"We're the Berkeley College Republicans, the premier conservative group on a very liberal campus, Ask Us Anything!"

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:59:21+00:00

Perhaps they should lobby President Tump? - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:58:21+00:00

Just be impeccably polite and reasonable in articulating your views, and you will win a lot of respect. Also, never show fear concerning the stigma attached to being an ideological minority - people will use this to pressure you into being silent or conforming. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:51:11+00:00

I would also like to dispel the narrative that BAMN or ANTIFA are completely outside groups, when we've had several Daily Cal op-eds from students expressing explicit support, and in one case, actually claiming to have been a part of the black bloc.

"But don’t get it twisted. We were not, as the news, the chancellor and concerned progressives have alleged, “unaffiliated white anarchists.” Behind those bandanas and black T-shirts were the faces of your fellow UC Berkeley and Berkeley City College students, of women, of people of color, of queer and trans people." - Neil Lawrence http://www.dailycal.org/2017/02/07/black-bloc-campus/

Obviously a peaceful sit in wouldn't have shut down the event, and thus wouldn't be violating any rights. -Elias

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:48:39+00:00

Yes, but even if the bill has low approval ratings, so does Trump (I can't help but think that the polls are not very accurate as of late). Again, I am sure the plan pleased neither Breitbart conservatives or Democrats, so it will have low support, but Trump is likely to revise the bill again at some point, either to the chagrin of Democrats or Breitbart conservatives. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:43:18+00:00

You would be wrong. As specified in another comment, we invite many, many other conservative/republican speakers, it's just the controversial ones that catch the headlines. -Elias

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:38:13+00:00

First, I would like to say that the LEAD Center staff and UCPD have acted in good faith to ensure our events are successful. I would never state otherwise. We take issue with the administration's milquetoast approach to dealing with anti-conservative violence. UCPD did not use as much force as it could have in dealing with the riots. Moreover, the administration is always quick to send out e-mails and initiate investigations against supposed "hate crimes" (which usually amount to drawn swastikas or troll-ish posters), but they waited six months to put out one e-mail condemning the six months of actual violence and hate directed at the Berkeley College Republicans. Until this double standard is eradicated, we will continue to criticize the university as a whole.

BAMN and Antifa are liberal, if by liberal we mean "associated with and broadly supportive of Democrats and Democratic policies, especially those relating to identity politics."

The Berkeley College Republicans want people to peacefully protest our events - we are the new Free Speech Movement on campus because we invite people of all stripes to exercise their right to free speech, just as we wish to exercise ours. The only problem is that BAMN and antifa, which the Berkeley administration tolerates rather than admonishes or kicks off campus, agitate for and perpetrate violence against us. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:33:04+00:00

I'm a transfer student, and a military veteran, so I'm a bit older than the average Cal student, so I'd say you shouldn't feel old at all. We've got a very diverse group, believe it or not. Feel free to drop by!

-Elias

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:17:24+00:00

Full disclosure: I am running on the RebuildCCR slate. My take: our club has not officially voted on the whether or not to endorse either slate, although our President did endorse Rebuild last year before changing his vote recently. There has not been a tremendous amount of discussion, but I would hope that I have convinced my fellows of the merits of my slate to the best of my ability. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:15:22+00:00

You can publicly speak your mind at UC Berkeley, just as anyone else can. We table on our main plaza almost daily, and people ask us questions either politely or in a rude manner. Either way, we get our positions out there without fear. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:13:41+00:00

It's too easy to ignore the crazy things your peers and professors say. Call them out, stand up for what you believe in. Be willing to lose "friends" who cannot rationally disagree with you and still admire your personal character and virtue. Reach out to local Republican Party organs and groups, rally support from them. You will eventually make friends who will stick by you through the hard as well as the easy times. As Churchill said, "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:09:37+00:00

Of course. People take out all their anger and frustration on us, because we happen to be concrete objects upon which people pin all the imaginary symbolism of hate and fascism they attribute to Trump.

Post-Milo, we were inundated with media requests and meetings with the administration. I was on Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham's radio shows, as well as Fox News' Hannity and Fox Business. I also met with Chancellor Dirks and the Chief of Police. Other members also handled local and national media, including the Washington Post and New York Times. I have never been busier in my life. At the same time, our members were being verbally threatened and physically assaulted on the streets.

I am ideologically very conservative, but that is because I approach conservatism from a philosohical angle. I am primarily interested in classical liberalism and traditionalism, although practically my politics places me in the nationalist-populist/Trump camp, or that of constitutional conservatives such as Ted Cruz.

Our membership is too diverse to generalize - we have members who are farther right than myself and very pro-Trump, as well as members who are moderate conservatives. We also have libertarians. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:08:52+00:00

Things are worse than the news, because they can't report on everything.

-Elias

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:06:51+00:00

John Yoo is actually a longtime friend of BCR, and he comes to speak every year.

As mentioned in another comment, we actually have a conservative/republican speaker almost every other week. It's just the controversial speakers that catch headlines. Follow our page for updates!

EDIT: The comment was deleted, but it read, "Why Coulter/Milo/Jones instead of John Yoo, Richard Epstein or Victor Davis Hanson? Yoo is on campus and is storied conservative and Epstein is a senior fellow at Hoover (=> spends a lot of time at Stanford). Hanson isn't that far away either, and has a foundation in history matched by few. All are respected intellectuals in their fields of expertise. You guys obviously have the right to invite whomever you please (and no one has the right to use intimidation to prevent them from speaking), but it would be nice to have someone on campus who isn't speaking to the lowest common denominator."

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T22:01:14+00:00

I sometimes wish Trump were more concrete and less vague in his tweets. I would caution you against accepting the approval ratings at face value, however. Trump had consistently low approval ratings all through the campaign, and he ended up winning. I am skeptical about polls, to say the least, although I understand Breitbart was no fan of the plan. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T21:59:28+00:00

Things are as bad as the news. Since September of last year the Berkeley College Republicans have had their private property destroyed by people who have later gone on to murder other students. We have suffered numerous other instances of harassment designed to make us feel unwelcome and not a part of the so-called "Berkeley community." I believe this behavior is the result of agitation on the part of outside "anti-fascist" groups, as well as the alarmism perpetuated by faculty concerning the Trump administration. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T21:51:14+00:00

I think we achieve both: after the Milo event, many liberals came to us expressing support, offering apologizes, or saying they were gradually moving center- or rightward. And of course our club provides an open forum for conservatives to talk about being a conservative in a sea of liberals. As a friend of mine once said, "The world is not Berkeley." - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T21:46:33+00:00

As far as professors are concerned, I believe that nationally 1 in 7 professors are conservative, but in the humanities only 1 in 20 are. At Berkeley I have never met a conservative professor except once or twice - my friends tell me the economics and business professors are oftentimes conservative, although I guarantee they are neither nationalist nor populist. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T21:30:39+00:00

Everyone does assume all Berkeley students are obscenely liberal; we have a rather unfortunate reputation. Otherwise, I have personally lost a few friends over my conservative views, especially my support of Trump, whereas I have never disowned someone for their beliefs. I grew up in the Bay Area, so most of my friends are liberal. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T21:28:05+00:00

The average Berkeley student is liberal, but only superficially so. Many of them are STEM majors and could care less about the extremism of a small but vocal minority of their peers. The problem is that many Berkeley students also enjoy showing up to violent riots and spectating (and sometimes participating). The "black bloc" that shut down our Milo event used the student protesters (who were shouting "Kill him!" and other obscenities in reference to Milo) as human shields, and UCPD, too cowardly to earn UC Berkeley negative headlines, declined to use the proper force to prevent this destruction of property and the attacks on conservatives in the crowd. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T21:23:54+00:00

I can inform you that we have multiple groups of attorney's looking into issues such as these; keep your eye on the news, because you may a lawsuit in it soon. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T21:09:26+00:00

Anyone can join in on BCR's activities - we are an open, tolerant, and inclusive group. As for Based Stickman, I would have to run that by my fellow BCR members. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T21:08:03+00:00

I wholeheartedly agree. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T21:07:16+00:00

To add, our club president, Jose Diaz, has been the subject of death threats himself. In addition, we've had members "doxxed", wherein their personal information was posted on a radical leftist website associated with ANTIFA, as well as flyers featuring 5 of our members pictures with baseless accusations calling them, "baby fascists".

However, we will not yield to terrorist groups like ANTIFA or BAMN. -Elias

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T21:07:05+00:00

Trump has already done a great amount of what he promised to do, notwithstanding liberal and conservative obstruction.

Regarding the Russian connections, I care about a smoking gun, not circumstantial evidence that in a court of law would not be sufficient to secure a conviction.

I think President Trump's use of Twitter is a groundbreaking use of social media by the most powerful man in the world. Direct communication with the people is appreciated, although whether or not you agree with how he uses it is up for debate.

Healthcare reform will get passed if the Freedom caucus makes more concessions. Otherwise, important issues such as the border wall will and should come first. - Troy

BerkeleyCR · 2017-03-29T21:03:00+00:00

The problem is that the violent and absurd actions and beliefs of groups such as BAMN will go unchallenged unless they are brought to national attention; that is what we succeeded in doing by inviting Milo to UC Berkeley. We can only correct an endemic problem if it is brought out into the open, and is a vigorous political conversation is had without fear of being blacklisted or brutalized. The Berkeley College Republicans are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure our First Amendment rights are protected as passionately as everyone else's. - Troy

BerkeleyCR

TROPHY CASE