Back to the Inferno... (does the use of the word "canto" make anymore sense now???)

So I've done some real quick interviews with some of the young conservatives wandering around here, and I figured it's about time I post some good stuff from that.

First, Patrick Callahan is from UC Santa Barbara, and he's doing some hardcore campaigning for (I don't know his first name) Davidson. There's a pretty crazy race going on between Davidson and Gourley for the CRNC Chairmanship. Lots of money, volunteers, traveling, stumping - Conventionette's gonna do some good stuff on that.

Me: Where do you see College Republicans going in the future?

PC: Well if Davidson wins, I see it going pretty far, but if Gourley wins, I’m guessing it’s probably not gonna really go past where it is right now. I think we need someone like Davidson to go out and basically implement his policies that he has for California on the national scale so that we can get the same results across the country that we got in California. I think that can really change the way College Republicans work and how effective they are in influencing state, local, and national campaigns.

JiaMei Chen is a Chinese Republican from California and a student at American River College (also in CA).

Me: What makes you a Republican?

JC: Well my family is a big influence on it, but also all the different stuff I’ve seen and stuff. You know what, you probably gotta excuse my language when I talk about liberals. I grew up in Shanghai, right, and China's a Communist country, right? When I got over here I saw there’s a two party system, liberals and conservatives, democrats and republicans, right? But all the liberals really stand for is social welfare, support all the laziness, socialists, free this and free that – tax all the hardworking people, give it away for nothing, you know? People just sit around, just sit on their butt all day and don’t do nothing. They drive a brand new Cadillac and stuff! What about the hard-working-class people? And we get taxed 50% out of our pocket, you know? I mean that’s socialist, right? So, that’s the reason I just think that you know what liberals just don’t make sense. Also probably the religious belief. I won’t vote for a single person that is pro-choice.

Shandra Cipriano is a student at the University of Nevada @ Reno.

Me: What makes you conservative?

SC: I honestly think I just kind of came out that way. My family’s that way, I was raised that way, it’s what I believe. It’s the kind of life I live, the beliefs I have, the way I want my future to be.

Scott Gehring is from Cincinatti. (He's a fast talker, hence the elllipses.)

Me: What makes you conservative?

SG: Really It’s b/c I believe in freedom…the freedom to live your life, really. …I believe in free market, free enterprise…I think we should have a right to do what we want. Gov’t. should play as little a role as possible.

Me: Where is the campus conservative movement headed?

SG: I think the conservative movement is headed in the RIGHT direction (haha) …in 3 diff ways. 1) children of the Reagan generation, which ultimately inspires more conservative parenting.
2) I think most ppl believe in the same things I believe in.

George Higgins is the State Chair of the NV College Republicans.

Me: What makes you a conservative?

GH: Well I guess it was because I was born a conservative, raised a conservative – really I believe in freedom and opportunity. People being able to go out and do what they wanna do. If you’re smart enough to go out and make a million dollars you should be if you’re not then you shouldn’t be. ...The conservative movement of today is very strong. All across America we have thousands of new College Republicans, 1500 College Republican chapters across the country, and everything we do is growing. I imagine we’ll see more of that in the future.

I have some quick reactions, then I must join the election discussion going on in Salon A.

First, Shandra's answer for the source of her conservatism is par for the people I've spoken to. These kids were born conservatives, and it sounds like they've never had to defend their stance their entire lives. Instead, parasites like David Horowitz feed them lies, they buy it, and eventually you get a full-grown Republican. It's too bad.

Second, I can't stop rereading JiaMei's words. While his phrasing of conservative dogma is not what it could be, he's basically drawing on this idea that liberals don't believe in hard work. I gather this is a trend among recent immigrants who fashion themselves as self-reliant individualists.

There's so much more to say, but I should really get inside that room.