Penn State Student Takes his Partisan Rhetoric on the Road

I was nearly at a loss of words when I watched a Penn State student give a speech at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, but despite my disgust, I was able to muster up a response....

(There are many aspects of this student's speech that I would like to address, and I could go on for hours, so I will keep to only the two most pressing issues)

1. Us versus Them Mentality

Who out there, political or apolitical, isn't sick and tired of the "you are always wrong and I am always right" mentality? Personally, I am a Democrat, I am a Progressive, and yes, I will say it, I am a liberal

I will also admit, however, that not everything non-democrats think of is bad policy. I hope that not many people (apart from this student and his followers) think that we have had a good idea or two (Civil Rights Act, the G.I. Bill, and Voting Rights were pretty decent in my opinion.) This student, however, disagrees. In fact, he goes as far to say,

We all define ourselves as conservatives and define our opponents as liberals....I don't much care for this terminology, and I'll tell you why. If we call ourselves conservatives and we call them liberals it implies that there's some sort of parity between the two groups, as if we are just different but not essentially better or worse ideologies. But the simple fact is that, when we are right and they are wrong, we should say so. And for those of you who have been paying attention, when we are right and when they are wrong is basically all the time.

Ouch..that hurts. It is offensive, off-putting, and down right wrong. What angers me the most, is that this is exactly the mentality that discourages people from following and participating in politics and prevents our elected leaders from getting anything done. All young Americans, not just Young Americans for "Freedom", deserve better than this.

2. Out of Control Exaggerations

This student must have a level of knowledge that far surpasses us common folks'. To me (who was there protesting his protest) there was maybe ten...fifteen? supporters of this student, but according to an article, he said his message drew a crowd of nearly 100! Then turning his speech to CPAC the crowd grew to over 100! I wish I understood his logic...I could say PSU College Dems has 500 active members, or that we draw crowds of 2,000 students at our events.

I'd have to say, the rally they held was truly entertaining. I loved being told I did not support freedom because I believed in climate change, and having a guy exhale in my face saying "LOOK I'm breathing out CO2 and ruining the earth!" I also appreciate his term of endearment, "Climategate." Last time I checked, this wasn't proving climate change a fallacy, or threatening the university, or stealing secrets. Now it seems to me someone just wants to be the next Deep Throat; Let's not blow things out of proportion. Another thing that confuses me is his call for another investigation of Dr. Mann. Who's better than fellow climate change researchers to investigate "ClimateGate", oh that's right...this 19? year old undergraduate student. My b.

Some of my friends asked me not to post this, it would just further this student's speech, points... validate him. I struggle to believe, however, that anyone listening to this stomach turning rhetoric will jump on his bandwagon. In fact, here is the video of his actual speech. Listen for yourself; think for yourself. If you want to tell me that I do not support freedom and that I am a socialist because I believe in climate change, or Dr. Mann, or that all political ideologies have a seat at the table, well then, maybe you should join Young Americans for Freedom?