I was first exposed to republican ideas near the end of my freshman year, when a couple of upperclassmen approached me and my friends at lunch and asked, “Do you dudes want to join young reps?” For as long as most people at Benjamin Franklin can remember, students did not take the Young Republicans seriously as a club, and neither did many of the members. It was an open secret that the Young Republicans cared more for being contrarians than actual republicans. Admittedly, I was one of those phonies. However, a realization occurred after I experienced my classmates openly mocking conservative views and repeatedly vandalizing our Young Republicans bulletin board. “These people haven’t even considered the other side,” I thought. My liberal classmates
