<< Back 11/27/02 D’Sousa tackles modern conservatism By Jeff Minick Letters To A Young Conservative by Dinesh D’Souza. Basic Books, 2002. $22 — 240 pp. No serious commentator on the American university today would deny that liberal professors far outnumber conservative ones. Each year the Chronicles of Higher Education publishes a survey of its members, revealing among many other things that liberals outnumber conservatives two to one, that this statistic becomes even more lopsided in the humanities and liberal arts programs, and more lopsided still in the elite universities. At the same time, students have become progressively more conservative in their political outlook than students from 30 years ago. It is for these young conservatives that Dinesh D’Souza has written his latest book, Letters To A Young Conservative. Written to a university student named Chris —it is unclear whether he is fictitious — these letters by D’Souza are clearly intended as a sort of primer, a basic textbook for beginners, about conservatism. For a student, or for anyone unfamiliar with the tenets of conservatism, D’Souza has written an invaluable guide to the philosophies and positions of many modern American conservatives. He offers a conservative look at issues as varied as affirmative action and gun control, gay marriage and globalism, environmentalism and abortion. Particularly amusing were D’Souza’s comments on his student days at Dartmouth, where he helped edit the Dartmouth Review, the first student-run conservative newspaper at a major American university. Taking a lesson from university radicals, D’Souza and other conservatives became social guerillas, using laughter and sharp-witted humor as their primary weapons. When the university administration, for example, wanted to ban its Indian symbol as offensive to Native Americans, D’Souza and his friends sent a survey to more than a hundred Indian tribes across the country. Most tribes loved the symbol, and though the administration banned the Indian, Fortune magazine published an article on the controversy, inspiring D’Souza to enter into other battles with the administration. Although conservatives will appreciate many of D’Souza’s comments and his uncommon common sense, Letters To A Young Conservative does fail in one important regard. D’Souza never really distinguishes between neoconservatism and that older conservatism of the first half of the 20th century whose present-day adherents are now called paleo-conservatives. He has nothing to say about religion, for example, about the value of patriotism, about the dangers to what Washington once called ‘entangling alliances.” In fact, it is not always clear what D’Souza and other modern conservatives are even interested in conserving. He claims, for instance, that conservatives are opposed to big government, yet conservatives in power only rarely cut government jobs. With the present war on terrorism, we are nearly guaranteed that there will be more federal employees when Bush leaves office than when he began his presidency. Like many conservatives today, D’Souza advocates more economic freedom, fewer taxes, and lower taxes. Most conservatives would agree with him, resenting federal intrusions into their pocketbooks. D’Souza also addresses social issues straightforwardly, without mincing words or seeming to care how the other side might react. Most conservative politicians, of course, are quite timid about social issues, fearing embarrassment if they oppose gay marriages, feminism, gun control, and the squadron of other issues that perpetually dominate the news. Here we have to look for our example no farther than our own Rep. Charles Taylor. When he first ran for office, Taylor talked to certain groups about the need to end abortion and to curtail federal spending. After he was in office for a while, I asked one of Taylor’s close acquaintances when the good representative would begin attacking such issues as abortion. “As soon as he and the others get the economy under control,” the acquaintance said. That was seven years ago, yet we still see Republicans hiding under the bedcovers whenever some hard-line issue pops out of the closet at them. Despite these faults, Letters To A Young Conservative is a strong and coherent introduction to modern conservatism. It would make an excellent gift for a college student or a young person graduating from high school. Better yet, give one to a member of the Democratic Party. This book will tell them in short why they lost the last election. Better still, send a copy to your Republican legislators and friends. It might remind them of all those promises they keep making. (Jeff Minick is a teacher and writer who lives in Waynesville. He can be reached at saintsbookco@aol.com)