Socialists like my money even more than capitalists.
Besides it’s a land grant institution so it doesn’t give them much of a choice. They must even allow ROTC on campus.
I rather enjoyed attending that school after the initial shock of how narrow minded and egotistical academia had become in the years since I’d been gone. I loved eviscerating the lefties’ reasoning every chance I got. Most of their arguments were based on emotion rather than reason plus they always made the mistake of underestimating my knowledge and “real world” experience because I was just a “beach storming blockhead” or “baby killer” in their eyes. Add to that I’d been debating politics with people far older than me and winning since I was about 8 years old and those poor under-educated U.S. saps didn’t stand a chance.
I think the stupidest thing I ever saw there had to do with dwarves and parking meters. The city council, in response to complaints from 3 little people spent $150,000 to lop a couple feet off every down town parking meter because these three people complained they couldn’t reach high enough to use them. When some people complained and asked why they didn’t just issue them parking passes and allow them to pay on an honour system the response was “that treating them like that would make them feel different from other people.”
Thanks for the book tip. Personally I avoid talking about the left or the right, as I find it too constrictive doing so. What I can't tolerate is totalitarianism (from either end of the scale).
When I use to discuss politics with people, mistakenly thinking most people were receptive to others’ ideas and reasoned arguments, I often used a piece of paper to illustrate your point of left/right totalitarianism. I’d draw a standard curve on the paper with the horizontal axis representing the left to right political spectrum. I’d then roll it so the left/right edges were touching and explain that the real political divide in this country is not between the left and right but rather between the totalitarians at the extremes and the majority in the middle who just want to be left alone.
It’s interesting how group dynamics effect organizing for collective action and how it often favors these small radical minorities allowing them to wield far more political power than there numbers should indicate.
Mancur Olson covers this topic well in his book
The Logic of Collective Action. "The logic" is a rather dry read so if interested in his theories his book
The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities is more accessible.
