Tuesday, April 15, 2014

On Libertarian Type "Think Tanks"

I can assure you. There is a lot more uniformity of thought at Columbia University than there is at the Cato Institute, and at least the Cato institute doesn't indoctrinate impressionable youngsters into Marxism, radical environmentalism (a loathsome philosophy that has killed literally millions of poor folks in the developing world; the banning of DDT, the utilization of food as fuel, the boycotting of GMOs), etc..

10 comments:

BB-Idaho said...

Hmm, Columbia University-
-founded 1754-
Alexander Hamilton, Pat Buchannan,
George Stephanopoulus, Ben Stein,
John Jacob Aster, Brent Scowcroft,
Isaac Azimov, Upton Sinclair, Oscar Hammerstien, Chelsea Clinton, Margaret Mead, Alan Greenspan, Hans Blixz, Liz Trotta,
Will Durant, Jack Kerouac, James Cagney, Famke Janssen, Pat Boone,
Milton Freidman, Ursula Le Guin,
Sandy Koufax..ad infinitum...
The Cato Insitute-
-founded in 1974 as the Charles Koch Foundation-

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

I was referring to the present day faculty (not a conservative amongst the sorry bunch), BB; the folks who apparently find Ann Coulter more of an evil person than Ahmadinejad.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

And it always falls back to the Koch brothers, doesn't it (that and it kind of backfired in that the Republicans don't get a hell of a lot of love from Cato lately)?

BB-Idaho said...

Columbia University as an educational institution, has its
problems. The Cato Institute, as a "think tank"has its own . IMO, Columbia teaches students to think; Cato
encourages us to think in narrow Cato terms. (at least that is the
feeling I got when I was doing correspondence with them)

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Really, you're linking me to a "Nation" article? They're even farther to the left than Columbia.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

And if you look at the faculty list of the Columbia School of Journalism, you'll find that most of those folks also work at various left-wing outlets including The Huffington Post, Slate, The American Prospect, Mother Jones, Salon, The Nation, Greenpeace, etc..............That, and just try and have a conservative point of view in the sociology and poly-sci departments, too, I dare you.

BB-Idaho said...

I wonder if PolySci departments naturally run liberal (there is a prof at one of the Cal state colleges that is rabidly neo-con).
I had a Norwegian immigrant for
polysci, couple courses. There was quite a local movement to remove him as he was a socialist.
However, he had been in the Norwegian underground and helped
disable the Nazi heavy water plant, so even stolid Midwesterners put up with him.
I guess, for those that want a conservative education, there are places, as Young America's Foundation notes:
The Top Conservative College list includes Christendom College, College of the Ozarks, Colorado Christian University, Franciscan University, Grove City College, Harding University, Hillsdale College, The King's College, Liberty University, Patrick Henry College, Regent University, Saint Vincent College, Thomas Aquinas College, Thomas More College, and Wisconsin Lutheran College. I guess the students have to put up with a great deal of religious fundamentalism to be taught what
their parents want, though. (and hope to God, the kid doesn't turn
out like Dr. Ehrman .
But, you know the old argument:
conservative kids go to business
school and Wall Street, don't want to waste time getting advanced degrees and starving at
some college when there are lucrative derivatives to be packaged.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

According to a study by professors at Smith College, George Mason University and the University of Toronto (they surveyed 1,643 full-time faculty at 183 four-year schools), 72 percent of professors at American universities labeled themselves liberal, while just 15 percent said they are conservative. 50 percent of faculty members identified themselves as Democrats and only 11 percent Republicans

Les Carpenter said...

Is the concept of "critical thinking" still.alive and well?

Indoctrination is the natural tendency for those desirous of control.

Koch equals Money equals Control. You draw the conclusions.

BTW, does anyone understand Marx these days?

Perhaps the reason acedamia more closely identifies with liberalism is because knowledge, hates to be stunted and the world won't stand still.

BB-Idaho said...

I've always been interested in the
link between profession and politics, although there are always exceptions. (As an army officer, defense & explosives scientist, I was a rare liberal).
Not on the linked list, but from
personal observation, I would note
that engineers and computer professionals are often conservative, while scientists
tend liberal. We ponder whether
the politics follows the profession, or our political
views guide our choice in them?