1.28.2006

My Ideology

All right, I've decided to apply to the Heritage Foundation's summer internship program, in spite of the fact that I need to actually earn money this summer. My being accepted is a really long shot, but if I do get in, it will be interesting to see how the Lord provides for me to go to grad school in the fall!

I went to the library this afternoon to pick up a few books to help with my application. At Becca's suggestion, I got a copy of Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America? by Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson. It looks interesting. I also grabbed a couple books on libertarianism, P.J. O'Rourke's Parliament of Whores, and Call of the Mall by Paco Underhill. (That last one's not about politics, but I've been meaning to read it for a while. Underhill's earlier book, Why We Buy, was pretty good.)


Anyway, back to the Heritage Foundation application. It asks me to identify my ideology as it relates to fiscal, social, and foreign policy. My choices for each are: conservative, liberal, libertarian, moderate, moderate-conservative, multilateralist, neo-conservative, and realist. Before I choose, I have to figure out what all those terms mean. I'm pretty sure I can rule out liberal and moderate, so that leaves me 6 choices to learn about. I also have to read that book. And answer some more questions. And come up with a writing sample and official transcripts and two letters of recommendation. By Wednesday.

If you need me for anything, I'll be locked in my room, making good use of my heavy-duty earplugs. =)

2 comments:

Becca said...

How's it coming? You know, encyclopedias are good... I was always suspicious of people who are quick to fit themselves into a shoebox catagory anyway. We're 22 for goodness sake! We don't even know what we want for breakfast!

mel said...

Well, some of us are 23... but breakfast decisions are still problematic.

I ended up checking out the Libertarian Party website. It has a handy little political views quiz; after you take it, it plots you on a chart. I was in the "conservative" quadrant, but pretty close to "libertarian."