Fall 2010 Montage:

From Angelica Malik:

Road Trip to San Francisco

Before the school year began, our UCSD Young Americans for Liberty chapter had already planned an event that piqued the interest of many group members. That was a trip to San Francisco to volunteer for John Dennis’ End the War Rally, which included Ron Paul as a key speaker. We organized a car pool from the Los Angeles area to San Francisco and secured lodging for everyone who wanted to attend.
The rally took part on Saturday, September 4th in front of the city hall in San Francisco. We met and talked to students from other YAL chapters from all over California as well as people from other liberty organizations. Our group also had the pleasure of meeting Ron Paul before the event started. The crowd was an impressive size, filled with people of all ages and demographics. One woman we spoke to had driven all the way from Vancouver, Washington.

John Dennis and Ron Paul gave energetic and educational speeches each with an over arching theme of why ending the war was so important. After the rally, the crowd was invited back to the John Dennis campaign headquarters for a reception where everyone spent the rest of the evening eating and mingling.

End the War

On the eve of the anniversary of the Afghan war a group of UCSD Students who had stayed after the weekly Young Americans for Liberty spontaneously decided to remind the school that October 7th was not just any other day of the year. The group took chalk and ventured out around campus to write quotes everywhere in order to raise awareness of the seldom spoken war in Afghanistan. It was nearly midnight when they finished chalking.

The next morning the students of UCSD awoke to chalk slogans that read things like “end the Afghan war” and “war is a racket” along the busiest walkways on campus. Ironically, October 7th happened to be a planned protest day against university fee hikes, so as some students marched to protest paying more for an education, they were reminded that people were still dying in Afghanistan 9 years later.

Judge Jim Gray

On October 12th, our UCSD YAL chapter had the pleasure of hosting California Superior Court Judge, James P. Gray on our campus to discuss the importance of passing prop 19 and ending the drug war. We seized an opportunity with perfect timing before the election to garner support for Proposition 19, which was a measure on the California ballot that sought to legalize marijuana.

This event had a fantastic turnout, and the room was filled almost to capacity with people eager to hear Judge Gray’s argument for legalization. It also brought people in who were familiar with our club as well as people who did not know about us but were familiar with proposition 19. This was also an opportunity for UCSD Young Americans for Liberty to work in conjunction with another club on campus, Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, with whom we co-sponsored the event.

Judge Gray gave a fascinating and important talk about why it was important to pass prop 19 and end prohibition. He spoke about how legalization would damage drug cartels, who receive most of their funding through marijuana sales. And, how this prop could have a domino effect through other states, hopefully ending prohibition once and for all. He also touched on misconceptions and key issues concerning legalization as well as the problems with prohibition and framed the issue within the context of his experience as a member of the judiciary.

The question and answer period was fascinating and thought provoking as the judge engaged with the audience and answered many tough questions. Judge Gray answered each question with the nuanced expertise of someone who thoroughly knew firsthand the consequences of prohibition and through his talk was able to illustrate why his advocacy was warranted.