Letter to the Editor

In response to the column “Republicans Should Not Embrace Ignorance” in the Oct. 13 Oracle:

I found the column, “Republicans should not embrace ignorance,” published on Oct. 13 in the Oracle insulting to those of us who tout true conservatism as a political orientation. Neil Manimala is incredibly wrong, to say the least.

First, the amount of derision that Manimala holds for the GOP is evident, and he has embraced ignorance on its health care agenda. Conservatives have been pushing health care reform but not in the form of entitlement spending.

Jim DeMint, Newt Gingrich and others have all put forward sensible reform plans that would not send the U.S. trillions of dollars deeper into deficit spending.

It is also worth mentioning the majority the Democrats have in the Senate and the House would be enough to push health care reform through if they could unite their own party. The GOP couldn’t do anything about it.

Second, Manimala says that the GOP is the “no” party because it has opposed much of the sweeping initiatives that have been put forth. Did it ever occur to him that they oppose reform not just to be stubborn but because they are opposed to the direction in which such initiatives take this country?

Third, I believe Manimala will find that in the next few elections, true conservatism will be the sweeping trend. The GOP that so many are disillusioned with is not a conservative GOP but a centrist GOP that has abandoned its conservatism for Beltway approval. Change is in the air, however, as the public becomes more and more polarized by a no-holds-barred leftist agenda from the current administration.

Civility is outside the ability of the Democratic Party that branded an incumbent president a moron for eight long years. It is the traditional tactic of liberals to dismiss those who disagree as too ignorant to “get it.” However, in the future they should try to extend a genuine respect, becoming worthy ideological opponents, rather than taking a tone of castigation and superiority.

Justin Thomas is a junior majoring in chemical engineering.