When Principles Are Compromised

For all the non-UCLA student readers, I apologize for all the UCLA-specific stuff; these are crazy election times and well, I gotta do what I gotta do.

Anyway, the subject of this rant is "When Principles Are Compromised." Whose principles? Well, none other than the Bruin Democrats. The Bruin Democrats are probably the biggest hypocrites at UCLA, and I would argue are a bigger threat to progressive work on this campus than all the Bruin Republicans and racist bigots combined.

Their website would make you think that they support progressive issues. They want "Stability in Iraq." Check. They want to prioritize "Public Education." Check. "True protection of the Environment." Check. Support "Gay Marriage." Check. Progressive platform accomplished.

Yet for all their talk, what have the Bruin Democrats done? If they prioritized "Public Education", why haven't they lobbied the UC Regents or the State Senate about rising fees? If they wanted to support "Gay Marriage", why haven't they contacted Queer Alliance or passed out petitions for marriage equality? If they cared so much about the environment, why didn't they tag team with the Sustainability Coalition?

Instead of all those things that they could have done, what actions did they feel better pushed their platform? They decide to tag team with the Bruin Republicans and support Bruins United. That's right folks; the same Bruin Republicans who held an affirmative action bake sale to ridicule efforts to increase the numbers of minority youth at the university. The same Bruin Republicans who launched a campaign to de-sponsor MEChA because they felt MEChA, a champion in organizing the Chican@ youth in education, was a racist organization. The same Bruin Republicans who had a chair, while the 2002 USAC election results were announced, yelled at the students of color "hate me because I hate you!" That's right folks, they together support, Bruins United, the slate that opposes both the progressive students of color slate (Students Power!) and the environmental slate (Future Front).

But why would the Bruin Democrats do such a thing. For one reason and one reason only. Money. When it all comes down to it, the primary push for the Bruin Democrats is so they can get a bigger slice of student fees, which they believe are unfairly distributed to cultural organizations, like Samahang Pilipino.

Now I'm not arguing the critique of the process of funding student organizations, but if that's what the Bruin Democrats really care about, then the future of the Democratic Party is in really, really awful hands. And you wonder why the Democratic Party is quickly degrading into "irrelevant third party" status? Just look at the Bruin Democrats, and you'll find your answer