I have a dirty little secret to share.
Are you ready for this? Are you sitting down? Okay.
Here goes: I love conservatives.
Now keep in mind, I don't love them for their "pro-family" policy stances or their smoldering good looks (though I will admit, that guy who beat Tom Daschle is quite the sizzlin' hunk of man beef). I love them because I admire them, and I admire them because they have the balls of steel that Democrats so sorely lack.
Allow me to illustrate.
When liberals throw a national convention, we marvel at "the audacity of hope." When right-wingers throw the same event, they proudly discuss beating our faces in with rifles. See the difference? Conservatives never fear firing at will, and we liberals could learn a lot from them.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say we have to.
Democrats are afraid to attack with the venom of a Bill O'Reilly or a Rush Limbaugh. We believe it is beneath us. We don't want to get in bed with the "nasties," much less be nasty ourselves. We detest Sean Hannity as much for his style as for his substance. We want to take the high road. We think that if we keep our heads above the fray, eventually people will realize that we're right.
Wrong.
Last August a bunch of so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacked John Kerry, claiming the he'd lied to get his Vietnam medals and betrayed the country with his antiwar protests. Just about all of the charges were certifiably false. Kerry wanted to strike back hard and fast, but his advisers didn't want him to "dignify (the allegations) with a response." By the time the Democrats finally did respond, the damage had been done.
Contrast that with the conservative response to a CBS story alleging that George W. Bush was AWOL during his National Guard service. Republicans didn't just make sure everyone knew the charges were false - they shredded CBS and butchered Dan Rather.
I have friends who still think John Kerry lied about his medals. Those friends might well have voted for him had they known that the charges were disproved. And I believe that Kerry could have won the election if he'd fought back harder and more swiftly against the Swifties.
As it was, the Dems were too afraid to throw punches and the Republicans won with a dirty trick.
But what does all this mean for us, the students who supported John Kerry last fall?
Obviously, we can't change what's happening in the upper echelons of the Democratic party - at least, we can't just yet. But there is still reason for us to feel empowered. Because right now, as we eat our Ratty sticky rice and prepare to join the world, we are incubating our generation. And a generation isn't just a group of people who were born around the same time. It's a set of ideals and values that we carry with us all our lives.
Over the course of this semester, I will be writing a series of columns suggesting ways to make our idealism effective, to help us forge our generation, to transform it into what we want it to be, what we know it can be. For the moment though, I have but one plea: stand tough.
Don't let yourself be one of those liberals who is too sweet-natured to stand up for herself. Or himself. Don't bite your tongue for fear of offending others. Don't pull any punches. It's time to let our opponents know that debate is welcome, but if they can't back up their own point of view, they should prepare to start defecating out of three orifices - minimum.
Yes, my friends, we have two choices. We can be rolled over like those in our parents' generation who let Kerry get decimated by the Swift Boat Vets without any just recourse. Or we can study the stylings of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney, fighting harder, stronger and meaner than any right-wing chowderhead would ever dare imagine.
Personally, I'm choosing Option B.
Who's with me?
Joel Silberman '05 will discuss why Michael Moore is the worst possible model for a more aggressive liberal in his next column.
