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Reflections of a CR Chair
By punch bowl | May 9, 2008
An article by Ben Clark, graduating senior and former chair of the Emory College Republicans.
As I leave Emory, I wonder how many students, like me, came in search of a structured, intellectual environment only to find that appreciation for, or even understanding of, Western civilization is all but taboo in intellectual circles today.
Throughout my college career, I searched for my own intellectual tradition. Unfortunately, it took me the better part of four years to uncover it. I had heard people talk about the virtues of the liberal arts, but I wasn’t sure what that meant.
Looking back now, I wish that the GERs were more stringent, as well as more traditionally grounded. Luckily, I stumbled upon a handful of independent-minded professors who were willing to teach an alternative tradition.
Few of my fellow classmates heeded their call. But for us few, our eyes were opened to a contrary world of ideas. We were already familiar with Keynes, but now we also read Hayek. We still read Hobbes and Marx, but we had to understand them on a much deeper level than most of our classmates because we challenged them. We discovered a rich cultural and intellectual Western heritage that had been long buried beneath a heap of postcolonial ribaldry.
Many of us found solace and an outlet for our views within the College Republicans. One problem we encountered was the expectation to debate the Democrats; while they were focused entirely upon policy issues, we tried to reach beyond those to explore philosophical themes. They wanted to debate health care. We wanted to debate substantive due process. They wanted to debate No Child Left Behind. We wanted to debate the constitutionality of the Department of Education.
When I first decided to attend Emory University, a few left-leaning family members apparently took this as their one opportunity to win me over to their side. I felt as if other family members were hoping I wouldn’t return home wearing a Che Guevara shirt, reading works from the likes of Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and eating non-organic foods exclusively.
In retrospect, I think there was indeed a window of opportunity where I might have accepted liberalism. I was genuinely curious about other modes of thought. I realized the shortcomings of my own premature views, and I actively pursued opposing avenues.
Paul Elmer More, author of the Shelburne Essays, once wrote, “The enormous preponderance of studies that deal with the immediate questions of economics and government inevitably results in isolating the student from the great inheritance of the past; the frequent habit of dragging him through the slums of sociology, instead of making him at home in the society of the noble dead, debauches his mind with a flabby, or inflames it with a fanatic humanitarianism.”
Emory gave me the opportunity to learn from the “great inheritance of the past‚“ and for that I am grateful. I only hope future Emory students receive the same opportunity.
Topics: CR gossip, CR Composition Corner, CR alumni |
