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Resistance See other Resistance Articles Title: The State of the Revolution The State of the Revolution Author’s Note: I would like to thank the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy for sponsoring my next speech, which this Thursday, December 3rd. The speech will take place in the Talley Student Center Grand Ball Room at N.C. State University in Raleigh, NC. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. and will be free and open to the public. It’s hard to believe it has been over four years since I spoke at N.C. State. That night, back in August of 2005, I gave a speech calling for a conservative revolution on our college campuses. I suggested many things that could be done to launch such a revolution. My criticism of the UNC administration was very harsh. But my criticism of conservative apathy was harsher. So, before I return to N.C. State this week, it would make sense for me to dedicate a column giving an account of what we’ve been up to on the front lines of this campus revolution. The first shot in the revolution was fired by the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy in Raleigh, North Carolina. They teamed up with the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) to do an important study during the fall of 2005. The study focused on illegal speech codes in the UNC system. We all know these speech codes are used to censor conservative speech (and not The Vagina Monologues) because such speech is “offensive” and causes “discomfort.” Personally, I think the phrase “spread the wealth” is offensive. It causes me discomfort but (since I’m not a campus liberal) I won’t try to ban it. After the Pope/FIRE study was published, I published my own veiled threat of litigation against the UNC-Wilmington speech code. A few weeks later, I called one of the lawyers working for the FIRE to let them know I would be actively seeking a plaintiff for a federal lawsuit aimed at overturning that policy. While we were still on the phone, the FIRE attorney logged on to the UNC-Wilmington website and discovered they had already changed the speech code. In other words, the mere threat of litigation combined with the Pope/FIRE study had produced a victory. The speech code had been used to intimidate students, faculty, and staff for years. Now, we were turning the tables and intimidating the intimidators. In January of 2006, I got a call from David French of the newly formed Center for Academic Freedom – a branch of my favorite public policy organization, the Alliance Defense Fund. David asked that I help him identify illegal speech codes and brave students willing to fight them. By the end of the year, we had worked together to bring down several speech codes through litigation or, in some cases, the mere threat of litigation. Meanwhile, in January of 2006, the Libertarians at UNC-Greensboro were attacking a speech zone policy that banned free expression on 99% of their campus. The UNC-G Libertarians wrote an email to the administration telling them they would violate the policy the next day at noon - daring the police to arrest them for exercising their free speech rights. The university brought charges against the kids then dropped them. Then they brought more charges and dropped those, too. Finally, they gave up and removed the speech zone policy from the student handbook. But the Libertarians were not done with the UNC-G administration yet. In early February, the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy sent me to Appalachian State University. While there, I found a plaintiff for a federal lawsuit aimed at bringing down their speech code, which was then considered the worst in the state. Before the AFD was done drafting a civil complaint, Appalachian State got rid of its speech code. There was even pressure from the local ACLU. In mid-February, I went on to Pennsylvania State University where I met a young student who would become the plaintiff in an ADF suit against their speech code. That code would also fall – via federal court injunction - before the end of April. Before the semester was over, the Pope Center sent me to Wake Forest University. After my speech, I was approached by the president of the UNC-G College Republicans. She held in her hand a joint resolution – co-signed by the UNC-G College Libertarians – threatening their school with litigation. The threat concerned a “non-discrimination” policy that prevented student groups from discriminating on the basis of beliefs. (For example, Christian student organization constitutions that said members must “believe in God” were considered “exclusive” and “intolerant.”). But the UNC-G administration was forcing student organizations to sign the ridiculous policy even though a similar one had been struck down by a 2004 ADF lawsuit. I had recruited the plaintiffs for that lawsuit and was, therefore, in a position to assure the Republicans and Libertarians that they would win. And they did win. The resolution/threat worked like a charm as the UNC-G administration abandoned its illegal policy in order to avoid another lawsuit. It was almost like winning the Cold War without firing a single shot. And so those are some of the highlights of my first year of campus activism following my last N.C. State speech. Obviously, I have too much good news to fit in a single column thanks to a lot of really good friends – e.g., the Pope Center, the FIRE, the ADF, the Leadership Institute (LI), and the Young America’s Foundation. So, I’ll fast forward to 2009 before this column turns into a short novel. Last Monday, I ate my first of two Thanksgiving dinners with a faculty Christian group and about 100 international students. In the last year, members of that Christian group have helped bring Frank Turek, Phillip Johnson, Michael Behe, and William Lane Craig to campus. Now, students are actually getting the opportunity to see debates between those defending traditional views of Christianity (with logic and evidence) and those who hold different views, including hardened atheists. And the students are stepping up, too. On Wednesday, I walked into a studio to record a commercial for a new conservative radio show on our local Big Talker radio station. While I was waiting, I sat and read the new UNC-W conservative student newspaper. It was started by two of my students with the help and support of the kind folks at LI. The new conservative paper recently accused my university of giving pay raises to dozens of employees in defiance of a state-mandated budget freeze. After they printed the accusation, they were invited on to a local radio station. During the segment, one of the chancellor’s assistants called in to essentially accuse the two students of lying. So these students have decided to fight back by getting their own two hour night-time radio show, which will further challenge university polities, fiscal and otherwise. And they will have my full support. That’s why I went to the Big Talker studio to record the commercial. On Thanksgiving morning, I took some students to the shooting range for our annual “Giving Thanks for the Second Amendment” field trip at the local law enforcement range. (click here for video). While there, I asked a former student whether he remembered the days when the university used to spend all of the Leadership Lecture Series money on liberal speakers – e.g., $12,000 on Arianna Huffington, $13,000 on Cornel West, $18,000 on Molly Ivins, $19,000 on Robert Kennedy, Jr., and so on. My former student said he did remember those days and then acknowledged that they were long behind us. Indeed, the monopoly of liberal speakers at my university has come to an end. Today, students are beginning to hear ideas that do not have the endorsement of our remarkably un-diverse and narrow-minded administration. I envision a day when the administration is forced to cut back on other indoctrination programs. I imagine a campus without the Women’s Center, the African American Center, and El Centro Hispano. In other words, I imagine a day when we decide that divisive identity politics have no place on a university campus. Of course, many people say I’m just a dreamer. But, now, it is clear that I’m not the only one. I hope some day you’ll join our revolution. And the whole academic world will live as one. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
#1. To: Eric Stratton (#0)
The revolution will have had the desired effect (IMHO) when the discussion turns from liberals versus conservatives to right versus wrong. God gave us (or whatever explanation works for you) a beautiful and wondrous place to live and just a few rules for the benefit of keeping it that way (forever). And we just can't seem to quit fucking it up.
Where in mankind's entire history has a "revolution" had that impact? When leaders use the term "GOD" and so forth? Don't ALL leaders already perform the same? Your perspective indicates little towards the meaning of a true revolution.
When leaders use the term "GOD" and so forth? Don't ALL leaders already perform the same? Your perspective indicates little towards the meaning of a true revolution. In America, around 1776. God has 10 Commandments that work better than man's millions of statutes when adhered to. So, just for the sake of efficient operation of government I wouldn't be opposed to leaders that supported God's admonishments. Simply using the term "God" is what they do now. Using terms without employing them in practicality is where we're at with terms like freedom, liberty, Constitution, conservative, and even God. Almost all leaders are liars and self-promoting puppets to godless bankers. A true revolution will have occurred in this country when the people are informed and then choose to be good enough again to stand up on their own two hind legs and reject criminality in their government, instead of joining the thieves in a sort of nationalized criminality wherein everyone gets away with whatever they can because everyone else is doing the same. Criminality starts at the top and filters down into society ... Righteousness starts with the society at large and filters up during a non-violent revolution of ideas. If we simply appraise our current condition we witness the richest nation on earth has become the greatest debtor or poorest and most rotten through our rejection of the CONSTITUTION in favor of a socialist system driven by a debt based fiat monetary system which is in direct violation of our Constitution AND GOD's LAW. I'll reiterrate that I'm not a preacher, but I get upset with sanctimonious idiots like yourself that want to blame God for shit that fake preachers do and say. God tells us to keep equal weights and measures and to treat strangers as we would citizens. Unbacked paper currency is an abomination. Unbacked paper currency as the reserve currency of the world is like giving a dope addict an unlimited supply of crack cocaine in a glass pipe, with a blow torch and a 500 gallon tank of propane. The clique in DC are addicted to power that they obtain at the nations expense. They have converted you to acceptance of their lies and thievery to such an extent that if you listen carefully you'll hear the admissions of the people when they say things like , "They're all crooks", "it's always been this way", "Ya can't fight city hall", "ya have to work within the system" ad nauseum. People actually fight over which candidate is the worst !!! I'd equate America's condition to that of a man that claims he's looking for a good wife and gets frustrated when he can't find one in the red light district. People want to blame politicians for these conditions, claiming coercion after VOTING for the lesser of two evils for a hundred years. Smug little Limbaugh clones that support the corruption of Constitutional principles in order to "win" elections that merely produce more of the same shit they constantly complain about. Obama is the President of the United States because of Limbaugh, Bush, McCain and the RNC. Neither party is willing or able to produce a statesman. This past election cycle epitomizes my point, but worse than that it placed a full fledged communist/fascist puppet in the White House. Then, Americans like us in this forum argue the finer points of shit that doesn't matter for 4 more years. It's Groundhog day all over again. Want to "do something" ... stop funding your own destruction. Tell Uncle Sambo to fuck the fuck off. Or, be content to whine forever about your abuse.
Nothing against buck personally, but the fatalism that he preaches is in tune with the chorus that I've been listening to throughout my education and my adult life. It's always the gray consensus over those scary values every time. Thanks for the morning pep talk noone.
Thanks for the morning pep talk noone. My pleasure. I'm optimistic that we'll find our way again. I've seen a change here locally, and suspect the mood is changing throughout the country. Being ridiculed isn't as frequent these days. And, even in moments of heated debate amongst the commoners it should be remembered that the other guy probably loves the country too. Thanks !
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