Blue States and White Flags: Rethinking political identity

he word "college" conjures up images of harried students lugging around copies of Plato's Republic, bemoaning "The Man" and using their youthful spirit to rally against social injustice. As proud as I am of Muhlenberg College, creatures like these are an endangered species here--tomes get replaced with tabloids, accessorized with Starbucks' Grande-Mocha-Cappuccino-with-Soy-Please-I-Hate-Milk; questions of social justice are as popular as Ashlee Simpson post-Saturday Night Live.American academia has a warped perception of political identity--we assume it simply means voting. True, the Muhlenberg Student Body voted Democratic in 2004. But how else have we exercised our political rights? How else have we proven our political identities? Many people suggested that in writing this piece, I replace the stereotype that our college is liberal with the another blanket statement--namely, that our college is: attended by upper-middle class American youth who criticize George W. Bush while hopping in Hummers, who decry the control of multi-national corporations while chicly swathing ourselves in Burberry (or perhaps more ironically, fake Burberry) and who discuss how pathetic mainstream music has become while pirating all our favorite indie-rock music (channeled to us courtesy of The OC) on the Internet. Those people raise valid arguments. Can you truly call yourself a liberal if your car produces more smoke than the White House press gaggles? Can you get into that same car and whine--maybe even with sincerity--that we engage in wars for oil? Can you lament conservative business practices when you buy your clothes at The Gap? Many political historians say we live in a "checkbook democracy," where people participate in society to the extent that they exercise consumer choice. In other words, the act of purchase in our commercial world is a uniquely political deed. If it's true that we've been "voting" between WalMart and the Farmer's Market, then Muhlenberg College as a microcosm has voted conservative.

I am not interested in pigeonholing us. The above line of thinking raises some serious ethical issues that should be considered, but does not wholly reflect our political intentions. I have a different response to the question of political stereotyping: Given all the factors, I think our campus--like many across the nation--is lacking a political identity in its entirety. We're not liberal or conservative, and taking part in one election has not proven anything. Politics are defined not only by opinion but by action, and there are precious few examples of any such hullabaloo at the 'Berg. The Darfur Benefit and 10,000 Villages are two brilliant models of action--i.e, using a specific social or political problem as a platform for awareness and change. But, mostly, when I look around I see apathy. We care more about being witty than being thoughtful and we recognize the incongruities of our existence without reconciling them. How many students have green recycling bins in their rooms, despite the best efforts of EnAct? How many passed out flyers when our government disregarded medical recommendations to make Plan B over-the-counter? Or wrote to the FDA about it during the 60-day comment period allotted to us as citizens? How many of us actually take our political beliefs and do something--anything--with them other than complain? Newsflash, Muhlenberg: you are brilliant, and your resources--youth, affluence, education--could make you unstoppable. In the end, our listlessness speaks volumes and it's time we stop being spectators to the world's injustice.