Posted on 12/06/2011 11:50:12 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
This past Saturday, College Republicans from across the state braved the rain and cold to converge in Des Moines to box donations for Iowa soldiers deployed in Afghanistan. For weeks they fundraised independently on their campuses to buy socks, wet wipes, shampoo, lip balm and much more in an effort to make our brave men and women overseas slightly more comfortable this holiday season. The Iowa State College Republicans received second place overall in the most items fundraised by any chapter, mainly due to the efforts of ISUCR Jeremy Freeman.
The Iowa Federation of College Republicans has made donating to Iowa’s troops a holiday tradition for the last five years with the firm belief that these annual acts of appreciation should always be ones of duty, and never self-aggrandizing. Yet, an ISU English Lecturer [Thomas Walker] found the CR’s acts callous enough to insult and demean the efforts of Jeremy and Iowa’s CRs publicly in the Iowa State Daily on Monday.
Through his blatant disregard for our nation’s heroes overseas, Walker’s letter exemplifies the intimidation tactics used by the left to bully young conservatives out of any form of activism. Sadly, yet ever more predictably, this response comes from a state-employed educator at one of Iowa’s public universities. This past spring, Iowa College Republicans faced similar vitriol from a tenured Professor of Gender and Women Studies at the University of Iowa College Republicans who chose to use her position to hurl expletives at young conservatives on campus. Somewhere along the way, our learning institutions have sanctioned the authoritative ridiculing of inquisitive, conservative minds on campus, but to do so while lambasting our troops is truly a new low we cannot accept.
College Republicans will proudly defend those that defend us and will never apologize for supporting the brave American heroes of our military. Most of us involved with this project personally know someone deployed – they are our family, friends and neighbors. We miss them dearly and pray for their safe return. While some may deride our attempt to increase our soldier’s comfort overseas, we sincerely wish there was a way to provide them with more, as they truly deserve.
As Republicans, we believe in initiative, and that it is our duty to help. Rather than ignorantly place our charitable responsibility to nameless government agencies, we choose to individually help with our own time and money to ensure our resources are not diluted. This claim was statistically verified by researcher Arthur C. Brooks in his book, “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism.” Brooks found that although liberal families incomes average 6% higher than conservative families, it was the latter group that, on average, gave 30% more to charity, in addition to more of their blood and their time.
Regardless of whether it is an election year or not, the members of the Iowa Federation of College Republicans work tirelessly to make their voices heard as they participate in the functions of our democracy we hold dear. A democracy, I remind you, that was given to us on the blood, sweat and sacrifice of our nation’s military members and their families.
Just mere hours after our packages were shipped to Iowa’s waiting troops, IFCR received a Facebook comment from a formerly deployed soldier so eloquent in its brevity,, “You have no idea how much these packages cheer us up when we’re over there.”
Somehow, this sentiment will always mean more to IFCR than any imbecilic, long-winded rant that shamelessly compares a discharged veteran to an aborted fetus.
Regardless of whether the author includes the word “eleemosynary”.
Thank you, TIR, for the continued support. Merry Christmas and May God bless each and every one of our soldiers and their families,
Natalie Ginty
Chair – Iowa Federation of College Republicans
If you support the College Republican cause, please consider looking over our website (iowacrs.org) today and assisting in our efforts.
Thread for the article cited:
Letter to the editor: Republican patriotism excludes those in need (Unreal!)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2817030/posts
We’re on the same “outrage” wave length.
These “professors” are twisted and they are twisting the minds of our youth.
College Republicans from across the state braved the rain and cold to converge in Des Moines to box donations for Iowa soldiers deployed in Afghanistan.
I expect this kind of behavior from the PRIC (People’s Republic of Iowa City), but not in Ames at ISU.
None of this is going to stop unless Conservatives start fighting back very strongly....this is harassment pure and simple and the schools and prfessors can be sued for damages and “mental anguish”
“Herk’s a Jerk!” LOL
Gov. Perry has been working on this problem and has been getting governors in other states to begin addressing it. Heavily funded fiefdoms of liberal tenured professors need to become accountable (eat up the money and do little "productive" work -- a lot of "opinion" studies) and separated from the education side (the first step in a longterm course correction) -- demand and expect an accounting and put the money in the hands of the students and parents and give them a voice in rating these "professors."
Perry and the Profs He picked the right fight. (earlier article that has started making the rounds again after it was spotted by some interested parties)
Faculty Lounge - A tale of Sherpas and superstars [Perry's Higher Education Reform] ….”What Governor Perry actually proposed was this: 1) Students’ evaluations and some other information about faculty performance should be made public; 2) The best teachers should receive bonuses, based in part on students’ ratings; 3) The research and academic budgets should be separated, with teachers paid according to their teaching duties and researchers paid in proportion to the funding they attract; 4) Faculty should have to show that they can in fact teach before they are granted tenure; 5) Students should receive a personalized “learning contract” upon enrollment, along with information about the graduation rates and average starting salaries for students with the same major and comparable SAT scores; 6) Legislative appropriations should go to students directly rather than to the universities; 7) The universities should support an effort to develop a new national accreditation program that would evaluate institutions on measurable student progress.
You’d think that No. 6 would be the deal-breaker — it would have voucherized higher education, forcing the universities to compete for students and the dollars they bring with them, rather than treating students like not-entirely-welcome guests who are privileged to be at the party. But the reformers didn’t even make it that far down the list: No. 1 sent academia into fits.”……
Outside of the business schoo, ISU is a liberal wasteland. Granted, it is not as much of a $h!+hole as Iowa City or the U of I, but it is still liberal.
Dear Mr. Walker
Thank you so much for your input. Rest assured I will give it all the consideration it so richly merits.
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