As your Associated Students internal vice president, I’d like to share a few opinions with you.

“Jazz was foisted on black Americans by the same oligarchy which had run the U.S. slave trade, with the help of the … Paris-New York circuit of drug-taking avant-garde artists.”

Like that one? Here’s another.

“The Beatles had no genuine musical talent, but were a product shaped according to British Psychological Warfare Division (Tavistock) specifications, and promoted in Britain by agencies which are controlled by British intelligence.”

Harsh stuff, no? How about this?

“The first, and most important fact to be recognized concerning the Hitler regime, is that Adolf Hitler was put into power in Germany on orders from London. The documentation of this matter is abundant and conclusive.”

Obviously, I didn’t come up with this crap. Rather, this garbage was published in such pamphlets as “What happened to Integration,” “The Racist Roots of Jazz,” “Why Your Child Became A Drug Addict,” and “Humboldt versus Hitler” by one Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., perennial “Democratic” candidate for president. You may have bumped into his pamphlet-toting minions in the arbor. More likely, they’ve actively blocked your path, and when you told them to get out of your face, they told you to “step outside the infantile bubble of your reality.”

LaRouche’s group seems pretty enticing when taken at face value. They put up handwritten signs calling for the ousting of the satanic Dick Cheney, and they seem to know a heck of a lot about the world economy, trade deficits and the consequences of the rise of tyranny. Their movement seems to offer succor to the demoralized, liberal college student who wants to do anything he can to improve the state of our union. Unfortunately, the only thing you’ll get if you give these folks your phone number is a spot on the mailing list of one of the most notorious fascist cults in America. That’s right, I said cult.

This group is a cult. What’s more, it’s a dangerous cult. Once you get on their list, it’s almost impossible to get off. According to a 2001 article in the Pasadena City College Courier titled “LaRouche Exposed” – which has unfortunately been taken down from their website – they lure you into a meeting, try to get you to recruit your parents and friends and tell you that the ones that aren’t interested in joining are “blocked” and not worth your trouble. Once you’ve alienated yourself from your friends and family, they take you in, give you money to get yourself a place to live, and then you’re truly screwed. If you’re interested in learning more, I highly recommend a visit to http://www.publiceye.org/larouche/. This website has a large amount of additional information on Larouche, his criminal past – he was jailed in the ’80s for tax and mail fraud – and the history of his neo-fascist movement.

I’ll leave you with my personal favorite, “Who is pushing the world toward war? It is the forces behind the World Wildlife Fund, the Club of Rome, and the heritage of H.G. Wells and the evil Bertrand Russell.”

That one’s from “An Open Letter to President Brezhnev,” Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., Executive Intelligence Review, June 2, 1981. I look forward to the day when someone lowers the star spangled banner from the White House and replaces it with a picture of the World Wildlife Fund panda. Frankly, I’d prefer the panda to that chimp that lives there now.

Adam Graff is a senior biology major and A.S. internal vice president.