Real Kato Blog: The Worst Kind of Liberalism

The editors at the Harvard Crimson recently advocated a boycott of a fledgling dorm-room cleaning service. Why? Because not all students could afford to use it.

Dormaid is a dorm-room cleaning business started by sophomore Harvard student Michael Kopko. In an editorial a couple of days ago, Harvard's daily newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, advocated a campus-wide boycott of the service. The rationale given was that only wealthier students are able to afford clean dorm rooms, and thus, such a service creates a visible difference between rich and poor. Therefore, the service threatens the "egalitarian nature of dorm life".

My question is this: in what kind of fantasy world are these guys living? When I was in a dorm, there was no illusion of egalitarianism. Some kids had nice furniture; others (like me) had garage-sale rejects. Some kids had stereos; some just had boom-boxes. Some kids had computers in their rooms; others didn't. Some kids had cool clothes; others didn't. Sure, we all lived in the same kinds of rooms. But that didn't make us all the same. And certainly, the guys with clean rooms weren't seen as any better than the guys with dirty rooms; everyone just assumed they were gay.

The really rich kids didn't live in the dorms at all. They lived in fraternity houses or apartments.

The idea that the Crimson espouses boils down to this: if everyone can't have something, then no one should have it, because we don't want to have visible class differences... at least, when it comes to the dorms. To call a spade a spade: this is the essence of communism. This is the sort of social policy that gives liberals a bad name. We should promote egalitarianism by lifting up the oppressed classes, not by punishing all of society and dragging everyone down to the lowest common denominator.

I mean, what's next? Should everyone be issued uniforms? Should students also boycott jewelry stores and upscale restaurants? Should cars be banned from campus?

It scares me a little when I'm on the same side as Rush Limbaugh on any topic, but in this case, I have to support the free-market view. There's nothing about Dormaid that is elitist or discriminatory; it's a legitimate enterprise and we should leave it alone. Don't worry, I'm not becoming a Republican... but I'd like Republicans to know that not all liberals are communists, either.

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