LEWISBURG — Four individuals with vastly different “Visions of America” fought it out — figuratively, not literally — during a lively and highly entertaining two-hour discussion in the Campus Theatre on Monday night in an event sponsored by the Susquehanna Valley Conservatives group.
The forum, which pitted two Bucknell University professors advocating a liberal perspective against two conservative speakers, Ana Puig, of the Tea Party, and author and political analyst Andre Harper, was a huge success, with 330 people filling the venerable downtown theater.
John Peeler and Peter Kresl seemed to radiate with overflowing knowledge about the roots of liberalism, while Puig and Harper were emotional at times, even combative, in expressing their distaste for liberal politics.
“You are both highly intelligent people,” Puig said to Peeler and Kresl. “But we two here have street smarts.”
Puig is an immigrant from Brazil who lived in countries around the world before coming to America in the mid-1980s. Harper was raised in the mean streets of West Palm Beach, across the intracoastal waterway from one of the richest enclaves in America, Palm Beach.
“My mother was 16 when she had me,” he said. “I went to a rough school in a tough neighborhood, but I looked at Palm Beach and said, ‘Why can’t I be like that someday?’ And so I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps, without government help.”
What was for the most part a civil discussion on the merits of both liberal and conservative lifestyles and politics devolved toward the end of the forum into name calling, when Puig said she believed liberalism led to communism — at least in other countries — and she didn’t want to see that happen in America. Puig is strongly anti-Obama.
This resulted in one of the few moments when Peeler couldn’t restrain himself, resenting, he said, Puig comparing liberalism to communism.
Time and again, Puig not so subtly said that voting for Obama in November’s election would lead America down the path to mediocrity until we would eventually become a society much like Venezuela, with a ruler like Hugo Chavez.
Meanwhile, Harper maintained that liberals are racists because they stereotype the “underclass. The Nancy Pelosis of the world, they want to keep people down. That’s racism. And I stand by that statement.”
Harper made no excuses for his beliefs. “Take it or leave it,” he said. “I don’t care. That’s what I think.”
Puig and Harper were forceful speakers, strong advocates of their conservative world view, and at times overwhelmed the calm counter-arguments made by the two professors.
It was only toward the end of the forum, when both groups could comment on the other, that the two sides got emotional and got members of the crowd humming under their breaths.
When the forum ended, it left people wanting more.
“I could have stayed another hour or two,” said William Carson, who had driven from Selinsgrove to watch the two sides present their visions.
News
'Visions of America' forum draws 330
- News
-
-
60 hear ideas about rail trail extension
LEWISBURG — Now that the nine miles of the rail trail from Mifflinburg to East Buffalo Township is completed to the great satisfaction of area walkers and bike riders, officials of the Buffalo Valley Recreation Authority and a design team representative rolled out several options for the next phase of the project, the 1 1/2-mile trail through Lewisburg borough to the railroad bridge over the Susquehanna River.
-
Boy Scouts approve plan to accept openly gay boys
GRAPEVINE, Texas — The Boy Scouts of America's National Council has voted to ease a long-standing ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted as Scouts. Of the local Scout leaders voting at their annual meeting in Texas, more than 60 percent supported the proposal.
-
Parents sue Pittsburgh Zoo in boy’s mauling death
PITTSBURGH — The parents of a 2-year-old boy who was fatally mauled after falling into a wild African dogs exhibit last fall filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, claiming officials had ample warning that parents routinely lifted children onto a rail overlooking the exhibit so they could see better.
-
Obama defends drone strikes but says no cure-all
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Thursday defended America’s controversial drone attacks as legal, effective and a necessary linchpin in an evolving U.S. counterterrorism policy. But he acknowledged the targeted strikes are no “cure-all” and said he is haunted by the civilians unintentionally killed.
-
Report: Nation’s kids need to get more physical
WASHINGTON — Reading, writing, arithmetic — and PE?
The prestigious Institute of Medicine is recommending that schools provide opportunities for at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day for students and that PE become a core subject. -
Couple face charges in stabbings prompted by 'Idol' dispute
YORK — A couple face charges after police in York County say they stabbed each other during an argument over which contestant should win 'American Idol.'
-
Monroe Township sewing factory may get to rebuild
SELINSGROVE — The Monroe Township supervisors are working on a proposal that may allow EMS Surgical Equipment to rebuild its sewing factory, which was destroyed by fire in February on a nearby lot.
-
Danville to share information on new cyber program at June parent session
A parent information session for the Danville school district’s new cyber program will be held June 3 at 6 p.m. in the Danville High School cafeteria.
-
Governor says distribution center near Hazleton will bring jobs
HAZLETON — Gov. Tom Corbett says American Eagle Outfitters Inc. is planning a $160 million-plus distribution center near Hazleton that is projected to generate nearly 400 jobs.
-
House panel moves to curb military sexual assaults
WASHINGTON — Members of a House panel angry over sexual abuse problems in the military are set to vote on a bill that would strip commanding officers of their authority to unilaterally change or dismiss court-martial convictions — a change that lawmakers believe will lead to a cultural shift that encourages more victims to step forward.
-
Pennsylvania Constitution Center to display Bill of Rights
PHILADELPHIA — One of the 12 surviving copies of the Bill of Rights that may have been pilfered from Pennsylvania in the late 1800s will be on display in Philadelphia for three years, beginning with the 225th anniversary next year of the drafting of the country’s highest ideals.
-
Public info meeting on Rail Trail extension takes place tomorrow
LEWISBURG -- Rail Trail fans, listen up: An informational meeting on the proposed extension of the Buffalo Valley Rail Trail into Lewisburg borough takes place 7 p.m. tomorrow at the William Cameron Engine Co's. training facility at North Fifth Street and Buffalo Road.
-
Gas line break forces one-hour evacuation in Milton
MILTON — Residents in Milton were forced out of their homes for over an hour this morning after a contractor working on Carr Avenue hit a gas line, according to UGI.
-
Today's Top Videos
-
Lewisburg schools lockdown lifted within 20 minutes this morning
LEWISBURG - Schools in the Lewisburg Area School District were locked down briefly this morning due to "a potential threat," according to the district's alert system.
-
Long-time Beavertown mayor ousted by 14 votes
Political newcomer Lee Hollenbach Jr. defeated incumbent Mayor Cloyd “Bill” Wagner in Tuesday night’s Republican primary.
-
Dunkleberger wins Republican primary for prothonotary
Justin Dunkelberger defeated Jamie Saleski 2,744-2,124 in a hotly contested Republican primary election Tuesday night for Northumberland County prothonotary and clerk of courts.
-
Persing wins Republican nod for mayor
Incumbent Mayor David Persing, who fought off repeated allegations in recent months by challenger Julie Brosius, won the Republican nomination by a landslide in Tuesday’s primary election.
- More News Headlines
-
60 hear ideas about rail trail extension
