Evaluation of American Identity ‘free-for-all’

Evaluation of American Identity ‘free-for-all’

By J.D. Whitlock

Just got home from "The American Identity" free-for-all. Better
get this all down before I return to my normal state of
consciousness.

1. Lavish Praise Department:

Kudos to the Daily Bruin and the Office of Student Affairs for
organizing/sponsoring such an event. At my undergraduate
institution of higher learning, you couldn’t get students to attend
functions like this if you passed out $5 bills at the door.

It is great to see the Daily Bruin taking the media’s
responsibility of meaningful interaction with their constituent
community seriously. As Warren Olney, the moderator, put it,
perhaps the Los Angeles Times can take a few pointers from the
Daily Bruin.

2. Constructive Criticism Department:

Next time, how about a panel with some semblance ­ an
appearance at least ­ of balance? One lawyer, four Marxists
and a Nazi. For those few of you who weren’t there and read
Viewpoint, let’s just say that the lawyer was outnumbered and
didn’t say much.

There were political light years between David Horowitz, the
token goose-stepper, and everyone else on the panel. I guess there
must have been some convention in Las Vegas for all the UCLA
professors and community activists in the median 90 percent of the
American political landscape. Why else wasn’t this perspective
represented?

3. Whine Department:

I found the extent to which Constitution-bashing has become a
part of the pledge of allegiance to the PC republic truly scary. On
several occasions, statements from the panel and students
implicitly suggesting radical changes to our theory of government
were met with enthusiastic applause.

Apparently the fuzzy logic goes something like this: American
society has never lived up to the equality promised in the
Constitution. Those bad white men who established our system of
government and wrote the Constitution must be responsible, darn it.
Let’s reconsider the whole kit and caboodle. We can do better.

Reality check: Racism and sexism in our society and all the
resultant injustices that fracture the "American Identity" are a
function of the racism and sexism in our society. They are not some
by-product of our Constitution.

The Constitution establishes governmental structure and the Bill
of Rights limits governmental power. To question the fundamental
building blocks of our democratic government is to question your
freedom to stand up and speak your mind in a gathering like the
town hall meeting Wednesday night.

How can you be smart enough to get into UCLA and not understand
this? Good Lord, how can you be smart enough to earn a Ph.D., smart
enough to teach at UCLA, and not understand this?

Thirty years after the Civil Rights Act, does a legal
infrastructure still exist that breeds inequality in our society?
Certainly. One need look no further than the funding policies of
our public school system. Is this a "structure of government"
problem? No. It’s a set of bad laws. Bad laws can go away. How?

Continue to hold town hall meetings ­ OK, a whole lot of
them ­ and educate enough people to create a politically
powerful voice and make a difference. Advocating change outside of
this system shouldn’t be taken lightly.

4. Silver Lining Department:

At the town hall meeting, Professor Chris Mott of the English
department summed up what the evening was supposed to have been
about. He said our goal should be to define what we want our
American Identity to become and then take what is needed from each
element of society according to their respective strengths to build
it.

Must be that he didn’t get the invite to Vegas.

Whitlock is a graduate student of public health.