Hey, those Campus Progressives are “watching” us… here’s a link to their blog: http://www.campusprogress.org/page/community/group/main
They really took in the entity that was the College Republican National Committee’s National Convention. I get the feeling they believe that the College Republicans are THE youth conservative movement. I got news for them: they’re only one element.
I could have characterized this convention the same exact way they did – and frankly, some of what I saw (including what Campus Progress witnessed) is a bit nerve-wracking, from a conservative’s perspective. I hope some of this doesn’t define our movement. But, I could have also characterized this convention much differently and added a lot more viewpoints to it – there are plenty of intellectual conservatives here – they just won’t get the attention of most viewers. For example, nowhere in these blogs do “Conventioneer” and “Conventionette” mention the good work done by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) – or some other really great organizations. That said, if they don’t mention intellectual conservative organizations such as ISI, they probably weren’t able to even “see” or “hear” the intellectual conservatives that are not the “ra ra” type of College Republican.
College Republicans are after all, college students – they drink, they look at girls, they party, and they characterize things very simply, without much depth. But, there are plenty of other College Republicans (and college students) that are more intellectual, don’t drink (yes, plenty of non-drinkers here!) and read books. Where was the mention of all the free books my organization gave out? And, the conversations about ideas that I had with these students? Not mentioned. But the fact that an outsider viewed things with such honesty does show us that the conservative movement has a lot of work to do to ground our side in the intellectual and philosophical foundations that really define who we are and what we’re all about.
This is Jonathan Browher. Keep up the good work. I’ll definitely make sure that my friends in the blogosphere keep themselves updated on this whole thing. I do find it mildly funny that they’re taking us seriously enough to spy on us.
I propose that we send a team to the Dem’s convention in July. Obviously their unfavorable opinion is a result of subjective coverage – they were searching for anything to incriminate us – but it’s the same way with their party. God knows the “strange” smells that must come from the College Dem Convention. I don’t think drinking is exactly a sign of moral decline; they’re hardly ones to be self-righteous about moral values.