I am concerned today. When I was a sophomore in college, for my European history class I wrote a paper defending the actions of Maximilien Robespierre in the French Revolution. I portrayed Robespierre as a misguided idealist who is somewhat misunderstood. Mainly I wrote the paper in this light for fun. I wanted to see if it was possible to humanize and defend the man who sent thousands to the guillotine. He was unforgiving and unrelenting in his effort to crush those he saw as a detriment to their revolution. He believed terror to be a valuable tool in shaping the new France. I think I got a B on the paper, but now I am worried that there could be great consequences for this academic pursuit. One day years from now this paper will be my downfall. Why?
The race for governor in VA just took a very strange turn when Republican candidate Robert McDonell’s 20 year old graduate thesis was brought out for the public. It seems that McDonell in his thesis submitted to Regent University (Pat Robertson’s school in Virginia), The Republican Party’s Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of The Decade, McDonell decries the detriment of working women, the destructive influence of homosexuals on the family, the Supreme Court decision to allow birth control for the unmarried, aide to working women and more.
Obviously the paper written so long ago that Reagan had just left the office and Al Gore hadn’t yet really invented the internet, leads to some serious questions. Do people change? Are these views once held by McDonell relevant to today? Can we believe that he no longer considers mothers working to support their families or pursue their own careers a destructive force to be reckoned with? Should a 20 year old paper from graduate school even be an issue?
The paper relevant to the race because it shows the forces that have shaped McDonell as a candidate. Even if he is far more moderate now, having once been to the far right of where he currently positions himself is not irrelevant. It shouldn’t define him as a candidate, but he will need to show compelling evidence that his views now do not merely mask a much more conservative side that has been hidden beneath layer after layer of political polish.
This issue will undoubtedly becomes too silly to talk about as the democrats in Virginia are already calling a 20 year old graduate thesis McDonell’s Blueprint for Virginia and making it out to be a huge secret agenda, but the issue is legitimate. There are so many forces that shape us throughout our lives and we should be ready to give an account of what we believe and what we used to believe otherwise the validity of our witness is lost.
It is a helpful exercise to think through things you no longer believe that you once held in great esteem and to think about the journey that has changed your beliefs. What has shaped you since then? Why did you believe them in the first place? Are their things you hold onto now that you shouldn’t be holding on to? This is a great exercise for our faith, our politics, our worldview, and our view of ourselves. Never stop growing, never stop challenging, never stop believing in truth and revelation.
September 1, 2009 at 11:16 am
You are comparing apples and oranges. If your paper celebrated the murder of tens of thousands of non-Catholics then you could be worried for you would have selected a group of people with bias. Discussing the French Revolution by taking the alternate side is discussion without bias to a particular group of persons.
Now writing a paper that has clear bias against particular groups of people, in my opinion, does show a life long leaning to mysogeny, sexism, bigotry etc. It is not as though he compared segments of society and their particular beliefs but indicated a strong preference for bigotry himself with a clear point-by-point remedy to achieve his cookie cutter ideals.
September 1, 2009 at 12:38 pm
True enough, my self comparison was mainly for humor points, but it is fundamentally different than McDonell’s paper which was written from his view point and carried with it a social and religious agenda. I think that this story is just going to get bigger for him because it does show a viewpoint that would take incredible amounts of evidence from the last twenty years to make people forget.
September 1, 2009 at 4:53 pm
In my opinion, college kids, even twenty years ago, do not know anything of life. I would never judge a candidate based on his college thesis. How I would judge a condidate is on the last twenty years of friendships, decisions, voting history, family, etc. Does he have traditional family values? Does he vote the Bible? etc etc. This means I would never judge you, Greg, if you ran for office based on a college thesis (unless it was one year ago) done about defending a man who sent thousands to the guillotine. lol. Interesting subject for the paper. I’m glad you did not try to defend Hitler though. I think that would have long term consequences. I think you are safe on Maxmillian unless of course you are a french voter.
September 1, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Nikole,
I agree but he was 34 and in graduate school when he wrote the paper, that changes the shape of it somewhat.
September 1, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Do people change?
September 1, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Maistro,
I believe that people can change, that is the basis of my life’s work, but it is too often the exception not the rule.
September 1, 2009 at 10:14 pm
This is an important post. Obviously people will use what he wrote as basis for their vote, because it did affect the way he is today. But I think that people can and do change all the time, it’s not easy, but it happens. The fact that he was older when he wrote this kind of scares me a bit though, he had had time to sort out his beliefs by then, so I suppose all that could be done is take what he says he believes now and hope he’s learned since before!
September 1, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Great post Greg. I’ve grown so much by working through how my presuppositions and life experiences shape my worldview, theology, political ideology etc. I often look back on previous essays I’ve written and just frown of embarrassment!
You know the saying, “the only constant is change”; everyone is capable of changing. Whether that change is progress or regress is often the issue that needs solving. That being said, a thesis is a pretty accomplished work. Most of those are written after not-so-little research. It’s only fair that this impact people’s impression of the candidate.
September 2, 2009 at 7:11 am
Your defense of Robespierre has probably disintegrated by now, unless it’s cached in your file drawer. It’s unlikely your teacher kept a copy, though I’m sure he/she got a good laugh out of it, and may have shown it off at dinner parties.
The Internet changes all that. Now we hire and fire, elect and impeach, based on words that live forever in digital-land. Yikes! Though my sins live forever online, they’re blotted out by God — as far as the east is from the west. Grace rules.
Would I vote (or not) for someone based on what they wrote 20 years ago? Maybe. It depends on how much they still own it. Michelle Obama’s senior thesis was “temporarily withdrawn” from Princeton’s library till after the election. If it had been online, what then? Had she written it today, how different would it be?
Thanks for the excellent post.
September 18, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Everyone is entitle to their opinion. Whether you choose to agree or disagree is our right. I don’t agree with McDonell but I can understand how people come to these opinions and beliefs. Most beliefs (like religion) are handed down from parents. Much of our belief system comes from our worldly experiences. My guess is McDonell was quite isolated in his own world for most of his life, surrounded only by those who indoctrinated him. I don’t really care.
The real point is that this guy is running for Governor. The person to make decisions for the masses. The person for this job is one that can see the big picture and make decisions that help the masses. Of course, not everyone will be a winner. But the Governor’s job is to make decisions that help the majority. If you are biased by your own limited experiences, then you are not the right guy for the job. This is true in the private world as well.