Friends, there are lots of great stories in the news today. For one, check out this exceptionally good article about efforts in North Carolina and Florida to reclaim academia from its leftist occupiers. That is, conservatives are using the leverage they have as the legislative and gubernatorial overseers of many public university systems to compel them to back away from woke insanity and give conservative viewpoints a fair hearing. This will by no means be easy, but it is long overdue and it gives us hope that higher ed may be salvageable.
How hard will it be to reclaim a "safe space" on college campuses for conservatism? Very!!! Witness the fact that many professors, including me, "self-censor" out of fear of pushback from students, colleagues, or administrators. Personally, I don't like to inject my politics into classroom discussions anyway, but quite frankly there are whole subject areas that I try to avoid, because they've become so fraught with peril. And, if we can't have honest, open conversations in academia, then where can we???
In other news, much as establishment types would rather not talk about it, the fiscal decisions we made during the pandemic explain, in large measure, the inflationary pressures we face today. Everyone liked all that free money that was sloshing around in 2020 and 2021, but the truth is that you can't inject that much capital into the system without creating some major imbalances. Our politicians erred on the side of, well, humoring and coddling us, and now we're facing the music...together.
It sure looks like we're headed for a titanic Trump vs. DeSantis clash. Witness the fact that both men will be "campaigning" in Iowa in the near future.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/desantis-iowa-2024/2023/03/02/id/1110864/
Is democracy doomed? Probably. I say that not because of the January 6th (farcical) "insurrection", but because fewer and fewer Americans trust "the news", and more and more are tuning it out altogether. There's a natural corollary to our aversion to, and skepticism of, objective information, however: all that will be left to us is subjective interpretations and propaganda, and, at that point, you can make people believe literally anything. If it's in the interest of one of our parties to convince its adherents that the time has come to dispense with democratic norms, you better believe half the country will go along with it. And, once pluralism has been fully expunged from the media and social media, that half could quickly become much more than half. Count on it.
https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/americans-have-the-lowest-trust-in
Finally, I've mentioned this before,
Dr.Waddy from Jack: I see much that is.encouraging in motivating the only organizations with the power to face down the woke totalitarians on campus. UNC Chapel Hill, a university respected for more than basketball, may well be setting a good example for common sense states by acknowledging that taxpayers should have a say in how their state schools are run. And in a state like NC that means unbearable scrutiny for woke termites who strive to undermine from within.But Gov. DeSantis, who is fast becoming nemesis to wokeism, has taken it a very beneficial step forward. Meaning well I suppose, some schools have proposed shameful "safe spaces" where academic freedom is grudgingly tolerated. Why not extend this fundamental to entire school!? Gads, its appalling that this needs reiteration at all but the left has degraded the america academy beyond measure.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: Should Gov. DeSantis become President he would be able to put all schools, public or private, in fear of their Federal funding should they tolerate woke totalitarianism in their faculties, administrations or sturent bodies. That could even get the State "University" of NY,which has mandated formal DIE indoctrination for graduation,to wise up.NY taxpayers are as insects or microbes to our state's government and I envy you who live in states where radical leftists are persona non grata who can can look to see their presumptuous havens on campus denied them!
ReplyDeleteJack, I find myself torn on this question. On one hand, I believe in academic freedom and local control. Thus, I don't want to see the federal government or the states impose any kind of orthodoxy on schools at whatever level. On the other hand, the "culture" of American education has become so toxic, and our demands as conservatives for fair treatment are so mild, that it would seem like insanity not to what few resources we possess to achieve positive change. So, I tentatively approve of DeSantis's efforts, but I VERY MUCH FEAR what will become of them when the statehouse in Tallahassee is back in Democratic hands, as someday it will be.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: I am so happy to see a state or even a college board take the academic woke in hand and give them to understand that their intolerance will not be tolerated because it is inimical to the principles of academic freedom and unfettered dialogue vital to university.And even though most taxpayers are too busy living constructive lives to have much to do with academia, its really not nice to spend their money on things of which they would not approve, which as we know is a privilege the left arrogantly and presumptuously does with blithe abandon. The only way we will see redemption in
ReplyDeleteNYi is for the Feds to compel it. That said. . .
Dr. Waddy from Jack: . . . , your misgivings are especially plausible given your professional academic achievement and because you have had much to do with this issue in informative and respectful contact with the public. But what are we to do to stop people who have embraced a totalitarian ideology, who enforce it in those settings in which they have already acquired the power to do so (academia, msn, entertainment, secondary and elementary education) and who clearly dismiss (cancel) democracy? They must be forced by superior political power to relent; they are unmoved by anything short of this, certainly not by persuasion or intellectual discreditation.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack" . . . elementary education and far too much of the unelected Federal and state bureaucracies) "
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: The article you cited from The Liberal Patriot appears in its concluding recommendations to maintain that the blame for the bitter polarization in our country is equally shared across the political spectrum. I've disagreed with this for a long time as I see it expressed often: " why can't we break bread together?" Many people of good will mean well in saying this. The cynical left is utterly disingenuous when it protests its agreement with it. The American left declared war on America 60 years ago and remains grimly determined to win it as
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: The real America took awhile to reconcile itself to the appalling truth that a potentially decisive faction of our polity means the destruction of America and its replacement with their elite totalitarian dictatorship. They have succeeded in degrading the journalism profession beyond measure and rendering it an obsequious shill for their cause. The real America knows this now and realizes that we are in a poliical battle for the preservation of our positive, constructive way of life against an implacable opponent. The American left harbors withering contempt for any thought of comity or compromise. That is proven by their ever intensifying effort to outlaw our expression of our principles. Well meant, good willed dialogue with give and take is hopeless with people of this mien; consider what fools Rinos have made of themselves by attempting it.
ReplyDeleteI hear you, Jack. It's understandable that we would despair of ever winning an argument or a discussion with the Left, since they refuse even to engage in any such give-and-take, or to acknowledge our right to speak our minds in the first place. So...polite discourse is out of the question. As you say, what's left to us except the raw exercise of power, to bludgeon our enemies into retreat? I get it. I really do. The Catch 22 is that, if we expect the political kingdom to deliver us from wokeness, we may inadvertently empower that kingdom to complete its obliteration of our constitutional system, in due course. Can the right "beat" the left? I think it can. But can democracy and liberty and pluralism survive that epic clash? I have grave doubts on that score.
ReplyDelete