Who Says It’s So Cool to Be a Liberal?
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
As chairman of the RI Young Republicans I took note and interest last year when veteran Projo columnist Bob Kerr actually sneered at the very existence of young Republicans by asking, “Isn’t young Republican a contradiction in terms?” Just several days ago, Mr. Kerr made his opinion slightly more personal: “Travis Rowley: You seem much too young to be surrendering your sense of humor and becoming a Republican.”
It’s difficult to imagine a comment that could have better illustrated the delusion of modern leftists than Mr. Kerr’s bigoted cheap-shot.
Both of Kerr’s comments are undoubtedly derived from his subscription to a decades-old media myth that he has actually helped to create: Republicans are old, greedy, grumpy, racist, rich, white males. Everyone else is a Democrat.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAbsurd, yes. But that’s really what liberals think.
For Leftists, to be liberal is to be smart, bold, and cool; to be conservative is to be dumb, prudish, and lame.
Kerr’s Vietnam Lens
A Vietnam War veteran and a political product of the 1960s, for years Mr. Kerr has crafted weekly columns that often illuminate the fact that he is one of many elder leftists who remains obsessed with the 1960s – the Left’s glory days.
Kerr refers to the 1960s as a “once flawless social tapestry of good drugs, great music, righteous protest and sex as a way of saying ‘hi.’” It was “a time when students took the lead and forced us to face the dark side.” According to Kerr, “An obscene war brought people into the streets and forced a president from office…The music was the best it will ever be.”
Clearly Mr. Kerr has never listened to Katy Perry or Miley Cyrus.
But the point is this: Most people escaped from the 1960s viewing the hippie, anti-war, campus protests (riots) as a reckless embarrassment – an irrational movement that exploited the children of Middle America and adjoined them with anti-Americans, political radicals, and Marxist revolutionaries. To still be glorifying the 1960s is like remaining proud of the first time you went to the bathroom as an infant. In one regard, yes, it was a huge success. But most people eventually grew up and realized that all they really did was make a smelly mess in their own crib.
But after graduation many who never abandoned their abandonment of traditional Americanism ended up occupying some very powerful institutions – the media, academia, and the Democrat Party – where they would begin to brainwash the rest of the country. For them, the 1960s remained a time when America’s young people revolted, and actually taught their parents a thing or two.
Ever since, leftists such as Kerr have continuously praised themselves by equating liberalism with intelligence and youthful idealism. Conservatism, on the other hand, was perceived as clinging to one’s parental brainwashing. Conservatives became widely characterized as hopelessly racist, having yet to shed themselves of their parents’ patriotism, religion, and traditions. Conservatives were the ones who foolishly refused to obey Bill Ayers, the infamous 1960s radical, who instructed, “Bring the revolution home, kill your parents – that's where it's really at.”
Rhode Island’s Liberal Establishment
Within a 2010 column in which Kerr lamented the fact that the “numbers drawn by the tattered bumper sticker ‘Question Authority’ are dwindling,” he urged Rhode Islanders to “protest,” to “[talk] about the government,” or we may actually lose “one of the oldest, most cherished rights we enjoy.” More pointedly, Kerr has urged my generation to “think about the times you live in. Think about the things that matter.”
Judging from his own words, one would think that Mr. Kerr would be uneasy taking the time to belittle a young activist helping to lead a movement against the state’s most entrenched powers. I mean, rather than criticizing me, shouldn’t Mr. Kerr be buying me dinner or something?
But, as usual, there are no principles in play when it comes to Democrats.
By applying his disingenuous double standard onto me, Kerr seems almost as unprincipled as Senator John Kerry (a celebrated 1960s Vietnam War protester), who actually argued last week that the media should “begin to not give equal time or equal balance” to Tea Party advocates. To Hell with the First Amendment!
As much as Kerr and Company still like to think of themselves as “standing up to The Man,” it’s quite apparent that they have become The Man.
If Mr. Kerr was truly a sincere individual, my existence wouldn’t be such a mystery to him. Instead, he would be questioning why any young person would consciously decide to join Rhode Island’s Democratic network? Just how easy is it to be a Democrat in Rhode Island? Apparently, you can drop out of college and still become the wealthiest 25 year-old in the state. Apparently, you can bankrupt the capital city and still get elected to Congress.
But being a Rhode Island Republican, “that’s where it’s really at!”
Former RIGOP chair Giovanni Cicione can testify to what first attracted me to the RIGOP, and prompted my involvement. It was an incident several years ago in which Cicione was taking fire from all corners of the state for standing up to the all-powerful public sector unions. Now that looked like fun!
When was the last time Bob Kerr had to stand up to anything? 1968?
Kerr’s Conundrum
The bottom line is this: Bob Kerr has a problem. Young Republicans exist. And he needs to somehow explain the phenomenon.
In typical liberal fashion, however, Kerr chooses not to explain it. He just explains it away – accomplished simply by assuming that anyone who doesn’t fit into the political grouping that liberals have designated for them is a political freak. Similar to liberals referring to black conservatives as “Uncle Toms,” Kerr has concluded that I must be a special sort of stiff; that I must have entirely relinquished my youthful spirit and surrendered my sense of humor. This is the tactic that rescues liberals from ever having to self-reflect.
Don’t you know by now? Liberals are the most illiberal people on Earth.
And nothing exemplifies the Left’s small-mindedness and political uptightness more than their antics on modern college campuses – the campuses that Kerr’s peers now control. Talk about a lack of a sense of humor! While college Republicans are having a blast with their GPA Redistribution Campaigns, Affirmative Action Bake-Sales, and All-White Scholarships, campus liberals persist with their totalitarian fits of rage. Left-wing students and professors are continuously guilty of barring conservative speakers, fiercely enforcing campus speech codes, and instilling an overarching culture of fear on campus. College conservatives can’t even pass a little gas without having their left-wing counterparts accuse them of destroying the environment.
Seriously, is there a more ridiculous figure than the liberal college protestor? No doubt about it, college Republicans are the only cool kids left on campus. I heard they’re even listening to music now. Some have tattoos and tongue rings. And they’re even having sex!
I just blew Bob Kerr’s mind.
Unbeknownst to Kerr and Company, there’s a new revolution brewing. It’s called the Tea Party. Our ideology and idealism rest with the restoration of the nation’s founding principles, from which the nation has so dangerously deviated.
In short, our concern is Liberty, Mr. Kerr. We fight for it every day.
“I hope someday you’ll join us.”
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Travis Rowley (TravisRowley.com) is chairman of the RI Young Republicans, and a consultant for the Barry Hinckley Campaign for US Senate.
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