In Chuck Slothower’s article “Gray elephants go marching” (ODE, May 12), he said that “…It’s an open question as to why people grow more conservative as they age.” Have you ever been told to listen to the advice of your elders, for they have years of experience and knowledge on you? Perhaps the conservative surge is due to a lack of youthful ignorance. Perhaps as people grow older, they gain experience and solidify their beliefs, only to come to the obvious conclusion that liberalism is for the birds.
In your article, you state that “Progressives better steel themselves for decades of playing defense.” Don’t worry, as long as you stay in the little liberal hub of
Eugene, you’ll always be the attacker rather than the attacked. If liberals are attacked in the rest of the United States, I say that they deserve it 100 percent. As a conservative in Eugene, I find myself constantly on the defense, apparently even when I pick up the school newspaper.
Although liberals may be a majority at the University, I warn you that there are more conservatives here than you may think. Just because we tend to be silent sufferers doesn’t mean we don’t exist. You might say that we should speak out and stand up for ourselves, and to that, I say that I do.
However, if I refuted every liberal comment made to me, whether that be in the classroom, in the newspaper, or on the street, I would waste my life away doing just so and I wouldn’t have time for my education.
I’ll just say that I am here in Eugene for an education, not to be constantly attacked by liberals. For the time being, until you stop attacking conservatives, I applaud the conservatives in non-liberal-dominated societies who attack liberals and, in doing so, unknowingly stand up for me.