Tsk tsk to Columnist Stein for a series of lazy generalizations. I'm going to extra hard on her because I know she can do better.

but using the often-alienating posturing of the extreme left on campus as a reason to go hard right? That's not revolutionary, refreshing, or even righteous. It's lazy.

Why is that politically 'lazy?' Many people drift to the right as the result of direct exposure with the Left. I know I have. Why not? The way the Left works around here is shrill, bent on destruction, and prone to indoctrination by infiltrating Socialist groups. Worst of all, it's ineffective on a larger scale. Wouldn't it be more lazy to accept all that instead of reforming the Progressives? And is it lazy to drift right, but not far right? I don't understand the logic.

It's just too damn easy to be a conservative at Cal. I hate to pick on those who were raised in a Republican household because their continued conservative stance simply saddens me, not for political reasons, but because, well, hasn't our popular culture taught us to rebel at least a little bit? You could easily become a Goth like all of the other SoCal suburbanite kids who had speech impediments and sucked at dodge ball.

Being a Republican at Cal IS rebelling. Being a Goth is more or less conforming -- like wearing dreadlocks at Lothlorien. How can being part of a tiny minority be conforming?

Being a Republican has its compensations, true. A big social group that supports you. Applause, money, and publicity from nationwide Republicans that are cheering you on. And the campus Republicans seem to relish their persecution in a way that turns me off. Ms. Stein is right when she says they have a tendency to be 'reveling in self-martyrdom and self-pity.'

But no Democrat ever got graded down by a GSI for their politics -- or can count on protestors whenever they bring a speaker to campus. Many Republicans have adapted to this abuse, to make it a challenge to be savored. But this is more adaptive survival then a normal facet of being right of center. And they don't need to be 'getting off your ass to do something truly productive.' If they weren't doing Republican-y things on campus, they wouldn't be protested. You can't criticize them both for being attacked when they do Conservative things and for being lazy losers who don't do nothing.

A study theorizing about the psychology of a political party that annually celebrated Strom Thurmonds' record-setting filibuster of an anti-lynching law is interesting

The study was about Conservatives, not Republicans. Logic fallacy, as the two overlap but are not a subset of each other.

Ms. Stein will have better luck if she presents conclusions from evidence instead of making generalizations from personal experience.

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