Putting the spotlight on spin, one crazy argument at a time

Two weeks ago, my column angered some people so much that Michael Pomarico, state chairman of the North Carolina Federation of College Republicans, issued a press release in which he said, "Compton has no credibility with fair-minded students. No wonder he resoundingly lost the election for student body president."

"The UNC system continually violates the civil rights of conservative and Christian students," he complained. "Compton is only fooling himself."

Good times, good times.

But the truth is that certain campus conservatives are trying to fool us all.

They ask us to "try and find one registered Republican in the political science department," implying that the Democrats are running an indoctrination campaign on campus. It's a ridiculous charge.

There are plenty of reasons to register with a political party that have nothing to do with ideology.

If history teaches us anything about Orange County, it's that the winner of the Democratic primary will win the office in the general election. To have the greatest amount of influence in the election, you register with the majority and vote in the primary.

Like my dad always says, "Register with the guys you hate so you can vote against 'em twice."

The assumption that every Democrat is a tax-hiking, gun-banning, government-expanding socialist is just as wrong as the notion that every Republican is a war-mongering, race-baiting, gay-hating fascist. It simply is not true.

Further, the conservative argument is flawed because it assumes that the high school students smart enough to get into UNC are too stupid to recognize manipulation when they see it. That logical leap shows a startling lack of respect for the intelligence of our peers.

Any student with a liberal arts education should know enough to question all evidence, all the time, no matter who presents it.

Those who teach us have a duty to make an argument, and we who hear their lectures have a responsibility to weigh the merits of the case presented - to do research outside of class and, when the time for debate comes, to make the choice to agree or disagree. Challenge and be challenged in return - that's the path we walk at Carolina.

But challenges should be honest.

During the spring, the Carolina Review regularly publishes a "study" of Student Congress' annual budget appropriations. Without fail, the study always implies that conservative student groups are vastly underfunded when compared to their liberal counterparts.

The last two issues available in the magazine's online archive make the case. In 2002, by the Review's reckoning, only two conservative organizations requested funding: the Review and College Republicans. The two groups asked for more than $19,000. They received just $2,100 that year.

In 2003, according to the Review, three total conservative groups asked for $25,780 in funding. The Review received everything it asked for, but the UNC Federalist Society received just 25 percent of its request. The College Republicans received nothing, the Review reported.

By contrast, in 2002, the Review counted more than 20 liberal/activist organizations and reported that these groups received $41,859.97 in funding. The next year, the liberal groups that asked for money received $35,598.20.

But that case is built on deceit. Each year, the Review counts cultural organizations like Sangam, Masala and the Carolina Indian Circle in the liberal category. How the publication distinguishes between these cultural groups and others like the Asian Students Association is unclear. But including them skews the numbers.

Similarly, the Review fails to discuss the reasons for budget cuts. In 2003, the College Republicans asked for thousands of dollars for a single event - a concert featuring Charlie Daniels. But between the finance committee meeting and annual budget, they withdrew the request. The CRs made that decision, not a liberal-leaning Congress.

And of course, during subsequent appropriations, the Federalist Society came to Congress to request money to bring Ann Coulter to campus. They got what they asked for.

Conservatives are given the same consideration before Congress as liberals. Our school employs Republicans and Democrats, socialists and free-marketeers. Some of them make compelling cases for their beliefs in class, and few, if any, expect us to swallow their beliefs whole.

These arguments aren't examples of injustice; they're attempts at power. Only if we fail to recognize that are we truly fooling ourselves.

Contact Matt Compton, at mattcomp@gmail.com.