Battles’ attacks on Dahle, Republicans inaccurate

Pearn is a fifth-year political science student. He is a former
chairman of the Bruin Republicans.  

By Simon Perng
I could not help but notice the tone of frantic desperation in
Robert Battles’ submission (“Dahle’s
SURE-commitments questionable,” Viewpoint, April 29). Instead
of informing readers of the limited virtues of Student Empowerment!
candidates, he attempted to slander USAC presidential candidate
David Dahle by linking him and the SURE slate to everybody from the
Bruin Republicans to David Horowitz to the Easter bunny.

I am disgusted with Battles’ repugnant attitude that since
campus Republicans and conservatives suppress campus dialogue
(which is a shameless lie), they are illegitimate and irrelevant to
the diversity of dialogue on campus. Nothing could be further from
the truth.

Today, campus conservatives and Republicans inherit the fight
for free speech, whereas ultra-leftist radicals like Battles are
now firmly ensconced in the faculty, student governments and campus
institutions, thwarting conservatism’s voice at every
turn.

Republicans and conservatives cannot and will not suppress
diversity of viewpoints on campus; they actively contribute to it
and wish others would do the same. Every voice from Daniel Rego and
Maclane Key to Andrew Jones and Benjamin Shapiro serves to give
greater scrutiny to the fallibility of leftist viewpoints ““
nothing more, and nothing less.

I also resent Battles’ suggestion that the Bruin
Republicans “actively attempt to silence voices of students
of color.” Our group espouses beliefs that are time-tested to
benefit everyone in society, not just targeted ethnic groups.
There’s nothing racist about saying that we should have a
limited government that doesn’t tax working families
excessively, or that we need education reform at the bottom instead
of racial preferences at the top to ensure that all children can
compete in our dynamic society.

The only thing scaring people from contemplating our values is
the racial venom which Battles and other victi-crat demagogues spew
into their minds every day. Hence, if there’s anyone stifling
the choices and the voices of students of color, it is people like
Battles.

Furthermore, I wish Robert Battles had actually attended the
“Rally for America featuring David Horowitz and Dinesh
D’Souza,” because his views about it certainly were not
the message of the event. Battles resorted to his victi-crat
mentality when he erroneously concluded that “being against
slave reparations” equates to “being racist.”
Battles also misinformed Viewpoint readers when he claimed that
Horowitz talked about “the benefits of slavery.”
Horowitz not only condemned the abolished slavery in America but
the ongoing slavery in some Saharan African states. Battles also
probably forgot that Horowitz only defended the values of
America’s founding fathers that made America great, such as
limited government, free speech and free enterprise.

While our group was never affiliated with Dahle or the SURE
slate in any capacity, we refuse to be used as fodder for
Battles’ cheap shot partisan attacks. We should not have
to justify our right to espouse our viewpoints to anyone.
Nonetheless, it is ironic that Battles’ intolerance of
Republicans is an analogy to Student Empowerment!’s
intolerance of other non-Empowerment! affiliated students, and that
student voters chose to reject this intolerance in the
elections.