Assault on Conservative Outlook Ignores History

To the editors:

The recent opinion piece by R. Gerard McGreary '04 shows a lack of analytic ability that is endemic to liberalism, especially as expressed on America’s academic campuses (Op-ed, “A Conservative America,” Jan. 22). McGeary cannot distinguish between conservatives of different eras. Why is this important? Because conservatives of different eras conserve different things. Conservatives of the 1700’s were anti-gun rights and pro-monarchy. Conservatives of the early 1900’s were conserving racial disparity. But many conservatives of today are former liberals of the civil rights era. Why? They are conserving the lack of racial preferences conserved in the Constitution.

Conservatives of today try to conserve the freedoms in the Constitution, as opposed to the anti-democratic legislating of our judicial branches (favored by some law schools which will remain nameless). They try to conserve the ability to have religious freedom and freedom of association, unlike some universities which will remain nameless. Liberalism, by an large, fails analytically, especially with issues with nuance.

I congratulate McGeary for his exceptional example of this failure of America’s universities to develop critical thinking among its students. It is probably not his fault, since speech codes and protests around any controversial conservative speaker have probably left him and others without any good sparring partner.

Geoff Robinson

Jan. 22, 2003