Jason Joiner, (“Sound off,” Feb. 16) sounds like a smart enough fellow and while many of his points about liberalism leading youth astray are right on, he’s missing the crux of the situation.

I don’t think younger generations are totally jumping on the pop culture bandwagon. We must give young liberals the benefit of their intelligence; they’re not basing their vote on whomever Hollywood goes for. Most honestly believe liberalism is the right thing to do.

You see Jason, it started long ago, in high school even: The revised textbooks, the value-laden adjectives, the historical ommissions. But liberalism really picks up wind in college. Almost all public colleges and many private ones are heavily pushing liberal thought. Through professors, curriculum choices, textbooks etc., “Utopia is possible!”

Incremental socialism is what this country is headed for under the liberal banner. I mean it sounds good, doesn’t it? Free healthcare! Cheap college! Reproductive rights! Care for the jobless, the homeless! Death with dignity! No more war! All those “sound” appealing. And unfortunately the caveats of every one of these is almost never discussed in the public sphere. And believe me there are caveats, big ones.

One doesn’t need a college education to discover them either. Only a decent Internet access and basic literacy skills. It’s too bad colleges have gone so far left. Students would learn something much more valuable by studing the rules of logic and logical fallacies, than spending thousands of dollars on an education that is so academically compromised.

Then again, America would not be the same if people knew how to properly research for themselves and analyze arguments. It just might become a great nation of motivated, happy, healthy, self-reliant individuals. And that would really tick the liberals off.

Rose Clark

Oak Harbor