An antidote to liberal academia
August 8, 2007| By Lauren Volpe
Refreshing. That one word can sum up my summer working as an intern at The Heritage Foundation.
Coming from a university campus, it was wonderful to spend several months in an environment where people wholeheartedly support the same principles I do: limited government, free enterprise, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong national defense. Sure, my political science professors pay lip service to the Founding Fathers, and business professors do talk about supply and demand. But more often I hear the undertones of an entitlement mentality, collectivism, moral relativism, and omnipotent government.
The Heritage Foundation really serves as an antidote to the ideas emanating from universities and other liberal bastions. Heritage is not just a home for principled conservatives. It is also a research institution in its own right, as our experts support their positions with original data. Heritage takes a stand against the liberalism that has come to dominate much of our nation. And with its mix of experts in free-market economics and traditional values, Heritage is an exciting and intellectually stimulating place to work.
Since I arrived in June, I have witnessed the energy with which Heritage works to further the conservative movement. Heritage experts have:
- Provided timely analysis of the secretive “compromise” immigration reform bill and gave lawmakers the facts about the proposal, which was crafted behind closed doors.
- Highlighted the consequences of legislation that would bring our country one step closer to socialized medicine.
- Pointed out the problems with federal farm subsidies that hurt taxpayers, consumers and benefit multi-millionaires and big business.
- Vowed to protect free speech and defend conservative talk radio from left-wing proposals to restore the Fairness Doctrine and other onerous government regulation on free speech.
- Championed the expansion of parental choice in education and decried proposals—from both Democrats and Republicans—to expand the federal government’s micromanagement of local schools.
- Called on Congress to make permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that boosted the American economy and encouraged individuals to work, save and invest.
The past ten weeks have flown by—and it wasn’t all work. I listened to talks by more than a dozen members of Congress, and Heritage arranged special tours of the White House, the Capitol, the Pentagon, and Mount Vernon. I went with my fellow interns to meet Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and I played with them on Heritage’s staff softball team. And we still had time to visit the monuments and museums, catch a Nationals baseball game and tour historic neighborhoods like Georgetown.
What will this year’s class of summer interns accomplish later in life? I am positive I worked alongside principled conservatives who will become the next generation of conservative leaders—teachers, journalists, lawyers, policy experts, business executives and even elected officials.
Lauren Volpe is an intern at The Heritage Foundation.