I am a Republican. There, I said it! I share this identity with a majority of my fellow Americans, the majority of our elected representatives and our president. Despite this, the environment here at our dear college is one that denigrates and scapegoats that identity. Some of us face social isolation, raised eyebrows, verbal assaults and are compelled to continually defend ourselves.
Why is this? Why are Republicans on the fringe at this most diverse of schools? Why are our beliefs continually under attack? In fact, why do we have to defend our choice of lifestyle? Despite the encouraging facts on the national level, we seem to have a little bubble of intolerance here in the Republican stronghold of New Hampshire.
The Grand Old Party is at its best since the Reagan Era. The GOP has an enviable track record. The original party of national unity, civil rights and a real nationalism is today stronger than ever. We stand for a moral society, personal liberty and national security. This represents the majority of Americans, and is the real way to run this great country of ours. See, America is such a big and diverse country, we can't just copy the failed ideas of "post-modern" countries. We must strike out and shape our own way. Stop comparing us to other countries. We Americans were the pioneers of the free government. There's no shame in commonsense! We will not hide our conservatism. It's time we stood up and shouted it!
What of those who subject us to systematic skepticism? Our Democratic brethren, nationally as well as here at Dartmouth, are fractured between the variously tantalizing candidates who have presented themselves as the next saviors of the American people. One hears things like "Yeah, Dean is a great guy, but he hasn't got a chance," "Lieberman is so like Bush." Why don't these people just realize that the American people are sick of duplicity, sick of posturing? At present, our president is sticking by his guns, and not undergoing the shame of incessant position changes. He stands for something, and it so happens that the majority of our countrymen believe in those same principles of family values, liberty, real equality and a great and secure nation. While I admire those with the chutzpah to challenge such a position, it is a most unenviable task. To convince the people that they really don't know what is good for them, to blithely inform them that they are mistaken, to impose an old and tired paradigm.
President Bush is not the perfect president. Republicans have their share of internal disagreement with their leader. There is no denying that benefits have been accrued by force of international events. However, we Americans admire leadership, strong yet restricted power. In the end, the winning secret is in the most popular political party. Republicans synthesize a realistic, popular and American platform with the best leadership since Ronald Reagan. Bring it on! We are ready, willing and proud. We hold our heads up high, content with our glorious heritage, and we will emerge victorious
