Here’s a tale of two cities during some bad times. In D.C. the Republican National Committee condemned two of their Republican colleagues, Rep. Liz Chaney and Rep.Adam Kinzinger. Due to their honest positions on the insurrection, still the RNC called it “a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
Wait a minute. Jan 6? Attack? “Democratic led”? “Legitimate discourse”? The Wash. Post responds: “Seven people died in connection with the attack, 140 police officers were hurt and 734 people have been prosecuted on charges ranging up to seditious conspiracy. Marauders sacked the Capitol for the first time since the War of 1812, threatening assassination, and smashing, clubbing and defecating to the tune of $1.5 million in property damage.”
And here’s the second city and it’s not Chicago. It’s Austin, TX, where Professor Pano Kanelos is constructing, on paper, a new university. The University of Austin Texas (UATX) will be affordable, intellectually rigorous, and ideologically balanced. Theoretically, students will not be allowed to silence others they disagree with. Open inquiry and civil discourse are goals. Professor Kanelos’ primary reason for doing this is to counter the “intellectual asymmetry” he sees in most colleges. Ironically, it’s the progressives, he thinks, who are upsetting fair-minded discourse.
Given the severe polarization in the U.S. and political battles in so many states, tensions could increase and turn into violence. So many issues invite clashes. Warming, gun policy, the power of the federal government, voting rights, health care, education fairness and equality.
Two cities. Rhetorically armed. Fists ready. Voices extreme. Let’s bring UATX to NW Ohio.
Tom Klein
Bowling Green
