This year at the club fair I signed up for a new club: Parker Democrats Club. I was running a table so I didn’t get to sign up for other clubs until the end when most people had left the courtyard or were talking to friends in the corner. There was one table that still had a crowd — the Parker Democrats Club. When I looked at the signup sheet, the sheer number of people who signed up surprised me. The other thing that surprised me was the lack of its political counterpart — where was the Parker Republicans Club table? 

It’s not too hard to overhear someone discussing politics at Parker, whether it be in the classroom or in the hallway. The presence of the Parker Democrats Club and the lack of a Parker Republicans Club shows that it’s much more difficult to find conservative voices at Parker.

But it isn’t the fault of Parker Democrats Club that conservative ideas are rarely expressed. It’s the fault of our education and the environment at Parker. If anything, the club is teaching students how to be active citizens, which will broaden our understanding of other political parties. 

The lack of conservative ideas comes from the fact that there just aren’t that many at Parker. The larger presence of liberals means that we’re taught liberal ideas more often which perpetuates the lack of conservative ideas. Liberal ideas bring liberals who bring more liberal ideas. 

Parker Democrats Club is bringing in Democratic speakers which in turn is bringing in more liberal ideas, but they’re bringing a broader view as well. Robert Emmons Jr. believes in Medicare for All, but also said, “I’m closer to the center when it comes to the second amendment,” telling us that he believes that assault rifles should be banned but not all guns. He expressed his thoughts that were all over the spectrum, which is what we should be learning too.

Liberal views are presented to us at Parker in the classroom almost every day. Videos and articles by left-leaning news organizations are shown frequently, and it’s a rarity to read or watch content from right-leaning organizations. When we do consume such content, we’re usually analyzing the information to find fault in these views. For example, in my history class Nations, States, and Terrorism, we’ve studied domestic terrorism through the lens of White Nationalists and Neo-Nazis, but the only time terrorist groups and movements from the left such as the Antifa movement were discussed was in comments here and there. 

When we focus on the ideas of conservatives, we focus on their extremist representatives and viewpoints, instead of what the group as a whole stands for. When we studied the Domestic Terrorism Act, it surprised some of my classmates and me that it was introduced by a Republican senator. 

We’re taught the extremes of each party, and for conservative views we’re taught to associate these ideas with everything that’s anti-Parker. When we analyze the differences between conservative and liberal ideas, we talk about climate change and LGBTQ+ rights, which quickly paints a picture of the difference between Parker and conservatives and right and wrong. As a school, we need to learn how to expand the sources from which we consume information about politics. 

The issue that a hypothetical Parker Republicans Club would have low membership is not the only one. Due to the environment at Parker, the issue is that this club might receive resistance and backlash that the Parker Democrats Club does not. The lack of a Parker Republicans Club is not the problem; it’s that if there was one, the response to it would not be as positive as the one that Parker Democrats Club receives.

The lack of conservative ideas is not the fault of Parker Democrats Club. Though the club is bringing in democratic speakers, the focus is not on bashing Republican but rather expanding our knowledge on politics. Through clubs and activities like the Parker Democrats Club, we can learn how to examine political issues from a more detailed and open-minded stance than liberal ideas being right and conservative ideas being wrong.