In my first column of the semester, I pledged to “defend that which is right, as opposed to that which is left and, therefore, wrong.” My opinions have been printed in this newspaper every Thursday since, and the reception has been interesting, to say the least.

A letter to the editor printed on this page carried the simple headline, “VerStandig Clueless.”

Sometimes I think about the courtroom scene in “Miracle on 34th Street” with the countless bags of “Dear Santa” notes, and then I realize that most of the comments addressed to me take the liberty of re-arranging the letters in the big jolly guy’s name. (I fancy myself a compassionate conservative, but apparently most of you consider me the leader of the underworld.)

Truthfully, though, I stand by it all.

And with this being the last newspaper of the semester, it seems only fitting to briefly reflect upon some of the major issues on which I have opined, but this time with the aid of hindsight. (Not that I don’t usually approach issues with remarkable foresight.)

The session’s first major political frenzy saw a former bodybuilding champion move to Sacramento. In looking back, we should realize that the election was not a question of disenfranchised minority voters with whom the ACLU wept or a Latino who wouldn’t sever his ties with MEChA, but about politics as a whole. The people of California registered one of the great protest votes of the modern era; they didn’t so much hire a buff movie star as they fired a career politician who told one lie too many, refusing to replace him with anyone else who had seemingly cut a deal with Lucifer.

Locally, an attempt to raise the minimum wage from $5.15/hour to $7.75/hour quickly became the talk of the town. The issue is still ripe, as the proposal’s backers now seek to pass the measure in a less democratic way than the originally proposed referendum. The real question still looms large: will the pay raise serve to inject cash into the pockets of Madison’s poorest or to insert pink slips into their mailboxes?

Speaking of cash, dark-horse fundraiser Howard Dean came to town this semester, when he delivered the sort of suave political speech that any number of local politicians could serve to learn from. His ideologies are simply disgusting in the eyes of this conservative thinker, but he has managed to grip the liberal youth in a powerful, new way. Regardless of whether the former Vermont governor becomes the next Democratic nominee for the presidency, Dean has revolutionized the grassroots campaign and Madison became a case study of that effectiveness.

The Student Service Finance Committee weighed the fates of numerous organizations this semester. In the end, the committee pretty much stuck with the status quo and continued most funding. But with hoots, hollers, threats, spitballs, fiscally irresponsible line items and racist literature, the Multicultural Student Coalition emerged the only real loser from the process, as their members seem to have finally shown the student body their real faces. And even though the group will be highly funded for another year, they seem to be on the verge of becoming as unpopular as this columnist.

There were countless other controversies this semester, many of which columnists weighed in on. The perennial political hot potatoes of abortion, the death penalty and gay rights all manifested themselves in current events, and the war in Iraq produced plenty of fervent rhetoric, but the aforementioned matters seemed to affect students the most intimately, with the California recall simply being a phenomenal moment in political history.

Rob Deters and I made a small piece of local political history, too: we inaugurated the Badger Herald’s “Torn Between Two Sides” feature. It is my sincere hope that the format has allowed us to showcase both sides of some of the most important political issues to arise, hopefully bringing some balance to a town where it is easier to sell Amway than conservatism.

I must offer my most sincere thanks to Mr. Deters. For all the times I have been tempted to simply let loose and commence a column, “Rob, you ignorant slut,” his always-intellectual defense of the left has provided a considerable challenge.

(Leaving the house on Thursdays has also proven a considerable challenge, with photo recognition leading to numerous “Hey, aren’t you the *%!@ who…?” moments. Believe me, your college experience just isn’t complete until you’ve been accosted in Memorial Union or College Library by seemingly every member of the student body.)

Finally, for those of you who have ever felt compelled by the positions I have advocated, I cordially invite you to join the vast right-wing conspiracy. (If I convert eight more liberals, I get a free set of steak knives; if I convert Rob Deters or Austin King, I get a signed picture of Charlton Heston and Roy Moore with the Ten Commandments; and if I convert Tammy Baldwin or Kathleen Falk, Rush Limbaugh owes me a box of Cuban cigars.)

Mac VerStandig ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in rhetoric.