Confusion

You have all these wonderful thoughts that seem to go to waste in your internal dialogues. Then you find a free blogg site and you mind turns out to be empty. The trick is to keep writing no matter what.

I am facing a big decision. It is mid-summer in my summer course and I still haven't told my students what I am, a conservative. Not even a presentable one. I still remember confiding in the head of my department that I was worried about going on the political science job market and letting slip in converstation that I am a conservative. John Brehm, dear man, avuncularly told me not to worry, there isn't any real predjudice against conservatives, except for maybe something bizzare, like a social conservatives. To his great credit he managed to not change his expression when I told him that is exactly what I was. Anyway, I have reached that point in my class where I have to tell them. We are discussing the formation of public opinion and reading two articles about the decision to go to war. I am able to keep my mouth shut about anything but the war is too much for me to keep quiet about. Actually, I don't mind having flat out arguments with students that just hate the war, it is the sort of passive acquiesence that you sometimes get. It is as if they are saying to themselves the creature we are hearing from is beyond reason, all we can do is non-commitally and meet afterwards to assure ourselves that we are right and righteous. I am probably exaggerating. Sometimes my memories from Antioch come back to haunt me. These are university of chicago students. They are very forthcomming about telling you that they think you are an idiot.

Is it possible that there is no spell checker on this blogg thing? I hope no one finds this thing.

Post Script: finally told my students what I was. Shocked disbelief. They asked me to prove it: "Say something conservative." That is the same thing people say when I tell them I speak Chinese.