A Question for all...

<p>Do you think your experiences at UCSD have affected your political views in any way? </p>

<p>I am asking because I am doing a research project on that and would like to know what people think when they can complain about school and politics anonymously. :)</p>

<p>I’m a conservative poli sci major and overall my political views haven’t really changed. I’ve become somewhat more moderate, but nothing drastic. I think the reason people’s political views change in college overall is that this is a time when someone is really developing as a person and exploring new ideas. Yes there is a bias in most classes but I think the whole indoctrination thing is overblown. If someone doesn’t have deep held political beliefs before they get to somewhere like UCSD, it will affect their politics, but it’s an individual’s choice. A good topic though.</p>

<p>I came in as a liberal but I now consider myself a minarchist libertarian. A combination of real-life politics in and out of UCSD has led to my core beliefs. Since I am not a political science, economics, or humanities major I cannot say that my classes have affected me too much politically. A lot of what I believe comes from reading literature, online news articles, and just being turned off by left-leaning, liberal, self-entitled students/media.</p>

<p>My experiences at UCSD are very strange to say the least. Since almost none of my classes have anything to do with politics my interactions with the school specifically have to do with the student organizations that I have joined, namely the Food Co-op and Young Americans for Liberty. When I was in the Co-op I was surrounded by a lot of left-leaning people/friends and I debated with them quite a lot regarding issues of all sorts, including the merits of capitalism and our respective opinions of public vs. private schools. I was definitely a minority, but I was okay with that because I felt that this was one of the few places where I could talk with others about what I politically thought (because let’s face it, a lot of UCSD is politically apathetic). With Young Americans for Liberty (which I joined only this school year) I am surrounded by people who think a lot like me and it’s very refreshing considering I am surrounded by liberals the majority of the time. From what I am told through YAL, as well as the other conservative groups on campus (including the College Republicans, Young Americans for Freedom, and the Marksmanship club) there is definitely a bias within university classes, especially because of the great emphasis on Keynsian economics and how a lot of the classes are solely based off institutionalizing ethnic and gender groups. One of my friends summarized it as “hate on white people and ■■■■ look at those poor minority groups but omg look at the great things they accomplished but let’s feel sorry for them while we’re at it.”</p>

<p>I’m personally starting to phase out of my interest in politics, mostly because it takes up too much time and I end up getting emotionally invested in it, which isn’t too good for my GPA. That’s why I am now not really doing much in either organization and just concentrating on myself for now.</p>