Students have written about many political issues in the Baker Orange over the past four years.
The columns that have appeared here have often taken the form of vitriolic denunciations or gloating, lauding praise of a particular position or action taken. A lot has been written, less has been said, and very little has been discussed. Why is this?
Those who pay the most attention to American politics, those who have not become so disillusioned as not to care, are a part of the political machine. The climate of American politics, fomented by the president, the congress, Democrats, Republicans, and the media, has set the tone of political rhetoric across the country, down to the level of the college newspaper. That tone is one of divisiveness.
Thus far, it has become the standard that Republicans should agree with their president and Democrats should rail against his every action. This is not constructive in any way. On both sides of the spectrum, three editors of this section, as well as frequent contributors to it, have aided in this divisive practice. This is a call to end such divisiveness.
Step one; do not write columns unless you have something to say. Something to say does not mean think for a long time about what you could write about. If you have to do that, you are bound to come up with a piece of trash that does more harm than good. Trust me. It means, the next time you really care about something, contact the opinion editor about writing a column.
Step two; conservatives should write more columns. I know you are out there. You are in my classes. You are in religion classes and business classes. You feel like most of your professors disagree with you and that college is often a hostile environment for people with your views and that the opinion section is run by liberals. It is. This is the fault of the editor and the staff, but it is also your fault. Let your voice be heard. No one is going to tell you that you cannot write a column.
Step three; independents need to write columns. I once had a professor tell me that independents are Republicans who refuse to register as such. I would like not to believe this. I would like to believe that the growing number of independents in this country represent a group of people who are sick of all of it – the ranting, lying, maneuvering, etc. Those of you who feel that neither party agrees with you need to sit down and think about what issues are important to you and please voice them in this section.
Step four; the section need not be a back and forth between liberals and conservatives. If you disagree with what a columnist says, write a letter to the editor. This is where response to the newspaper belongs.
By the time this column is published, President Bush will have delivered his State of the Union Address and Senator Webb will have given the Democratic response. I would not be surprised to see politically divisive columns appear alongside this one. You should not either. It is unfortunate that while we are facing one of the most important moments in American foreign policy that discussion of our actions is viewed within the framework of two choices. Always there are only to choices. Now the choice is withdrawal or escalation and the debate over our future will be framed within these two choices, severely limiting our ability to find a viable solution.
Already, the 2008 political campaign is beginning and the American people will be dragged into and through it unwillingly. Hillary Clinton will be Hillary and a third of the nation will keep on hating her. Barack Obama will be vague and uplifting. John Edwards will rail against the war. John McCain will stray further and further from what it is that has made him McCain. Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani will move to the right. At a time when Newt Gingrich is the only person who sounds sincere and willing to put forth new, revolutionary ideas – even if I do not agree with them – and then says that he would only run for president as a last resort, we know that we are in trouble and the next election will be one of the greatest media circuses of all time and will only divide us to an even greater extent. Please do not contribute to this problem. Please offer constructive criticism and helpful ideas. Let us keep the paper moderate and representative of Baker’s growing and changing campus population. Welcome back.