Meet Jason Smathers

by Jason Smathers

Tuesday, September 2, 2008 00:00

Moderate. Let’s keep it at that. Although I came in to this university with a flaming liberal ideology but little reason to back it up, after watching numerous protests and the constant parade of left-wing infighting, I began to look toward more conservative and libertarian arguments and found myself agreeing with some of them — minimum wage, affirmative action seemed counter-productive and free trade policies all started to make sense.

But don’t take my slight flirtation with the right as a denial of humanitarian sensibilities. Immigration is an issue that tears me down the middle and causes me to be misunderstood more times than should be allowed. I would probably be called a flip-flopper due to my constant vacillation between both sides of the political spectrum, yet I refuse to place my political flag in unsettled soil of either party. Instead, I’ll continue to criticize Democrats for their feeble presence on campus, Republicans for their backwards approach to social issues and anarchists for, well, existing.