Friday, January 20, 2006

Post Register Does Interview


Well everyone, I'm proud to announce that the Post Register did an interview with me about the BYU-I College Democrats. The story is going to be great and it'll get us a lot of good publicity.

One of the main points the questions that the Post Register brought up is what our purpose is, and I had this thought: Our purpose has to be to increase good citizenship and patriotism. There is a lot of political apathy at the school and it's important that we do something to at least get folks to choose a side.

There is some opposition. There are a rare few who believe that the existence of the Democratic Party at BYU-I is dangerous to the Spirit of Ricks, but this is obviously wrong. The truth is that when we as Democrats become more outspoken here in BYU-I and when we make plain sense, those who are politically neutral will come to our side.

The Post Register is helping our cause. They recognize that it's rare to have a college campus that is so politically homogenous. This attitude is not representative of good government. The unfortunate reality is that there are a few at BYU-I who probably want only the Republican Party at this school. This a hegemonic in nature and the question is, how well have hegemonies done throught history?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

     It is true that there are those rare few who believe that bi-partisanism at BYUI can only cause contention. However, there is an overwhelming majority that view bi-partisanism as the only possibility. We, as an american people, are quite ignorant from birth. We are shown 2 (at best 3 or 4) different parties and told to choose between them (often with our parent heavily biasing us toward 1 specific party). How can this cause anything but separation? Unfortunately bias will never end. People can only guide themselves based on their implicit conceptual model which has been developed over the course of their liftime... this won't change in a few short years. Intead what needs to happen is education... and not just bi-partisan education (where independents are tossed a bone every now and again). There are many political parties. Why do we limit ourselves to 2 or three. How many mormons do you know who are Republican, yet they don't support Republican views on Energy, Tobacco, or some even Foreign policies? How many mormons do you know who are Democrats yet they don't support the Democrat platform on issues like abortion, welfare, or some even on the 2nd amendment interpretations?
So, why do we choose the lesser of two evils? If a platform truly fits our beliefs- then choose it. If you don't know what's on the platform- then educate yourself. And, if you don't even know what parties are out there, how will you ever find a platform that fits your values? So do what any 10 year old would do... Google it. If you currently claim a party as "yours" go read their official platform and decide if you truly agree with their views. If you don't, then look through the other parties and see which one fits you.
Here is a website that at leasts lists several of the parties (you can use their names as a starting point). Although I don't think it is the best site, it is a fairly comprehensive list of current politicl parties. www.politics1.com/parties.htm
So, prove the world wrong... don't be ignorant,
-Rob

Anonymous said...

I take back my last website reference... because this one is more reputable and more comprehensive:
wikipedia.org
     -Rob