Crimson: More on the future:

Anderson: I think a solid half of the campus is on our side. They may think we go a little too far, we're a little too extreme, we make a little too much noise, but they're with us. That's not to say the other half is in the Conservative Club. The other half may just be completely apolitical. It's that half that I think will get interested in the next few years.

The Right

Crimson: How do you label yourselves politically?

Forman: There's a real danger with identifying yourself with any label at all because of the people with whom you will then be identified. I've run into problems calling myself "conservative" being president of thins club, because of people like (Senators Jesse) Helms and (Strom) Thurmond and (Reverend Jerry) Falwell, with whom I'd never want to be identified....

As far as my own beliefs, not New Right, certainly, not libertarian, as Ted calls himself. I first started getting more interested in politics when I started reading George Will five or six years ago, and I see him, in a sense, as my political mentor.

Sauter: I would characterize myself generally as someone with conservative-libertarian tendencies, but I don't think it's necessarily incumbent upon me to follow any line strictly, and I often have beliefs that surprise people....On affirmative action, I think that there are times when you need goals; I have many friends who don't believe in goals. In terms of sexual matters, my views are very different. I have no objection to people engaging in homosexual activities, but I am alarmed at homosexual culture, the attempt to make their sex lives into a culture or an ideology.

Higgins: My general outlook is to support the advancement of individual liberty, particularly keeping a very, very skeptical eye on the government....This may sound like an endorsement of the Libertarian Party; it's not. Again, I shy away from labels. On today's spectrum. I'm sort of between conservative and libertarian. I think what's really affected my thinking is seeing what the pat answer, are to problems....Then scratching the surface a little more and seeing in almost all cases problems are caused by some government initiating a problem itself.

Crimson: What are the origins of your political ideas?

Forman: I've become a voracious reader of political commentary. I subscribe to about 10 or 12 magazines, most of them on the left, and I just try to read as much as I can. Besides that, I try to get as much news as I can first hand, watching the news conferences: I've got a short-wave radio, with which I pick up the news in the foreign countries from their point of view. So I look at all the information, and by and large, those who call themselves conservatives, I would say Will and (William F.) Buckley to a certain extent, make more sense than those who call themselves liberals.

Sauter: I'm a voracious consumer of news: I still am. When I came to school I became involved with SASC (Southern Africa Solidarity Committee), because through a variety of experiences I was extremely upset with the activities of the South African government. And I all of a sudden realized that the people involved with that group really didn't give a shit, or didn't care as much as they might like to have other people think they care about the individuals in the situation....They were willing to say there should be a bloody revolution and five million people will get killed and after that there will be a nice Marxist government or socialist government. And their priorities I thought were strange....I think it's one of the most reprehensible regimes on earth because it has a constitution which infringes on people's rights purely on the basis of their color. On the other hand, I think the Soviet Union is a much greater threat to the rights of all people.

Crimson: What is the conservative vision of the future?

Higgins: People on the Left have some amorphous idea; they have one but they couldn't name it The classic example is the ERA: people do not have any idea what would happen if that were passed. And if you ask them. "Well okay, I believe in equal rights for women, but do you think that Smith College should have to pay taxes because it discriminates against men?" And they don't particularly have any answer for that question I should hope the future would be some sort of progression from absolute monarchy, theocrisy, through more individual rights oriented that's a terrible thing to say "individual-rights oriented" I sound like Al Haig or something.

Sauter: They (liberals) want a society where children can grow up happy and free without acne. We want all the same things However, they say the way to get those things is to have the government to intrude upon our lives.

We say it really is worth it to grapple with the problems of say, racism, one of the more difficult issues because it involves dealing with people's minds, their perceptions But we say, how do you go about this And we say, no, the government shouldn't do it The government shouldn't discriminate against one race in order to help out another race.