The Conservative Revolution

It is sad to report, but a local parish in the Victoria, Tx Diocese invited UT professor Robert Jensen to speak to the faithful at the end of the month.

I have contacted the church office and informed them of Jensen’s views on abortion and homosexuality, but they have not decided to cancel his appearance.

I have initiated an email campaign to urge Catholics to call the parish and the diocese and ask why someone with his views would be invited to speak. I have not determined yet whether he will receive payment, nor whether the Bishop knows about his views.

I will post updates as I get them.

I already posted the story about Armey’s trip to Iowa here.

Here is the entry on ABC’s The Note.

Dick Armey goes to Iowa

You may have to get out your 2008 GOP scorecards and add another name to the mix. . . Well, maybe not just yet. But, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) is clearly displeased with the lack of attention being paid but the current crop of ‘08ers to fiscal issues such as Social Security solvency and a fundamental overhaul of America’s tax policy.

So, Dick Armey is heading to Iowa to “set the stage for what I think is a much needed, more serious real debate on the issues,” said Armey in an exclusive interview with The Note.
“I have absolutely no interest in Dick Armey as President, but the ideas are very important. . . And I don’t see anybody out there right now who has taken on the big ideas,” Armey said. “You never say never in politics,” he added.

Armey is the chairman of FreedomWorks, a grassroots issue-based organization, and it is in that role he will address “Iowans for Discounted Taxes” on September 19 in Des Moines, IA.
Trips to New Hampshire and South Carolina are likely as well.

On President Bush’s Social Security effort, Armey said “He’s so bogged down in the war, he did not give it the leadership attention he should have. I don’t think you can mark that as a failure just because it didn’t get done. . . It didn’t get done because the President was so wrapped up with the war in Iraq that he didn’t get the chance to spend the time on it and assert the leadership.”

First, I appreciate Professor Henson’s sense of humour. Here is my original article about the Professor who labeled SMU YCT the “KKK.”

Here is my response to his article in the SMU student newspaper:

Look, we are engaged in a battle on college campuses for the hearts and souls of young people who vote, work for candidates, and eventually will make policy, influence public opinion and raise families. It is imperative that the ideas that made this nation great are defended. College campuses tend to be hotbeds of political discussions and activity, and are where the great books are not read, but should be.

I fight hard to introduce students to the works of Ayn Rand, Russell Kirk, Frederic Bastiat and Milton Friedman because their professors refuse to do so. I teach students how to organize an “army” to do intellectual and political battle with Leftists because it’s important that our ideas reach both the leaders and the masses.

As for terrorist-sympathizing professors, David Horowitz has written extensively about their support for Hezbollah, Hamas and even al Qaeda.

Finally, to the question of supporting the war against Islamic fascism and secular terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. Professor Henson should be glad, as a Leftist, that military decision-making and policy debates are not closed to civilians, but open to them. What about being a civilian disqualifies someone from commenting on foreign policy?

We have a volunteer army, navy, coast guard and air force that operate with great skill and courage. I applaud them and support them at home precisely because I support their mission and am not overseas fighting alongside them in Iraq or Afghanistan. The war of public opinion at home is just as important as the war of bullets and bombs overseas. I think that most military commanders would agree with me on that point.

I hope that my use of martial metaphors and my sense of urgency are now clearer to Professor Henson. I’d be happy to elaborate further on these and other points if he so desires.

I admit that I learned a new word today. A professor at SMU said that I was perhaps a “parvenu,” one who is up-and-coming. It doesn’t surprise me that a leftist professor used a word that is French in origin. Just kidding, professor Henson.

The piece is here.

Of course, having financial and organizational assistance from The Collegiate Network has to make things easier. Not to mention the invaluable input from a conservative warrior like Brendan Steinhauser, who penned the feature article in the debut issue.

Conservative phenom (or parvenu), Steinhauser is a graduate of the University of Texas, former executive director of Young Conservatives of Texas and author of “The Conservative Revolution: How to Win the Battle for College Campuses.”

Mr. Steinhauser, it seems, has a penchant for using militaristic metaphors, not to mention hyperbole. Everything is a battle or a war. Everything is epic or revolutionary. Everything is a casus belli.

To Mr. Steinhauser Democrats are not merely liberals; they are ‘leftists’ waging war on the American way of life, which Mr. Steinhauser and his fellow ‘protest warriors’ are more than happy to let other men and women, mostly college-aged, die in Iraq to protect. Meanwhile, Steinhauser and his band of merry men fight make-believe battles raging on college campuses against would-be terrorist sympathizers disguised as mild-mannered college professors.

But enough about Mr. Steinhauser. I’m here to talk about conservatives–true conservatives.