...and i thought princeton was already too conservative 7 years ago

I am disgusted. Thoroughly sickened. Sure, it's no news that conservatives and the Christian right are total hypocrites for staking their claim on morality while simultaneously seeking to further their own monetary or even racist agendas. But in perusing the website for The Nation for the first time, I came across a cover story detailing a wealthy, stealthy conservative agenda to take over the world of academia. Funny, even back when I visited Princeton as a prospective college in '99, before the Madison Project actually took off there, according to this article, I decided against it because the student body seemed too conservative for my likings. Hah, I guess that just shows how much of a polar opposite I am to those crazies that are taking over Princeton / running our country. :/

I mean, how can they claim to be moral Christians when, according to the Bible, they'd be the worst out of anyone? Okay, they're claiming that their pro-life stance is a result of their desire to preserve life at all costs; so why are they pro-death-penalty? If they claim that God is supposed to pass judgement on everyone, then who are they to a) determine when someone should be put to death, and b) put them to death? Why are they all so damn rich, and believe they can or should coerce people to correct moral values using their financial power? Isn't there a Biblical saying about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to go to Heaven? And I'm tired of people conflating "traditional" values with "correct, moral" ones. Sure, maybe things seemed nicer and more proper to white people in the '50's, but oh yeah, they were mostly racist and sexist too. And a lot of the actions of conservatives in power in this country appear to be no different. They cut taxes for the rich (mostly whites), while removing funding for programs to help the poor (mostly people of color). They remove protections for working-class people and immigrants, while at the same time profiting from their exploitation. They just so happen to wage wars on countries with lots of oil. Oh, did they not notice that they had no evidence of a tie between Iraq and Al Qaeda? Maybe all brown-skinned people look the same to them...honest mistake, eh?

Yeah, they're right, our country is becoming more and more morally bankrupt. But the worst offenders are the people with the most money. Yay, capitalism. Let's see, if you build a system in which financial superiority results in success and power, is it surprising that the greediest people will end up on top?? It ain't rocket science, folks.

Anyway, frustrating diatribes aside, I really liked the article. It's really refreshing to see such a cogent and comprehensive criticism of the underpinnings of conservatism. Reading things like that are a huge step up from listening to frustrated but underinformed fellow student activists, or listening to politicians spout rhetoric on NPR. Of course, I have lots of respect for both activists and NPR, of course, having been and worked with the first and listened to the second almost every day. But as a first-time The Nation reader, I was impressed by its depth of analysis and evidentiary support (woah, been dating a law student for too long). I definitely plan to continue seeing what its writers have to say in the future.