Suggested speaker

I think that Steven D. Levitt, author of Freakonomics, A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, would be an ideal guest speaker for the Mac mods to support bringing to campus. Levitt addresses the "unintended consequences" of economic and social policies, that often leave a legacy of consequences decades or generations long. Although, more recently, the right has championed moral and religious agendas as rightfully belonging in the political arena, many of these issues are eternally divisive and probably can't be resolved politically, save dictatorship or worse. Yet, the roots of conservatism lay more squarely in an approach to economic issues and social policies that reflect moral values and the highest aspirations of a free people.

That said, we are all capable of being fools, even with the best intentions.

Levitt addresses many current economic issues to show how even the best intentions, right or wrong, right or left, can have unintended consequences. I think this would be a great way to introduce a dialogue on economic and social policies at Mac, without the element of political bias as a foregone conclusion, in a way that would foster cogent and creative thinking in an important way among young people and faculty about important political considerations of our day.

Levitt is originally from St. Paul, an alum of Saint Paul Academy, and now teaches at the University of Chicago. Let's follow up with an invitation to Chris Cox, the current Security and Exchange Commissioner, also a St. Paul native and St. Thomas Academy alum, to talk about the current credit crisis and the rightful role of the SEC and corporations in society and the government role viv a vis the current situation.

Why I started MACALESTER ALUMNI OF MODERATION

I started Macalester Alumni of Moderation because our college has drawn a one-sided leftist line in the sand on socio-political issues. The college is consumed with silliness and politically correct reactions to benign or unimportant things.

Students have told me that it is commonplace for professors to criticize students who offers a moderate or conservative observation on issues. Professors have told me that they feel the pressure to follow the liberal/leftist line.

But that is not what a liberal arts college does. The liberal part of that phrase refers to broad exposure and wide analysis, not tired leftist rants.

I attended Macalester in the days of Ted Mitau, a professor who was adamant about open discourse. I was a state Y-DFL vice chairman at the time, and spent summers working for the DFL. Most of my fellow political science majors were Y-GOP members. But we all got along. No one was put down for thinking differently.

Macalester has hired professors concerned chiefly with pet leftist causes rather than the cause of broadening student minds. Why must a four-year school have a Dean for the Study of Race and Ethnicity? Mac’s History Department has a curriculum filled with course titles that are more polemic and narrow than broad and open.

The result? Students who blindly believe they must stop drinking Cokes because of alleged employee relations problems among Latin American bottlers, regardless of evidence to the contrary. More recently, students demanded that restrooms be liberated from worldly sexism by being made unisex. And, of course, all corporations are evil regardless of their charities and community outreach.

To prove how knee-jerk the college has become, look at the letter to the editor I sent to The Mac Weekly earlier in 2008. In it I called for Mac students and high school students to embrace child molesters and protest how society has oppressed them. The letter was crafted with all the buzzwords of the left and filled with all the guilt-trips of the age. The editors, thinking it was serious, published the letter. Need I say more?

I can’t be the only Macalester grad who has occasionally pondered moderate or conservative observations on social and political issues. Who else is out there? I know some alums are concerned about Mac’s religious life, but I have restricted my concern to socio-political issues. I am a moderate who detests the right wing religious nuts who have captured the Republican Party as much as I detest the teachers unions, trial lawyers, and wacko environmentalists who have captured the Democratic Party.

Your turn.

Roger S. Peterson
Class of 1967
Founder, Macalester Alumni of Moderation
peterson@sacramentowriters.com
916-624-1894

What We're All About

The Macalester College Alumni of Moderation (casually known as the Mac Mods) was formed by past Macalester students who are concerned about the school's narrowing world view. We want the college to encourage open discussion regrading socio-political issues by addressing all viewpoints.

First, we want to dispel some of the assumptions made about members of the Mac Mods. Many alumni believe we are a group of right-wing conservatives or religious fanatics attempting to turn all students into Republican party donors. Others assume that we are bitter about being labeled as an outsider for unpopular opinions during our undergraduate years.Members of the Mac Mods represent the gamut of political views. We believe that our individual opinions are second in importance to how our collective wealth of perspectives facilitates broader understanding. And this is our goal for the Macalester community.We are CEO's and stay-at-home parents. We wave our home country flags and protest signs. We sit near you at church and stretch across from you at Yoga. We are all proud products of Macalester. We strive to change our world for the better through understanding, not dividing, the communities in which we live. And this can only occur when we encourage all viewpoints to be part of our collective discourse, no matter how unpopular.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Mac Mods, send a message to the email at the top of this page. Or post a comment; we welcome all comments, criticisms and critiques.