When will UNT’s conservatives stop hiding?
The Editorial Board
Until this summer, Bernie Sanders bumper stickers around campuses were inescapable. You couldn’t go a day without seeing Bernie art decorating a wall. Tweeting anything political and punctuating it with #FeelTheBern was a weekly occurrence. And if someone made it clear that they didn’t like Bernie, nine times out of 10, they were second fiddle to Hillary for their vote.
This newspaper knows all too well how progressively minded UNT is; the ideals on display in our opinions reflect that truth. That liberal voices shine brightly. But there are about 37,000 students here, and, we know, they aren’t all on the left.
Much of our experience with the conservatives on and around campus comes when they leave comments on our opinion columns posted to Facebook. Pointing out how “liberal” and “PC” we are does nobody any good, because, like Donald Trump, you miss the purpose of the article, and instead, elect to degrade. And following that up with curses of profanity only makes you look (with all due respect) dim-witted.
So we ask those people, why don’t you stand up, write a thought-out response to our opinions, and stop letting Trump and Fox News speak for you? It’s time for college conservatives to stop hiding behind the computer screens. Form an opinion that is not slanderous. Say something of substance, and do not react the way your “leaders” in the Republican Party so often do. Talk about the issues, and not about how much you hate liberals, because, like it or not, we aren’t going anywhere.
If we really are such “liberal trash bags,” then why are we encouraging you to respond to us?
Regardless of any political affiliation, every UNT student has the opportunity to send letters to the North Texas Daily or use academic organizations to make their opinions heard. Even if you’re a lifelong Republican that feels outnumbered by the masses, you’re not as alone as you think.
“Last Saturday, [my husband and I] tailgated at UNT and met a lot of Republicans that day,” said Lisa Hendrickson, who is the Denton County Republican Party chairwoman. “There’s a part of me that thinks college campuses [in Denton] have been written off as all liberal, but the Republicans we ran into congratulated us on our Trump/Pence shirts and made wonderful conversations.”
While Denton attracts a lot of left-wing citizens, Hendrickson said she is continually reminded of how Texas is traditionally conservative.
“The state has a wide Hispanic population,” she said. “I met one Hispanic woman, who graduated from UNT, that overheard criticisms from her peers like, ‘We can’t be Republican, we’re not rich.’ In response, she praised the Republican Party for being pro-life, pro-family and encouraging hard work; which are all attributes that Hispanic culture share with us.”
Therefore, liberals need to consider that pure conservative thought has nothing to do with racial, elitist prejudices, just as liberals constantly stress how they’re not all a bunch of pot smoking hipsters who support abortion.
Practitioners of each ideology must realize if one existed without the other, the nation would suffer. Because of this, it’s a better time than ever for conservatives to rise up.
We hope you all get at least another four years of a Democrat in office. And let it be a lesson in karma. When all you do is talk about how terrible everything is, about how mistreated you are and how the liberal media is out to mislead you, you get what you deserve: Donald Trump acting like a fool, opening the door of the Oval Office for Hillary Clinton.
We encourage everyone to discuss politics with some level of reason, which means to avoid shouting that “Hillary killed my son” when we were too sheltered to remember the topicality of Benghazi. It doesn’t mean to fall into the “liberal trash bag” trap and respond to every Democratic Facebook status. It doesn’t necessarily mean to go blue in the face for the incessant defense of gun rights.
No, conservatism and liberalism are two sides of a coin that means well altogether. If that population at UNT participated more in campus-wide political discussions, we could work faster to achieve a better world.
Sure, both sides may have to bite bullets and make compromises until the end of time, but the freedom to converse such topics is what freedom is ultimately about. As much as liberalism claims to support several rights, including the freedom of speech, they’ll be ready to listen once the other side is ready to come out of hiding.
In short, we wish for all conservatives to let the student body know what’s on their minds. Social change cannot take place without another perspective to chime in, so your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
It’s okay to be a conservative, and you’re welcome in our newspaper.
Featured Illustration: Sam Wiggins
Are you hiring jobs for columnists at your paper? Would you like to see at least one conservative come out the shadows to express how Trump’s or Fox New’s don’t really represent the conservatives of Denton TX and express such views in a way that’s calmer than both Trump and Fox? If you said yes to any of these questions contact me for a potential interview.
We aren’t looking for a full-time columnists, but you can write and contribute as often as you’d like! Send your columns to pitch.ntdaily@gmail.com Editors will read them, and call you for questions/revisions, and then we’ll likely publish.
Liberalism is a conservative ideology. The false dichotomy presented in the piece is pretty disturbing for a publication within an academic institution.
Where are these conservatives? Why do they not speak out more? Probably the same reason the liberals of the same coin, as you put it, do not speak out more. They know their political weakness is only further exposed by broadcasting it.
Trump and Clinton and the narrow clumps if ideology they represent are both anathemic to traditional debates because the more answers they give, the more questions must be pressed. This climate of heightened political unrest is not becaue of establishment politics and Bernie Sanders did not awaken the beast of neoliberslism to score big in the primaries. He is a social democrat and wavering as that line of political thought may be, it’s a far cry from the message of either of the nominees now.
This social upheaval will grow and grow and it won’t be using the two-faced coin of the Democratic and Republican parties. The United States is hurtling toward another recession, and if you thought the last one was a doozy, just wait. The pastel revolution of Sanders’ pandering will be a fond memory fot those who fear it. Trump too, for all his hypocrisy and chauvanism will be usurped by people who know a great deal more how to push racism and jingoism through Congress.
Why do the conservatives hide? Why do the liberals continue down their moderating path of the “third way”? Both these camps are dealing with a growing consciousness of just where the power lies in this world and they are rapidly losing their grip.
I say let them stay silent. The future is for those who build it and we are bulding one hell of a future. UNT is the school of choice for working class students and it is beginning to show.
I will first state that I’m a Moderate and pride myself on taking the time to consider the main viewpoints of current issues. I’m not politically charged by any means, but I instantly began scrolling past your article as soon as you called conservatives “dim-witted” for imitating Trump and degrading those opposed to them.
The same thing they do. Name calling and finger pointing does no good- as is well evident in Congress at this very moment. Your article amounts to bother more than “I’m taking my Legos and going home”.
I think the fear is that we, as Conservatives, are attacked so often for our beliefs and moral standings that we are always on the defensive. We get called racist, sexist biggots who hate everyone. But in reality, we don’t care what anyone else does, as long as they’re not hurting anyone or trying to take away our rights. We get shut down and threatened at every turn, to the point that I can’t put a Conservative bumper sticker on my car for fear of my windows being smashed in or my car being run off the road — both events that have happened to other Conservatives/Republicans. If you really want Conservatives to be a part of the conversation, actually listen to what we have to say. Actually listen to our experiences and our stories. We LOVE to talk about social and political issues, finding common ground, seeing the other point of view — but we’re pretty much done putting ourselves in positions that only get us insulted, belittled, and threatened.
Great job Trump did “opening the door for Hillary” >< Lowest unemployment rate in over 40 years, we are standing up to China finally, and not giving away our wealth to the rest of the world as we have done over and over again under Democrats. Good stuff, there is my two cents.
Maybe don’t degrade President Trump while you are writing about how conservatives need to speak up more. This is part of the reason conservative students stay quiet. Your approach is useless, and you are just creating more problems by participating in the same vindictive talk towards our president.