In Andrew Shepard’s article about liberal media bias, he uses the term “liberal elitist” quite passionately.ààI would like to know what he thinks that even means.à I take it that by “liberal,” he is referring toàa groupàof people who care about human rights, the environment, world peace and other such notions.à

However, his use ofà“elitist” is confusing.à When I think of elitist, I refer to the old Marxist tradition of people who spoil themselves in material wealth.à Sounds like a different sect of people to me – like a group of wealthy white men who run the country and the oil industry while using American’s youthàto retain it.àà

The Republican Partyàhas been structured since Nixon’s term to protect elitists.à President Bush is following the true party line,àexemplified byàformer Presidents Nixon and Regan, of protectingàbig business and saber rattling against the world. The current administration’s thirst for power and material wealth can be seen in its actions alone. The news, if that is what you want to call the worthless discourse that we see and read through our country’s insanely monopolized press, is far from being liberal.

Tuesday’s absurd and mostly incoherent article then goesàon the defense for our lexicon’s greatest oxymoron: “compassionate conservative.”à Conservatism, whether through a parent’s disillusionment or the perversion of religion, has grown throughout the past two decades.

Yet, this façade is finally deteriorating. The public is growing tired of the violence in Iraq, the scandals within the White House and Bush’s irrational choices for some of our country’s highest positions. Karl Rove, Tom DeLay and Michael Brown are under serious criminal review, while Bush’s longtime Texan friend Harriet Miers is being laughed out of the Supreme Court. With 2,000 American fatalities and an unfathomable amount of Iraqi fatalities, the war in Iraq is forcing us to question certain a White House official’s sanity. A list of President Bush’s mishaps can easily run parallel to the list of what he has done while in office.

The conservative right is a sick machine that thrives on one thing: money.à It gains the public’s support the same way far right governments have since the industrial revolution, by looking back into a glorified or mythological past.à Once the public is saturated into believing that the past and mythological figures are coming back, then they can forget about their fellow human brothers and sisters.à It is simple, it works and Bush has been doing it like a pro for years.

America is a newànation, a nation that has separated itself fromàGod and a nation that was formed to provide freedom from the past, not to bow down to it.à Bush and his cronies live in a sad and disillusioned world.à Iàhope thatàMr. Shepard willàshake free from his own past.

Now public figures, such as Bill O’ Reilly, seem to use conservatism to meet different but equally frightening needs, and I have recently seen these problems within SMU: displacement of one’s anxieties about themselves onto others. Conservatives are bluntly projecting racism, sexism and hatred onto the public. Once again, they defend these horrible things by recalling the past or mythological stories. However, conservatives are letting us look directly at their fears when they try and scare us. What scares them about gay marriage, diversity in our universities and world peace? These compassionate conservatives need to look at themselves, what their religion truly says, and compare it to the cruel Republican rhetoric.

Matt Haley is a junior english major. He may be contacted at [email protected].