Conservatives want academia next

While Charles Krauthammer may believe that the “Bush Doctrine” is now spreading democracy throughout the Middle East, (“Three Cheers for the Bush Doctrine” Time, March 14, 2005), one question that has to nag us all is: How can a leader of a nation that is leaning toward a one party police state spread democracy. Can President George “Dubya” Bush really spread democracy abroad while his party chokes it off here at home?
In the same issue of Time, “Fighting Words 101,” it reports that conservative students are filing bias complaints against professors who criticize Republican points of view or their icons. According to the article, legislators are now trying to pass laws, such as David Horowitz’s Academic Bill of Rights, which sounds like an attempt to protect freedom of speech. But it is actually intended as a tool for students who want to fight against the teachings of what they consider “liberal bias.”
This is not surprising. The Republican Party has complete control of all branches of government. They control most of the media, especially the pundits and spin doctors. Academia is one of the last liberal strongholds and the conservatives are determined to eliminate it. Buzz phrases such as “Lose touch with the community” are used to dissuade universities from having such speakers as Michael Moore, or hosting the “Vagina monologs.” The so called community excuse seems to imply that the community’s politics, which at this time is mostly conservative, have a right to insulate themselves from the minority viewpoints.
Conservative students are complaining about a lack of balance on the teaching staff at many universities. Of course no one is pushing for such “balance” on TV news. Our two party system leaves no room for a balance of political diversity in our house or senate. The Democrats, the party in decline, try to act more like Republicans to win over the center, while they continue to alienate the progressives, liberals and leftists. They keep loosing elections; yet keep on the same political track. At the same time, we are one of the last bourgeois democracies that restrict access of third parties in our elections.
So again the question is can a person who has stolen one election, and excluded input from all other political groupings, really promote democracy? The resistance in Iraq continues. The Wichita Eagle, March 9, 2005, reported “Syria backers outdo critics.” As for Walid Jumblatt, Druze leader, who praised Bush in Krauthammer’s article, he needs to pull his head out. If Hitler were alive today, he might try to pass himself off as a friend of the Jews. Bush can’t promote what he doesn’t understand and he doesn’t understand democracy.