{"id":1488778,"date":"2024-09-09T11:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T15:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1488778"},"modified":"2024-09-09T11:20:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T15:20:00","slug":"professors-rally-academics-around-less-bad-candidate-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/professors-rally-academics-around-less-bad-candidate-trump\/1488778\/","title":{"rendered":"Professors Rally Academics Around “Less Bad” Candidate Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professors Rally Academics Around “Less Bad” Candidate Trump <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

By Will Caldwell of The College Fix<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

University professors have started a petition for academics to rally behind Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n

The petition statement<\/a>, a project of Professor Daniel Klein of George Mason University and Daniel Mahoney, professor emeritus of political science at Assumption University, encourages scholars to support the Republican candidate.<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, 51 professors had signed it. The list so far represents a mix of emeritus and current scholars from both private and public universities, including well known institutions and state schools.<\/p>\n

Titled \u201cLesser Evil,\u201d it emphasizes the founding principle of individual liberty while decrying big government, and affirms the Declaration of Independence\u2019s exaltation of \u201clife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness\u201d as the \u201cchief aims of good governance.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Klein, Republicans are more predisposed to oppose stark centralization, hence his support for what he deems the \u201clesser evil\u201d: the Republican presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcept for a few odd places and a very few odd units on a few campuses, academia is a leftist apparatus. Academia continues to get worse,\u201d Klein told The College Fix<\/em> in a recent email. In his estimation, \u201cit is less than 10 percent of professors who think R > D.\u201d<\/p>\n

The petition comes amid concerns<\/a> over ideological diversity on college campuses. Reports<\/a> by The Fix<\/em> and others have found university faculty lean heavily Democrat.<\/p>\n

Since The Fix<\/em>\u2019s first contact with Klein in late August, the number of signatures has doubled. The list will continue to be updated with new signatures through the November election.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe initiative might help the Republicans to win, and certainly can\u2019t hurt,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n

To emphasize the crux of their message, the professors included a graphic on the petition website, \u201cDemocrats bad, Republicans less bad,\u201d that breaks down where the two parties stand on various issues, including taxes, religious liberty, censorship, asset forfeiture, and energy policy.<\/p>\n

Continuing, Klein told The Fix<\/em> other reasons for the project are \u201c(1) To normalize the voicing of the R > D opinion within academia. (2) To get my fellow classical liberals to face up to their responsibility to decide whether R > D or D > R, as well as their responsibilities, to come to that decision virtuously and to be frank and open about holding their opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the petition succeeds in getting professors to re-think their political leanings, it could cultivate a more amicable atmosphere for right-leaning students and professors. Klein, however, said conservatives shouldn\u2019t hold their breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect the downward trend to continue or hit rock bottom and stay there. I encourage the individual American to minimize academia\u2019s sway in his or her thoughts, culture, and life,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n

But the economics professor is not alone. Some members of academia have rallied behind him, including Brooklyn College Professor Mitchell Langbert.<\/p>\n

Langbert said he was particularly attracted to the deregulation aspect of the petition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a philosophical liberal or libertarian who believes that, in Thoreau\u2019s words, \u2018That government is best which governs least.\u2019 \u2026 Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe, that government is best which governs not at all,\u201d he told The Fix<\/em> via email last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t go all the way to no government at all as do some of my anarchist friends, but a return to a role of government limited to 10 percent or 15 percent of the economy would be optimal,\u201d Langbert said.<\/p>\n

In his opinion, \u201cRepublicans are the lesser of two evils. They remain philosophically committed to liberalism and the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, \u201cneither party has embraced the liberal views that propelled the United States, and earlier Great Britain and Germany, to world leadership,\u201d Langbert said.<\/p>\n

He said Republican Party leaders \u201chave done too little to cut harmful government programs, of which I can offer a long list beginning with the Department of Education.\u201d He also blamed the party for allowing the \u201cfar left\u201d to take over the education system.<\/p>\n

His displeasure with the modern right doesn\u2019t end with its failed policies. While he supports the petition, Langbert also expressed contempt for former President Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many aspects of former president Trump that are undesirable \u2026 includ[ing] his monetary and COVID policies, his appointment of Anthony Fauci, and his expansion of federal headcount during his administration. Also, his personnel choices were unwise, and he has managed to alienate many women because of his behaviors,\u201d he told The Fix<\/em>.<\/p>\n

However, he said a Kamala Harris administration would be catastrophic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile President Trump can be thought of as a bad landlord, the Harris administration is a further step on the road to serfdom, a step toward totalitarianism, censorship, suppression, lawfare, and attacks on the affluent middle class,\u201d he told The Fix<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats are a passionate, indoctrinated mob that cares little for freedom,\u201d Langbert said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nMon, 09\/09\/2024 – 07:20<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/professors-rally-academics-around-less-bad-candidate-trump<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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