Looking backward accurately

When a recent column was written about the latest College Republican call-out meeting, I was astounded by the number of inaccuracies and misconceptions that are apparently ingrained into the column “Looking Backward” by Nathan Dixon. 

These inaccuracies are blatant and offer incriminating logical fallacies within the column.

He states that at the meeting there was an “emphasis on revisiting founding principles” while in the very next paragraph he states that “one of the principles discussed was a free-market economy” and that “Republicans, far from being free market martyrs, have usually resorted to populist calls for tax cuts at the expense of harder sells like free trade.” 

Nathan Dixon’s argument that bashes Republicans, specifically his fellow students here at IU, is a textbook non sequitur, because if he would have listened to the “meeting’s presentation,” it stated that the Republican Party has drifted away from the founding principles. 

The “past history” that Nathan refers to with a negative connotation is exactly what the College Republicans are trying to avoid.

Along with misrepresenting the free-market economy principle, Nathan also cited two other principles, which are “ordered liberty” and “limited government.”  He stated that in regard to these principles “conservatives have engaged in their own kind of social engineering” and that “at the meeting, plans were made to discuss the seven mentioned principles in greater detail throughout the semester.” 

At the call-out meeting, the only action toward discussion the College Republicans took was to read down the list of the Seven Principles of the American Republic. From this single mention of ordered liberty and limited government, Nathan Dixon arrogantly assumed that he knew exactly what the principles meant and how they were to be applied.

The overarching point is that the writer cannot use inaccurate facts, make assumptions about his fellow students without fully understanding what was being said and insinuate that his idea of America is the only valid view by saying that “Republicans need to show a little moral humanity.”

Opinions must be well-founded and well-researched before they are published as fact in an influential newspaper.

Michael K. Swihart
IU College Republicans Political Director