johncombest.com

John’s note: This piece appeared in the February 4, 2000 edition of Student Life newspaper at Washington University in St. Louis.

Republicans Push Ideology – by Lauren Mandell – Student Life Staff

John Combest, Eric Lobsinger and Daniel McCarthy are the grand old men of the Grand Old Party at Washington University.

The three seniors have over the past three years sustained a limited but loud campus conservative voice in the form of the College Republicans.

From bringing prominent Republicans to campus, including Alan Keyes, Bay Buchanan, and William F. Buckley Jr., to vigorously protesting the administration’s liberal affinities in the pages of Student Life and the Washington Witness, Combest, Lobsinger, and McCarthy have carefully crafted a conservative presence on campus that belies its tiny core.

According to Lobsinger, the Republicans’ current president, the group has only 12-14 active members.

Yet for the Republicans, it is not numbers that matter; few groups of a dozen members can boast a newspaper explicitly created to advance its values (the Witness,) And if their opponents do wish to play the numbers game, they counter that there are many WU conservatives – they are simply too frightened by the “irrational, knee-jerk reactions of liberal groups on campus” to declare their beliefs.

“I think there are many, many conservatives on campus who are afraid to speak up,” said Lobsinger. “They are afraid that feminist organizations will attack them, or socially liberal groups, or minority groups. You simply can’t speak against affirmative action or defend traditional values without getting attacked on this campus.”

Such is the motivating force behind their efforts to establish what Lobsinger militaristically calls a “shielded unit”, a tight-knit and unflinchingly conservative party that can stand on its own feet.

Lobsinger believes that the disproportionately large number of Democrats among tenured faculty and deans makes a mockery of the university’s promotion of diversity, and threatens to eliminate family and religion, conservative pillars, from public discourse. It demands a strong College Republicans.

“The administration, professors, and in many ways, the student government won’t protect us. We need an organization to preserve the conservative voice.”

The College Republicans, though their leaders are not shy in expressing a common distaste for such institutions as the South Forty Social Justice Center, which Lobsinger labels anti-Christian and anti-family, admit a wide variety of conservative beliefs in their organization. Libertarians, social conservatives, religious conservatives, and “political hacks” are all represented.

Combest, past president of the group, divides campus Republicans into two groups: rich Northeastern Republicans “who don’t want Daddy to have to pay more taxes” and the ideologues, such as McCarthy, who Combest calls a “true believer.”

McCarthy, arguably the most vocal conservative in the bunch, also serves as editor-in-chief of the Witness and president of the Conservative Leadershin Association, the newspaper’s publisher.

As the 2000 presidential election draws near, Combest believes that the conservative ideologues will take an active role in mobilizing campus voters and working on behalf of the Republican nominee. Though commentators have written of a power struggle in the Republican Party in the aftermath of John McCain’s astoundingly lopsided victory in the New Hampshire primary, Combest and Lobsinger believe Governor George W. Bush will emerge unscathed and capture the Republican nomination. They believe Bush is the candidate most capable of defeating the Democrats.

“We need to accept that [Bush] will be our nominee. We can’t let the media pick our candidate. That’s what they are trying to do with John McCain. The media loves John McCain,” said Combest.

Lobsinger cites McCain’s support of campaign finance reform and his opposition to Big Tobacco as political suicide in “true Republican” states like South Carolina. The significant New Hampshire independent vote cost Bush the primary victory, not a lack of Republican support, according to Lobsinger.

The College Republicans will not endorse a candidate until the Republican Convention. In coming weeks the group plans to evaluate its membership, which its leaders believe will increase during the election season, and plot phone-calling and literature-distribution strategies.

They believe the recently resurrected College Democrats will not mount a significant challenge to the Republicans.

“It seems like the Left is so complacent,” said Combest. “They have nothing to rally around and fight for, whereas we feel we are in a fight all the time.”

McCarthy, who leans more to McCain than Bush, believes that Bush’s New Hampshire loss will arouse more interest in the election amongst campus conservatives.

“Bush was the crowned prince. Now people will pay a little more attention to who’s doing what in the campaign.”

– 30 –

Available for checkout at Washington University’s Olin Library – Stalking, Harassment, Internet Trolling: A Guide to Recovering and Rebuilding After Online Attacks by John Combest (watch the Instagram reel here)

Available for purchase at Amazon.com: Stalking, Harassment, Internet Trolling: A Guide to Recovering and Rebuilding After Online Attacks – available in paperback and Amazon Kindle (note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Back to johncombest.com.