Song of the Day 7/17: The Kinks, “Young Conservatives”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona
A surprisingly rich Wilmington CPA named Robert L. Siegfried Jr. has donated $71.5 million to the University of Delaware’s business college so it can be more like Trump University.
No, UD won’t start offering degrees online, but the money will support “rule of law,” “free enterprise” and “property rights,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Joe DiStefano. These days that’s pretty much code for “those college liberals are undermining my’ 50s sitcom-family values and destroying the things that made me rich.”
He said a good model is North Carolina’s High Point University, self-described as a “God, Country, Family School.” Another model is Friedrich Hayek, the famous Austrian economist who became a hero to many right-wingers. Other models are Ronald Reagan, Lee Iacocca and former Du Post Co. CEO Ed Woolard. And, oh yeah, “Jesus Christ.”
And Trump? “I believe he has done many things to move the country back to be closer to its core values,” he said to DiStefano, an insightful reporter whose beat includes Delaware business.
The Kinks wrote about campus conservatism in “Young Conservatives” for the 1983 album “State of Confusion.” It’s about college kids moving right in the Thatcher years. “The establishment is winning … now the schools and universities are turning out a/Brand new breed of young conservatives.”
In 1967 the Kinks released a sarcastic song called “David Watts,” about the “head boy at school” whose charmed life the singer envied. He could maybe get more Watts-like at the new UD business school.
The Jam covered “David Watts” in 1978. It’s one of the rare Jam songs not to feature Paul Weller on lead vocals.
Yep. A business school that represents the values of its wealthy donor. There are more than a few of those throughout the country.
Betcha Trump doesn’t go after any of those.