LaRouche Unfit for White House

Author: Jonathan Shapira '02

A political extremist, anti-Semite, Sept. 11 conspiracy theorist and convicted felon came to Middlebury College last Friday. His name is Lyndon LaRouche, and he also happens to be a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for president.

As an alumnus, I was shocked and disturbed when I visited the college's Web site last week and learned that LaRouche was scheduled to give a speech at Middlebury. According to the announcement, featured prominently on the front page of the site, LaRouche was being presented at Middlebury by the College Democrats.

Most people do not know very much about LaRouche, if they know anything about him at all. That is probably a good thing.

LaRouche is currently engaged in his eighth campaign for the presidency, and perhaps his persistence alone makes him worthy of an invitation to speak at Middlebury.

But in December 1988 LaRouche was convicted of conspiracy and mail fraud in his campaign's solicitation of $34 million in loans, and he was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. He managed his 1992 campaign from behind bars.

Last year, in a speech at the now-defunct Zayed Center in the United Arab Emirates, LaRouche claimed that "Jewish gangsters" and "Christian Zionists" control U.S. foreign policy and are responsible for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

According to LaRouche, however, it is not just Jewish gangsters and Christian Zionists who are plotting to do terrible things to the American people. In his pamphlet entitled "Why Your Child Became a Drug Addict," LaRouche warns, "The Beatles had no genuine musical talent, but were a product shaped according to British Psychological Warfare Division specifications."

I do not question Mr. LaRouche's right to free speech. The college has to function as a free marketplace of ideas, and every student organization should have the ability to provide a forum for whomever it chooses. But with that freedom comes certain responsibilities, and I do question the wisdom in inviting LaRouche to Middlebury in the first place.

I doubt that LaRouche's speech was very persuasive. Given Middlebury's increasingly high admissions standards, I also doubt that any Middlebury students will be dumb enough to actually vote for him.

In the future, I hope Middlebury organizations use better judgment about who they choose to bring to campus. Everyone has a right to speak, but as Lyndon LaRouche demonstrates, not everyone is worth listening to.