Two Bruins attend gala at Capitol
Clinton, Gore speak about future of the Democratic Party
By Rashmi Nijagal
Two Bruins flew to the nation’s Capitol to attend a gala Tuesday
night, where they had the opportunity to hear President Clinton and
Vice President Gore speak about the future of the Democratic Party.
The UCLA students represented the Bruin Democratic Leadership
Council (DLC) at the event, which marked the 10th anniversary of
the national DLC organization.
The national organization was formed in 1984 by Democratic
leaders, including President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore,
with the purpose of representing moderate America.
"The Democratic party was losing touch with America; it was
moving too far to the left," said Murshed Zaheed, president and the
founder of the campus chapter, who attended the organization’s
forum and gala along with Bruin chapter co-chair, Metta
Grokenberger. "The DLC was created in order to pull the Democratics
toward the center."
The national organization works to define and promote a public
policy that is based on "mainstream values" and "non-bureaucratic
approaches to governing," according to the national
organization.
At Tuesday night’s gala, Clinton stressed in his speech that one
reason for the overwhelming Democratic losses in the Nov. 7
elections was that Americans were disgruntled because they believe
the Clinton Administration is focusing too much on special
interests, and not developing the nation’s economy and social
programs with broader interests in mind.
"The DLC is trying to make a home for people disgruntled with
both the Republican and Democratic parties," said Bruin chapter
Co-chair Jean-Cristoph Curelop. "The DLC is a moderate organization
that is still a part of the Democratic party, but we are not as
liberal. For example, most Democrats are absolutely opposed to
welfare reform, while the DLC does agree that some welfare reform
is needed," he added.
The Bruin chapter, like the national organization, is focusing
on students who have moderate political views, as opposed to being
on the far left or right. The Bruin chapter will be helping the
Bruin Democrats in its activities and in addition, will be focusing
on forming public policy.
"Our short term goal is to get people to come to the meetings
and discuss public policy," Curelop said. "We want to give people
the voice. There is a great deal of anger right now because there
is no answer to these problems."
Eventually, the goal of the Bruin chapter is to establish a
public policy class for undergraduates.
"We want people from both parties to join," Zaheed said. "The
DLC is a non-partisan organization. In a time like this, there has
never been a greater time to work with each other."