I appreciate the fact that the Emerald attempts to balance itself on the political spectrum by including conservative commentaries such as those by Nik Antovich. However, I think a better spokesman for the right could be found.
Antovich’s gaps in logic are spectacular. He espouses a conservative viewpoint, but the arguments he makes are founded on such poor logic that he ends up tearing down his own thesis. Two examples stand out from his most recent commentary on the California wildfires.
Firstly, he introduces his piece by saying that in politics, he hates nothing more than the “politicization of events.” Well, then, Mr. Antovich, I am glad that we agree on our president’s abhorrent usage of Sept. 11 as political capital to promote his agenda of the democratization of the Middle East.
Second, Antovich takes issue with the Democrats’ connection between the National Guard presence in Iraq and domestic disaster relief. Why, he asks, would a “supposedly intelligent” person “employ [his] intellect to connect wildfires in Southern California with a war”? Simply because many of those who are meant to guard our nation are off subduing another, and as Antovich himself admits, California’s guard equipment is now down fifty percent.
I am happy that Antovich is not among our generation’s apathetic youth, but it is unfortunate that he has become one of our spokesmen. This is not the kind of political insight we need.
Chris Bradley
University student