Eagle Forum Collegians

Get ready for Collegians Leadership Summit

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:09:58 -0600

If you haven't registered for our Collegians Leadership Summit, time is running out. If you have, make sure you're ready for a great conference. We've put the agenda up on our info page, along with maps and lots of answers to questions people have had. Senator DeMint confirmed his attendance recently, and we're appreciative to Michele Bachmann for starting us off Thursday morning. We'll see you in D.C.!

How Far Down the Road?

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:31:00 -0600

The Eagle Forum Education Center—where I work—houses tons of books. So many that we are starting to throw some away. Sure, this sounds like heresy, but there is no market for some books written about politics 30 - 40 years ago by relatively unknown authors.

Searching through some boxes before they head off to book heaven, I found a book titled How Far Down the Road? by Edward R. Sneed under the 1055-page tome Moscow Bound: Policy, Politics and the POW/MIA Dilemma by John M.G. Brown and Pat Buchanan's 1990 book, Right From the Beginning.

How Far Down the Road? was written in 1961. Yes, in 1961 some people were asking the same questions we are now about why we are moving towards socialism. People condemned out-of-control spending and immorality in paper back volumes with questions for titles.

It's humbling to realize that we are fighting a battle that's been raging not since the 1960s—choosing between Goldwater and Johnson—not since the 1930s—the beginnings of federal government as a safety net—not since the American Revolution—“taxation without representation"—but since the beginning: what's the proper role of the individual, family, church, and civil government.

"Everyone guessed wrong."

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:59:00 -0600

"Everyone guessed wrong." -Joe Biden, acknowledging that the Administration's $787 billion economic-stimulus plan has failed to reduce the unemployment rate

Found in Time Magazine, June 29, 2009

No. I don't believe this. The hope I have in government is for what is not seen. Even if the unemployment rate is the same, $787 billion must have done something good! Something to be hoped in, right?

Confirmed Speakers

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:48:21 -0600

I'm happy to announce some of our speakers for Collegians Leadership Summit #16. We're proud to include from the House of Representatives Jason Chaffetz, Duncan Hunter, Steve King and Tom McClintock. Notable authors include Dr. Burt Folsom (New Deal or Raw Deal?), Mark Krikorian (The New Case Against Immigration), Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (Love and Economics) and the always popular Dr. Benjamin Wiker (The Darwin Myth). We have many more activities packed in our two-day conference, and will announce more in the upcoming weeks. Register now, before the conference fills up.

What We Don't Say

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:32:00 -0600

Sometimes it's more important to think about what people don't say than what they do.

Newt Gingrich made the following comment during a speech at a big Republican fundraiser. CNN quotes Gingrich as saying:

"I am happy that Dick Cheney is a Republican," he said. "I am also happy that Colin Powell is a Republican. A majority Republican Party will have lots of debates within the party. That is the nature of majorities."

Why didn't Gingrich mention the moderates like Cheney and Powell but not libertarians like Ron Paul? Is the party open for debates only about why we should be more moderate but ignore the raging debate about why we should be more dedicated to capitalism? or non-interventionist foreign policy? or a conservative monetary policy?

Is there room on college campuses for male advocacy groups?

Thu, 28 May 2009 19:26:00 -0600

What started as satirical article in University of Chicago's The Chicago Maroon quickly inspired the first male-student-advocacy group in the country.

Third-year student Steven Saltarelli, author of the article and founded of the club Men in Power, noticed that there were 11 women’s advocacy groups but no men's groups on campus.

Ali Feenstra, a fourth-year student and member of the Feminist Majority club, opposes the idea that men need their own club. Students need "to think about the reason for the creation of female-only spaces, queer-only spaces, an independent reason why people might need to go there to feel safe,” she said. “It can’t just be ‘Because it exists for women, it should exist for men.’”

But why not? Don't feminists argue that because men are presidents of companies, women should be too?

Saltarelli isn't alone on his campus, as 25 other students attended the first meeting, and he's not alone in recognizing that being born male doesn't mean instant success. Studies predict that men will become more and more of minority on college campuses and statistics showing that “men have far higher instances of suicide and drug use than women” to support a group dedicated to raising awareness about men's issues.

Roy F. Baumeister, a social psychology professor at Florida State University, observes that "a few lucky men are at the top of society and enjoy the culture’s best rewards. Others, less fortunate, have their lives chewed up by it," in an article he wrote titled, "Is There Anything Good About Men?"

Men in Power was highlighted recently in a Chicago Tribune article and is on Facebook.

Are Impartial Judgments Possible?

Tue, 26 May 2009 22:21:00 -0600

What do you think about this quote:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

The New York Times included the above quote from Judge Sotomayor, who's Obama's current choice from the Supreme Court vacancy in article today.

Does ethnicity or gender affect our judgments? Do our experiences trap us in a box that makes it impossible to make impartial judgements?

How to we know if our conclusions are better? Maybe our experiences give us tunnel vision and help us justify our opinions and beliefs and conclude that our decisions are better.

What about white men who've grown up in poverty: would they have better discernment skills than those did not?

What are the implications of this quote?

Eagle Forum Scholars

Thu, 21 May 2009 16:05:35 -0600

I'm proud to announce the results of our scholarship competition. Those chosen receive travel and lodging scholarships to Eagle Forum's Collegians Leadership Summit. Most will also get published in the Collegians Newsletter that we produce after the Summit each year.

These students are:

Alex Rose	Georgia
Ashley Reynolds	Oklahoma
Bethany Burrell	Georgia
Brant Russell	Oklahoma
Bryan O'Neill	Louisiana
Cossette Hanner	Utah
Daniel McShea	Florida
Emmalee Mattern	Oklahoma
Eva Zitterkob	Oklahoma
Jason Csehi	Ohio
Jenny Clem	Oklahoma
Joshua Pillow	Oklahoma
Luke Nowlin	Oklahoma
Megan Roberts	Missouri

Congratulations to the state of Oklahoma for producing so many good conservatives and to all who applied, and we'll see you at the summit.

Should Republicans Worry About Small "l" Libertarians?

Thu, 21 May 2009 13:21:00 -0600

There are many streams within the Republican Party and within conservatism; some good, some bad.

Reagan said, "I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism," during an interview with Reason magazine in July 1975.

Ron Paul represents the movement within conservationism and the Republican Party to remember government will never be the solution to our problems.

"I don’t believe in a government that protects us from ourselves," said Reagan.

Gov. Mark Sandford: "Liberty is the hallmark of the American experiment."

Sen. Lindsay Graham's "almost pejorative" comment...

I'm excited about a discussion at 2009 Eagle Forum Collegian Summit that will look at which way the Republican Party should be heading: towards government interference or less so.

Conservatives, Let's Get Creative—Online

Tue, 19 May 2009 19:13:00 -0600

Most people have good ideas. Few people implement.

What are some of the barriers to implementation?

And why does it seem like the government-solution oriented people are producing more creative media online than those who recognizes the inherent problems of government intervention?

Example:

Environmentalist activist Annie Leonard’s 20-minute video attacking capitalism called “Story of Stuff” is being viewed by kids in classrooms across our country and around the world in addition to getting millions of hits on YouTube despite it's misleading data and false logic. Why? Because it's wonderfully creative, funny and connects to a basic human value: we should treat others as we would want to be treated.

But Marxists don't have a monopoly on creatively, humor or understanding the power of connection.

We're the one's who believe producing, as oppose to believing wealth grows on trees, is essential to survival right?

Nice example of a creative use for media:

Maybe the title of my blog post should be, "Conservatives, Let's Implement."

California's Budget Crisis and why government must expand

Fri, 15 May 2009 16:01:58 -0600

California has an incredible budget crisis, and not even the Governator can stop the spending, so up the taxes go. Reason.tv's Ted Balaker brings us a great 10 minute video on one major cause of this problem: http://reason.tv/video/show/783.html

What is a "Hate Crime"?

Fri, 01 May 2009 12:07:00 -0600

All crimes are motivated by hate. If something is motivated by kindness, can it by definition be a crime?

But that's the controversy: who decides if someone is motivated by love or by hate? Who's definition of love are we using?

Rather than try to wrestle with why people commit or don't commit crimes or how they feel homosexuality, Congress should let the courts follow in the same tradition they have since the founding of our country: punish people for crimes they have committed not thoughts that have crossed their minds. Prosecutors should provide evidence to as to whether someone committed a crime or not and leave the wastelands of inner motivations between the individual and God.

The End of Conservatism?

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:53:56 -0600

The Heritage Institute has tackled the issue of Conservatism's future. It seems that many are quick to discount conservatism in the wake of Obama's victory. Despite campaign promises for increased bipartisanship in D.C., the message from the liberal media is "We won, you lost". There seems to be little attempt from the majority to accomodate the "almost can't even filibuster in the Senate" minority.

Clearly the Republican Party has fallen behind in the race for control of the federal government. But is this because we broke our leg, or did we wander off the track?

Read: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Thought/hl1120.cfm
Discuss.

100 Million Dollars?

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:12:19 -0600

Okay, we can make fun of Obama for his Stimulus Plan. We make fun of the Bailout and Omnibus and mega-budget, etc.

We also make fun of him for announcing 100 million dollars in cuts. Is this last one fair? Can he do nothing right? Well, detractors are correct that 100 million dollars amounts to .003 percent of his 3.5 trillion dollar budget. Does he have a point that "100 million here, 100 million there, and eventually it adds up to real money?" Or is he just giving his underlings the excuse to cut programs that don't fit his agenda?

SERIOUSLY??

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:17:00 -0600

Matt Drudge posted these articles today...HOMELAND SECURITY WARNS OF RIGHT WING RADICALS; [...]