Chris Coons: 'I Studied Under A Marxist'
By Jeffrey Lord on 9.22.10
Amherst College.
May 23, 1985.
The campus newspaper: the Amherst Student.
The much dismissed article written by now Delaware Senate candidate Chris Coons that bore the title: "Chris Coons: The Making of a Bearded Marxist."
(A serious hat tip to Dan Riehl over at Riehl World View.)
Now the title of this article has been bandied about in a few media quarters, only to be laughed at and dismissed. Coons himself leads us to believe that he was just joshing.
The problem? No one is taking the time to really read the contents of the article and connect it to what's going on right this minute in American politics.
As mentioned earlier this week, if what Christine O'Donnell did in high school is important, than what we have here is a very disturbing look at the mind of a man who now thinks he's entitle to a seat in the United States Senate.
Here's Chris Coons on Chris Coons: "The point that others ignore is that I was ready to change. Experiences at Amherst my first two years made me skeptical and uncomfortable with Republicanism…"
"Kenya provided a needed catalyst; …I studied under a bright and eloquent Marxist professor at the University of Nairobi…"
"Some of the 'Leftists' that I met were terrifyingly persuasive, although I never admitted that."
"…several professors challenged the basic assumptions about America and world relations with which I had grown up…and undermined the accepted value of progress and the cultural superiority of the West."
"I came to suspect…that the ideal of America as 'a beacon of freedom and justice, providing hope for the world' was not exactly based on reality."
"What do other nations think of us? Can private enterprise and democracy solve the problems of developing nations? Is Marxism an evil ideology, leading millions into totalitarian slavery? These were some of the questions in the back of my mind…"
"I realize that Kenya and America are very different, but experiences like this warned me that my own favorite beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunities to be had in America might be largely untrue."
In short then, Chris Coons the Senate candidate is determined to get to the Senate and be an agent of the Obama radical redistributionist agenda.
And the person that stands in the way is Christine O'Donnell.
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/09/22/chris-coons-i-studied-under-a.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Chris Coons Studied Under Marxist, Rejected Basic American Assumptions
Chris Coons rejects everything that has made America great, in favor of Marxism. (full excerpts below):
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2010/09/chris-coons-studied-under-marxist-rejected-basic-american-assumptions.html
I came to suspect, through these and other courses, that the ideal of America as “a beacon of freedom and justice, providing hope for the world” was not exactly based in reality.
I realize that Kenya and America are very different, but experiences like this warned me that my own favorite beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunity to be had in America might be largely untrue.
The point that others ignore is that I was ready to change. Experiences at Amherst my first two years made me skeptical and uncomfortable with Republicanism, enough so that I wanted to see the Third World for myself to get some perspective on my beliefs. Certainly Kenya provided a needed catalyst; I saw there poverty, and oppression more naked than any in America, and I studied under a bright and eloquent Marxist professor at the University of Nairobi. Nevertheless, it is only too easy to return from Africa glad to be an American and smugly thankful for our wealth and freedom. Instead, Amherst had taught me to question, so in return I questioned Amherst, and America.
Some of the “Leftists” that I met early on were terrifyingly persuasive, although I never admitted that. A few became my friends and provided a constant nagging backdrop of doubt, for which I am now grateful. More importantly, during sophomore year, several professors challenged the basic assumptions about America and the world relations with which I had grown up. Cultural Anthropology inspired a fascination with other peoples, and undermined the accepted value of progress and the cultural superiority of the West.
Full text from this link. Support Christine O'Donnell. We don't need an admitted Marxist in Washington.
Chris Coons: "The making of a Bearded Marxist" By Chris Coons
"College is supposed to be a time of change, a time to question our assumption about the world and define our basic values. For me, the transformations of the last few years have been especially acute. I came to Amherst from a fairly sheltered, privileged, and politically conservative background. I campaigned for Reagan in 1980, and spent the summer after freshman year working for Senator Roth (of Kemp-Roth tax-cut fame.) In the fall of 1983, I was a proud founding member of the Amherst College Republicans. In November 1984, I represented the Amherst Democrats in a hotly contested pre-election debate against my former roommates, co-founders and leaders of the Republicans. As the debate progressed it became obvious how unreconcilably different our opinions had become. What caused such a shift in only one year?
I spent the spring of my junior year in Africa on the St. Lawrence Kenya Study Program. Going to Kenya was one of the few real decisions I have made; my friends, family, and professors all advised against it, but I went anyway, My friends now joke that something about Kenya, maybe a strange diet, or the tropical sun, changed my personality; Africa to them seems a catalytic converter that takes in clean-shaven, clear thinking Americans and sends back Bearded Marxists.
The point that others ignore is that I was ready to change. Experiences at Amherst my first two years made me skeptical and uncomfortable with Republicanism, enough so that I wanted to see the Third World for myself to get some perspective on my beliefs. Certainly Kenya provided a needed catalyst; I saw there poverty, and oppression more naked than any in America, and I studied under a bright and eloquent Marxist professor at the University of Nairobi. Nevertheless, it is only too easy to return from Africa glad to be an American and smugly thankful for our wealth and freedom. Instead, Amherst had taught me to question, so in return I questioned Amherst, and America.
When I first arrived at Amherst, I was somewhat of a Republican fanatic. I fit Churchill’s description, namely, that a fanatic is “Someone who can’t change their mind, and won't change the subject.” While other freshman share care packages from home, I was equally generous with my inherited political opinions giving them to anyone who would listen. It was in this manner that I soon met a creature I had never known before—a Democrat, several of them. Some of the “Leftists” that I met early on were terrifyingly persuasive, although I never admitted that. A few became my friends and provided a constant nagging backdrop of doubt, for which I am now grateful.
More importantly, during sophomore year, several professors challenged the basic assumptions about America and the world relations with which I had grown up. Cultural Anthropology inspired a fascination with other peoples, and undermined the accepted value of progress and the cultural superiority of the West. In examining the role of myths in “primitive” cultures, we also studied the myth of equal opportunity in this country, a myth I had never questioned. A course on the Vietnam War painted in gory detail a picture of horrible failures made possible by American hubris and dogmatism. I came to suspect, through these and other courses, that the ideal of America as “a beacon of freedom and justice, providing hope for the world” was not exactly based in reality. So, I went to Africa, hungry for a break from Amherst and eager to gain some broader political insight from the brutally real world. What do other nations think of us? Can private enterprise and democracy solve the problems of developing nations? Is Marxism an evil ideology, leading millions into totalitarian slavery? These were some of the questions in the back of my mind as I left for Kenya.
What I learned in Africa unsettled me. I saw the deprivation and oppression of the poor and the politically disfavored in a way not possible in the U.S. In Kenya, my position was not at stake; I was not directly benefiting if the underprivileged had little hope of advancement. I lived with the struggling African family for a month and came to know the hardships that they face. What surprised me was the attitude of the elite; I became friends with a very wealthy businessman and his family and heard them reiterate the same beliefs held by many Americans; the poor are poor because they are lazy, slovenly, uneducated. “Kenya is a land of opportunity,” they said, “those who work receive their just reward.” I knew this was not true in the case of many black Kenyans; this story merely served to justify the position of many who had done well only by working for the British colonialists. I realize that Kenya and America are very different, but experiences like this warned me that my own favorite beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunity to be had in America might be largely untrue.
When I returned last summer, I traveled all over the East Coast and saw in many ways a different America. Upon arriving at Amherst this fall, I felt like a freshman at an unfamiliar school all over again. Many of the questions raised by my experiences of the last year remained unanswered. I have spent my senior year reexamining my ideas and have returned to loving America, but in the way of one who has realized its faults and failures and still believes in its promise. The greatest value of Amherst for me, then, has been the role it played in allowing me to question, and to think. I had to see the slums of Nairobi before the slums of New York meant anything at all, but with out the experiences of Amherst, I never would have seen either."
Politics
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/odonnell-opponent-from-bearded-marxist-to-harry-reids-pet/
O’Donnell Opponent: From ‘Bearded Marxist’ to Harry Reid‘s ’Pet’
Posted on September 16, 2010 at 10:43am by Jonathon M. Seidl Print » Email » After a rousing win in Delaware’s Republican Senatorial primary, Christine O’Donnell is preparing to battle Chris Coons, a one-time county executive with an undergraduate degree in chemistry and political science and two graduate degrees from Yale.
But while Vice President Joe Biden called Coons “well educated” yesterday, that’s not the way Coons once described himself. What term did he use? “Bearded Marxist”
In the Amherst college student newspaper in 1985, Coons authored an article titled “The Making of a Bearded Marxist,” which explains his transformation from the founder of the Amherst College Republicans, to someone who realized his once-held “beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunities to be had in America were largely untrue.”
The change occurred after a trip to Kenya, where his website says he was studying at the University of Nairobi.
“[I]t is only too easy to return from Africa glad to be American and smugly thankful for our wealth and freedom,” Coons wrote of the experience. “Instead, Amherst had taught me to question, so in turn I questioned Amherst, and America.”
In the end, however, Politico notes that while Coons “had discovered the faults of his country, he had also ‘returned to loving America.’”
That’s a good thing, since Coons is adored by fellow Democrats, including Harry Reid. In an interview with The Hill yesterday, Reid admitted a fondness for Coons that goes beyond simple support: “I’m going to be very honest with you — Chris Coons, everybody knows him in the Democratic caucus. He’s my pet. He’s my favorite candidate.”
“I‘m glad he’s running. I just think the world of him. He’s my pet,” Reid repeated.
Coons isn’t the only politician to have a life-changing experience in Kenya. As Dinesh D’Souza points out in a recent Forbes article, Barack Obama returned from there a changed man too.
By Jeffrey Lord on 9.22.10
Amherst College.
May 23, 1985.
The campus newspaper: the Amherst Student.
The much dismissed article written by now Delaware Senate candidate Chris Coons that bore the title: "Chris Coons: The Making of a Bearded Marxist."
(A serious hat tip to Dan Riehl over at Riehl World View.)
Now the title of this article has been bandied about in a few media quarters, only to be laughed at and dismissed. Coons himself leads us to believe that he was just joshing.
The problem? No one is taking the time to really read the contents of the article and connect it to what's going on right this minute in American politics.
As mentioned earlier this week, if what Christine O'Donnell did in high school is important, than what we have here is a very disturbing look at the mind of a man who now thinks he's entitle to a seat in the United States Senate.
Here's Chris Coons on Chris Coons: "The point that others ignore is that I was ready to change. Experiences at Amherst my first two years made me skeptical and uncomfortable with Republicanism…"
"Kenya provided a needed catalyst; …I studied under a bright and eloquent Marxist professor at the University of Nairobi…"
"Some of the 'Leftists' that I met were terrifyingly persuasive, although I never admitted that."
"…several professors challenged the basic assumptions about America and world relations with which I had grown up…and undermined the accepted value of progress and the cultural superiority of the West."
"I came to suspect…that the ideal of America as 'a beacon of freedom and justice, providing hope for the world' was not exactly based on reality."
"What do other nations think of us? Can private enterprise and democracy solve the problems of developing nations? Is Marxism an evil ideology, leading millions into totalitarian slavery? These were some of the questions in the back of my mind…"
"I realize that Kenya and America are very different, but experiences like this warned me that my own favorite beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunities to be had in America might be largely untrue."
In short then, Chris Coons the Senate candidate is determined to get to the Senate and be an agent of the Obama radical redistributionist agenda.
And the person that stands in the way is Christine O'Donnell.
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/09/22/chris-coons-i-studied-under-a.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Chris Coons Studied Under Marxist, Rejected Basic American Assumptions
Chris Coons rejects everything that has made America great, in favor of Marxism. (full excerpts below):
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2010/09/chris-coons-studied-under-marxist-rejected-basic-american-assumptions.html
I came to suspect, through these and other courses, that the ideal of America as “a beacon of freedom and justice, providing hope for the world” was not exactly based in reality.
I realize that Kenya and America are very different, but experiences like this warned me that my own favorite beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunity to be had in America might be largely untrue.
The point that others ignore is that I was ready to change. Experiences at Amherst my first two years made me skeptical and uncomfortable with Republicanism, enough so that I wanted to see the Third World for myself to get some perspective on my beliefs. Certainly Kenya provided a needed catalyst; I saw there poverty, and oppression more naked than any in America, and I studied under a bright and eloquent Marxist professor at the University of Nairobi. Nevertheless, it is only too easy to return from Africa glad to be an American and smugly thankful for our wealth and freedom. Instead, Amherst had taught me to question, so in return I questioned Amherst, and America.
Some of the “Leftists” that I met early on were terrifyingly persuasive, although I never admitted that. A few became my friends and provided a constant nagging backdrop of doubt, for which I am now grateful. More importantly, during sophomore year, several professors challenged the basic assumptions about America and the world relations with which I had grown up. Cultural Anthropology inspired a fascination with other peoples, and undermined the accepted value of progress and the cultural superiority of the West.
Full text from this link. Support Christine O'Donnell. We don't need an admitted Marxist in Washington.
Chris Coons: "The making of a Bearded Marxist" By Chris Coons
"College is supposed to be a time of change, a time to question our assumption about the world and define our basic values. For me, the transformations of the last few years have been especially acute. I came to Amherst from a fairly sheltered, privileged, and politically conservative background. I campaigned for Reagan in 1980, and spent the summer after freshman year working for Senator Roth (of Kemp-Roth tax-cut fame.) In the fall of 1983, I was a proud founding member of the Amherst College Republicans. In November 1984, I represented the Amherst Democrats in a hotly contested pre-election debate against my former roommates, co-founders and leaders of the Republicans. As the debate progressed it became obvious how unreconcilably different our opinions had become. What caused such a shift in only one year?
I spent the spring of my junior year in Africa on the St. Lawrence Kenya Study Program. Going to Kenya was one of the few real decisions I have made; my friends, family, and professors all advised against it, but I went anyway, My friends now joke that something about Kenya, maybe a strange diet, or the tropical sun, changed my personality; Africa to them seems a catalytic converter that takes in clean-shaven, clear thinking Americans and sends back Bearded Marxists.
The point that others ignore is that I was ready to change. Experiences at Amherst my first two years made me skeptical and uncomfortable with Republicanism, enough so that I wanted to see the Third World for myself to get some perspective on my beliefs. Certainly Kenya provided a needed catalyst; I saw there poverty, and oppression more naked than any in America, and I studied under a bright and eloquent Marxist professor at the University of Nairobi. Nevertheless, it is only too easy to return from Africa glad to be an American and smugly thankful for our wealth and freedom. Instead, Amherst had taught me to question, so in return I questioned Amherst, and America.
When I first arrived at Amherst, I was somewhat of a Republican fanatic. I fit Churchill’s description, namely, that a fanatic is “Someone who can’t change their mind, and won't change the subject.” While other freshman share care packages from home, I was equally generous with my inherited political opinions giving them to anyone who would listen. It was in this manner that I soon met a creature I had never known before—a Democrat, several of them. Some of the “Leftists” that I met early on were terrifyingly persuasive, although I never admitted that. A few became my friends and provided a constant nagging backdrop of doubt, for which I am now grateful.
More importantly, during sophomore year, several professors challenged the basic assumptions about America and the world relations with which I had grown up. Cultural Anthropology inspired a fascination with other peoples, and undermined the accepted value of progress and the cultural superiority of the West. In examining the role of myths in “primitive” cultures, we also studied the myth of equal opportunity in this country, a myth I had never questioned. A course on the Vietnam War painted in gory detail a picture of horrible failures made possible by American hubris and dogmatism. I came to suspect, through these and other courses, that the ideal of America as “a beacon of freedom and justice, providing hope for the world” was not exactly based in reality. So, I went to Africa, hungry for a break from Amherst and eager to gain some broader political insight from the brutally real world. What do other nations think of us? Can private enterprise and democracy solve the problems of developing nations? Is Marxism an evil ideology, leading millions into totalitarian slavery? These were some of the questions in the back of my mind as I left for Kenya.
What I learned in Africa unsettled me. I saw the deprivation and oppression of the poor and the politically disfavored in a way not possible in the U.S. In Kenya, my position was not at stake; I was not directly benefiting if the underprivileged had little hope of advancement. I lived with the struggling African family for a month and came to know the hardships that they face. What surprised me was the attitude of the elite; I became friends with a very wealthy businessman and his family and heard them reiterate the same beliefs held by many Americans; the poor are poor because they are lazy, slovenly, uneducated. “Kenya is a land of opportunity,” they said, “those who work receive their just reward.” I knew this was not true in the case of many black Kenyans; this story merely served to justify the position of many who had done well only by working for the British colonialists. I realize that Kenya and America are very different, but experiences like this warned me that my own favorite beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunity to be had in America might be largely untrue.
When I returned last summer, I traveled all over the East Coast and saw in many ways a different America. Upon arriving at Amherst this fall, I felt like a freshman at an unfamiliar school all over again. Many of the questions raised by my experiences of the last year remained unanswered. I have spent my senior year reexamining my ideas and have returned to loving America, but in the way of one who has realized its faults and failures and still believes in its promise. The greatest value of Amherst for me, then, has been the role it played in allowing me to question, and to think. I had to see the slums of Nairobi before the slums of New York meant anything at all, but with out the experiences of Amherst, I never would have seen either."
Politics
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/odonnell-opponent-from-bearded-marxist-to-harry-reids-pet/
O’Donnell Opponent: From ‘Bearded Marxist’ to Harry Reid‘s ’Pet’
Posted on September 16, 2010 at 10:43am by Jonathon M. Seidl Print » Email » After a rousing win in Delaware’s Republican Senatorial primary, Christine O’Donnell is preparing to battle Chris Coons, a one-time county executive with an undergraduate degree in chemistry and political science and two graduate degrees from Yale.
But while Vice President Joe Biden called Coons “well educated” yesterday, that’s not the way Coons once described himself. What term did he use? “Bearded Marxist”
In the Amherst college student newspaper in 1985, Coons authored an article titled “The Making of a Bearded Marxist,” which explains his transformation from the founder of the Amherst College Republicans, to someone who realized his once-held “beliefs in the miracles of free enterprise and the boundless opportunities to be had in America were largely untrue.”
The change occurred after a trip to Kenya, where his website says he was studying at the University of Nairobi.
“[I]t is only too easy to return from Africa glad to be American and smugly thankful for our wealth and freedom,” Coons wrote of the experience. “Instead, Amherst had taught me to question, so in turn I questioned Amherst, and America.”
In the end, however, Politico notes that while Coons “had discovered the faults of his country, he had also ‘returned to loving America.’”
That’s a good thing, since Coons is adored by fellow Democrats, including Harry Reid. In an interview with The Hill yesterday, Reid admitted a fondness for Coons that goes beyond simple support: “I’m going to be very honest with you — Chris Coons, everybody knows him in the Democratic caucus. He’s my pet. He’s my favorite candidate.”
“I‘m glad he’s running. I just think the world of him. He’s my pet,” Reid repeated.
Coons isn’t the only politician to have a life-changing experience in Kenya. As Dinesh D’Souza points out in a recent Forbes article, Barack Obama returned from there a changed man too.
No comments:
Post a Comment