for anti-war demonstrations. I don't think I ever participated (my father said my college days were through if he ever saw me on TV) but I can't remember if I really disagreed with these people. They also gave free beer parties (keggers). If free beer was involved, then they were my friends. Somehow I survived and landed here. Whew! What a ride!

[wardaddy]

yes ma'am mommy.

[who knows what evil?]

I haven't seen her in 12 years, but I "Googled" her name a few months ago. Now she's a professor at a well-known university. And guess what? She's every bit as left-wing as she was when I knew her. Her web site mentions hate crimes, feminism, stopping the war in Afghanistan, etc.

Isn't that just precious? Now she is poisoning the intellectual well at OUR expense.

[MistrX]

Me.

[pt17]

Knew a bunch of them who entered college seeing the world as they wanted it to be. When it turned out the world didn't measure up to their idealistic visions, about half of them went down the road of looking for organizations to blame and the other half went to work and learned reality.

[f.Christian]

The FR helped me a lot---THE MOST besides God...

fighting liberalism on my own--alone was practically a lost case!

Read Plato's allegory of of the cave--liberal prison--jail...all escapees are killed--murdered!

[Paul Atreides]

i will say this, though, i think those who have BEEN liberal are even more effective in arguing with/combating liberal logic, having been there and thought that themselves, don't you agree?

Oh yeah! From the past few nights of watching Bill O'Reilly, I have noticed his liberal guests never back up their arguments with anything concrete; it is always "Well, there should be....", or "Well, I feel....." Then, there was the girl who had NO OPINION about the College Republicans having their materials stolen by protestors. To top it all off, the courageous little twit wouldn't even use her real name. She also sat there with a zombie-like stare on her face. No emotional expression. It was creepy. Then there was the night he had the Socialist kid on there who "felt" that wealth should be confiscated! He looked fourteen, though I know he is older.

I was in an American Art course last semester, and the first chapter of the book was on the American Indians. You can guess some of the drivel spouting from the vacant heads in the classroom. I dropped the course. However, I did get to see a videotape that claimed that everything in the United States, from the government on down, is modeled on the way the American Indians did things. Funny, I always thought our form of government was based on Roman tradition.

[Truthsayer20]

"...the sciences are sometimes different..."

In my experience the "hard" sciences - mathematics, physics, CS et al - are as infested with left-wingers as the humanities. Engineering is a different matter altogether.

[wardaddy]

FR is a Godsend to us all but my conversion started way back. By age 23 I was starting to have perceptions that diverged from my youthful idealism. I had begun as a young radical at around 15-16. My dad was an ex-military, VMI grad, Goldwater man...we fought like lions. He always won, I had such a great mane of hair to grab and he was huge and well conditioned.

I think traveling around the world and just plain growing up did it. Having kids cemented it. The rise of Political Correctness drove a stake thru the heart and steeled my resolve as a Conservative.

I was in college from 1975-1980....I did a "Kerouac" for a year in the middle.

Now, I'm almost a far-rightist. I'm militantly anti-abortion and pro-RKBA but maybe a bit realistic and pragmatic on the overall battle we Conservatives must wage. I'd give Bush a 90 rating. I wish he was more resolute on the social issues.

Regards.

[wardaddy]

Our laws are predominately Anglo-based.

[Slyfox]

You might find something interesting here

[huskerjim]

I was great liberal in college. One of my saddest moments was the election in 1980 when Carter loss. I was sincere in my liberal beliefs. I thought the government knew best on managing our world; the masses were ignorant. My liberalism applied to politics and theology.

The change was in the Fall of 1983 (senior year) when the Lord changed my heart overnight. The big change was that I realized the Word of God (Bible) was true and not just stories.

My views changed in politics, theology, and even in my major, Geology. The Lord showed a great sense of humor in my overnight changes.