Good news out of Reed

[AGCR]

One of my writers just sent in an article citing the founder of Reed College's new gun club. Here's something from the fellow himself which I can't believe I hadn't come across sooner. I'm embarrassed to see good local news turn up three months old.

http://www.rssk.org/rssk/political-committee.html

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[jmh119]

That's cool. Good to see this type of education occuring!

 

[Trlsmn]

OT, did you know there is a nuclear reactor in the basement of Reed college?

 

[el gringo loco]

The whole experience has seemed very promising to me, in that these young “liberals” who by-and-large have a solid grasp of the political world and who, by-and-large, think intelligently and independently about politics, are not only drawn to the novel political message I’m sending them but can, in many cases, accept it easily when it’s couched not in the context of the good ol’ boys of the Republican Party but in the realm of individual civil rights. In short, real liberals, like the students at Reed College, get it.

I love this quote. When political conversations come up on this forum, I am usually one of the few lefties trying to explain my point of view. This often results in accusations that I am not "truly pro-gun," that I am a Brady campaign spy, that no liberal can be pro gun, etc. I believe that many 2nd Amendment supporters need to recognize that, if you wish to actually get somewhere when arguing for gun rights, you may have to align yourself with folks that you disagree with on other issues. 51% of America is not pro-gun AND fiscally/socially conservative. You can, however, find a majority when you set aside the other differences

 

[Mutoman]

Pretty cool! Thanks for the post.

I'm a firm believer that civility is better served when all sides are armed.

 

[AGCR]

OT, did you know there is a nuclear reactor in the basement of Reed college?

I used to live near there and remember someone mentioning that once.

 

[ZachS]

One of the hazing rituals for students who qualify to work on the reactor is going for a swim in the containment pool.

 

[AGCR]

I love this quote. When political conversations come up on this forum, I am usually one of the few lefties trying to explain my point of view. This often results in accusations that I am not "truly pro-gun," that I am a Brady campaign spy, that no liberal can be pro gun, etc. I believe that many 2nd Amendment supporters need to recognize that, if you wish to actually get somewhere when arguing for gun rights, you may have to align yourself with folks that you disagree with on other issues. 51% of America is not pro-gun AND fiscally/socially conservative. You can, however, find a majority when you set aside the other differences

Seriously. I point this out till I'm blue in the face. Subtract the social conservative errata and, as seen, even the most liberal campus can be a hospitable environment for gun issues. On that note, I received a letter recently from the author Ernest Callenbach, a longtime Berkeley, CA professor who wrote Ecotopia, which was a major environmental manifesto of the 70s and carried a pro-gun message. He didn't mention getting any local flak for it.

I'm also surprised to see this Reed action didn't get noticed earlier, considering the involvement of OFF.

 

[tionico]

Pretty amazing, surprising, and encouraging. The author/instigator has done a great job of opening up a whole cadre of folks otherwise likely opposed to gun ownership/use to finding it fun, challenging, interesting, fascinating.......


now, if we could only get the likes of Pelosi, Feinstein, Emanuel, Holder, and hey, why not. Chump-Change Nickels involved in such programmes... think how much change (we cold believe in) could follow?

Just think--- no child left unarmed, no school left unguarded.

 

[Trlsmn]

One of the hazing rituals for students who qualify to work on the reactor is going for a swim in the containment pool.

 

[ZachS]

It's like 25 feet deep, and I guess they don't go very far down... Still...


Reed is a very, very unique institution. Its gives its grads better academic + creative skills than just about any other college in the world, but leaves 'em with some very serious social and practical deficits - mostly, I think, because they spend four years living in a bubble with so many other weirdos. And their profs are mostly genius minds and great teachers with little or no interest in or experience with the world outside of the ivory tower.



Would have loved to have gone there....

 

[Stomper]

So needless to say, none of those initiates will require tritium sights for low-light shooting!!

 

[fingolfen]

I love this quote. When political conversations come up on this forum, I am usually one of the few lefties trying to explain my point of view. This often results in accusations that I am not "truly pro-gun," that I am a Brady campaign spy, that no liberal can be pro gun, etc. I believe that many 2nd Amendment supporters need to recognize that, if you wish to actually get somewhere when arguing for gun rights, you may have to align yourself with folks that you disagree with on other issues. 51% of America is not pro-gun AND fiscally/socially conservative. You can, however, find a majority when you set aside the other differences

Part of the issue is one of perception. The right sees the left as a bunch of lazy communists trying to steal through taxes and big government what they refuse to earn with hard work. The left sees the right as a bunch of white, racist, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals trying to repress the world for their own selfish gain. Allowing exceptions for the extreme ends of the spectrum, neither view is particularly accurate or useful, but they are pervasive.

Fundamentally the real issue is deeper than that - and part of it goes into who has co-opted terminology at this point. A classical liberal would not use the word “liberal” to describe themselves today because the term has been co-opted by social liberalism and even further left philosophies where the “good” of the society is put ahead of the rights of the individual. Socially, the classical liberal is embodied modernly by a libertarian outlook in terms of individual civil rights.

Having said that, I’m pleased to see at least a nascent effort on the left to recognize that the right to self defense, and hence the right to keep and bear arms, is as basic and inalienable human right as the right to free speech. However, consider that many of us have read the Heller decision, which in my mind should have been a slam dunk 9-0 repeal of the D.C. gun ban. The dissent shows clearly the lengths many will go to in order to deny the individual right to keep and bear arms as affirmed by the Framers. At this point, all members of the dissenting opinion are representatives of the political left.

I sincerely hope that these groups will form a strong grassroots effort to remake current “liberal” political philosophy, but unfortunately the official Democratic Party platform does not recognize a universal right to keep and bear arms, nor does the Party leadership at this time. Recent judicial appointments by the current administration continue to follow the historical pattern of hostility toward the right to keep and bear arms from the left side of the political spectrum. The only Democratic representatives on the national stage strongly supportive of the Second Amendment have been the socially conservative “blue dog” Democrats. Given the current party agenda, they find themselves in jeopardy in the 2010 elections which will leave a higher percentage of “modern liberals” in the party.

Until the platform and senior leaders begin to change their tune, many conservatives and libertarians will have an understandably hard time with the idea that the left actively supports firearm rights. Again, I really don’t see a reason that the issue should be partisan, but until a more enlightened view on gun rights pervades the left it will remain a bitterly divided issue.

 

[AGCR]

Until the platform and senior leaders begin to change their tune, many conservatives and libertarians will have an understandably hard time with the idea that the left actively supports firearm rights. Again, I really don't see a reason that the issue should be partisan, but until a more enlightened view on gun rights pervades the left it will remain a bitterly divided issue.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's pretty much the project. I'm generally feeling encouraged it can happen.

 

[fingolfen]

Yeah, that's pretty much the project. I'm generally feeling encouraged it can happen.

I honestly think you have an uphill battle. The senior leadership is all vehemently anti-gun / anti-Second. I don’t think you even have a chance of wholesale change in the platform until people like Boxer, Schumer, Clinton, Pelosi and others have literally died off. Even then, in any organization “like promotes like”. Obama is essentially a “next generation” anti-Second politician.

 

[ZachS]

Luckily, it's not a big problem within the Oregon Democratic party, at least at the state level. I'm moderately active in politics here (and yes, I already know that half the things the party here does are idiotic, so please spare me your comments about my political alignment), and I've had a few conversations with some major players about gun issues. Even most of the young, urban dems in the legislature support gun rights. It's not an important issue for them, and they're not well-educated about it, but it's very unlikely we'll be seeing any new regulations coming down the pipe here anytime soon.

 

[fingolfen]

Luckily, it's not a big problem within the Oregon Democratic party, at least at the state level. I'm moderately active in politics here (and yes, I already know that half the things the party here does are idiotic, so please spare me your comments about my political alignment), and I've had a few conversations with some major players about gun issues. Even most of the young, urban dems in the legislature support gun rights. It's not an important issue for them, and they're not well-educated about it, but it's very unlikely we'll be seeing any new regulations coming down the pipe here anytime soon.

State level is a whole different animal. My local rep is a Democrat and he is actually fairly well versed and I end up agreeing with him more often than not on firearm related issues.

 

[mpmax]

Luckily, it's not a big problem within the Oregon Democratic party, at least at the state level. I'm moderately active in politics here (and yes, I already know that half the things the party here does are idiotic, so please spare me your comments about my political alignment), and I've had a few conversations with some major players about gun issues. Even most of the young, urban dems in the legislature support gun rights. It's not an important issue for them, and they're not well-educated about it, but it's very unlikely we'll be seeing any new regulations coming down the pipe here anytime soon.

Really? I guess that's why a bill be keep Concealed Weapon Permits holders names private was soundly defeatedby Democratic Legislators.

 

[Stomper]

Really? I guess that's why a bill be keep Concealed Weapon Permits holders names private was soundly defeatedby Democratic Legislators.

I'm a Conservative, and to be fair... it wasn't "soundly defeated" by the Dems... if I recall, it was neutered by a couple Dem-schmucks that sit on the committee that has oversight on drafting the proposed legislation, thus making it unpalatable to the Dems who WHOULD have voted for it in the first place. (I could be wrong... I don't follow children's shenanigan's close enough to commit it to long-term memory)

 

[mpmax]

Regardless...the comment was made that Dems in general are 2nd Amendment neutral, I strongly disagree.