Leftists, not liberals

Lots of conservative commentary describes its ideological opponents as "liberals." A great deal of the time, that term is improperly applied. "Liberal" implies a love of freedom or liberty -- that's where the word comes from. All too often, those on the American left have no desire to advance freedom and would greatly prefer restrictions on it.

True, honorable liberalism is the ideal that a broad discussion of all possibilities will lead the participants to select the left-leaning alternative. Angry, hateful, violent leftism is the ideal that the left-leaning alternative is the only moral choice to be made, and all other options must be stamped out by force (because, so often, people choose the non-left-leaning alternative). Far too frequently, those on the American left fall in the camp of leftists, not liberals.

Such is the case at Oregon State University, where last week it was reported that The Liberty, a conservative-leaning newspaper, was restricted in its circulation methods. For years, The Liberty had used a dozen distribution racks across the OSU campus; now university administrators have demanded that almost all of the racks be disposed of.

Policy-makers at Oregon State are not interested in "diversity," an entity that so many people have insisted universities have an inherent interest in. They're interested in restricting speech-making by their students.

This is fascism, not liberalism. It's totalitarianism at its worst. It's the silencing of ideas and thoughts. It's Thought Police, and every administrator who signed off on the decision ought to be thrown out on their cans.

As near as I could tell, Oregon State's official newspaper, The Barometer, was fairly non-partisan. But whether or not this hushing of The Liberty is based on ideology is irrelevant. It's a hushing -- that in and of itself is a vile, criminal, evil thing.

Universities have gained a stereotype as left-leaning institutions; most of the time, this stereotype is entirely warranted. But that does not make them liberal. If they were liberal, they would embrace openness and discussion, they would encourage the free flow of ideas and thoughts, they would champion liberty of thought and word.

Instead, in way too many cases, they act as anti-liberals. They act as militant leftists, who think their point of view is the only one that can be correct, and everyone who disagrees need not enjoy the same rights to free speech and due process as they claim for themselves.

For as long as this behavior is tolerated, freedom and real liberalism are in danger.