dirty politics.

As some of you know, Sterling is the president of a club at UI called Young Americans for Liberty (YAL). He has been for 2 years now. I'm the secretary this year. We both really enjoy the club, probably mostly because we've become a close-knit group of friends with the majority of the members. We hold the occasional event, but we're not one of those groups that are protesting in campus every week or constantly actively trying to change the world or anything. It's basically just a group of like-minded people who get together to grow their knowledge on libertarianism (and the like) and hopefully enlighten others.

There was a Youth Leadership School in Moscow this weekend put on by the Leadership Institute . A higher-up in the national YAL told us our club would get $250 if we all went. Alright, deal. 8am-8pm yesterday, 8:30am-3pm today, sitting in a room, listening to lectures and such. It was incredibly informative and I learned a ton.

The most important thing I learned was that I never want to be involved in politics, besides having my own personal views and educating myself.

Politics are a dirty, dirty thing. You cannot work in politics if you have (and want to keep) morals. Everything is so dang sneaky. The primary goal in everything is to make your opponent look bad, in any possible way you can.

It's disgusting.

We were pretty much brainwashed with tactics of how to be sneaky and how to destroy the opposing campaigns. Phrases like "If it's a good idea, STEAL IT" were repeated (with an almost cult-ish vibe) constantly.

I'm incredibly ecstatic that it's over.

Yes, the Leadership Institute will teach you an insane amount of information. I learned very much. They know what they're talking about. I, however, am not so hip on learning how to be a spineless, sneaky, dirty politician.

Goodness.