Andrew Klavan, bestselling author, screenwriter, and host of âThe Andrew Klavan Showâ has a message for young college students: embrace freedom.
âThe founders were dealing with a very simple, yet complicated question. Simple because the point was how do we make people as free as it is possible to be, complicated because the answer is incredibly complicated,â remarked Klavan when speaking about his college lecture tour through Young Americanâs Foundation.
Klavan encouraged young conservatives to find a central message when discussing politics. âI think we have to tell them what weâre for, and Iâm for freedom. As an elder statesman in life, there are so many things that I can tell people that can make them happy, but thatâs not what I want the government to do for them ⦠I just want the government to do what it says in the Declaration: to secure the rights that God gave them.â
Having paved his own way toward a belief in Christianity, Klavanâs uniquely freedom-focused theology appeals to the progeny of the religious Right. Young students of religiously conservative parents are fast becoming one of the most tolerant and open-minded political demographics in the nation. They have long been searching for ways to square their religious commitments with laissez-faire politics.
From a background of secular Judaism, Klavan can also to speak to secular-minded individuals who have felt alienated by the increasingly radical left-wing. If there is one place where leftists are not afraid to get radical, it is on college campuses. Klavanâs jovial personality and unique ability to break down complex conservative ideas into common-sense soundbites help him to fill what has been a comedic void on the political Right. College students who would have once watched Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert can now get a daily dose of news and entertainment from a conservative angle delivered to them at their convenience.
But itâs not all soundbites. The new internet medium is a place where long-form discussions can take place, not only in the realm of politics but also religion and philosophy. In an interview with Think Outside Politics, Klavan explains his theory on the next Great Awakening to individuals who possess an entirely freedom-focused worldview.
When asked about how to conduct a civil free exchange of ideas on college campuses when discussing politics, Klavan said âWhy would you train someone not to listen to other opinions? Clearly, the only reason you do that is to keep control over them. Clearly, these people are actually less free than anyone who is willing to debate ⦠People are easily controlled when theyâre angry. Theyâre easily controlled in a mob. Theyâre easily controlled when you control the narrative around them … the Left has done all that stuff.â
Klavan went on to say that college students should emphasize the liberty that civil discourse provides. âIf you can start to make the meta-argument, not that youâre right, that by discussion you become free, you become free to consider other ideas,â said Klavan. âI think you can win over the middle of the populace, which is most people. Once youâve done that, I think you exclude the violence, you exclude the irrational, and you exclude the people who donât want to discuss.â
Watch the full interview with Andrew Klavan here.
Anthony Leonardi is a contributor to Red Alert Politics. He’s a third-year student at the University of Florida, where he runs thinkoutsidepolitics.com. Norman Young is the co-founder of ThinkOutsidePolitics.com (@politicsoutside) where he analyzes politics, culture, and philosophy.
