On April 13th, the UCI College Republicans invited me to speak at their club.
It was uite a trip down memory lane for me.
I remembered most of what it took to navigate the campus.
There are so many more buildings at UCI, and still the enrollment challenges are daunting for new students.
I cannot believe who many years it had been, and yet I was so glad to speak with the UCI College GOP.
Here are the extended remarks I anticipated sharing with the young conservative charges:
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The First Amendment is under attack. You college Republicans
are in the center of that fight. We need to take back our universities. They
are centers for learning. They are centers for inquiry. They are designed to
allow for the clash of ideas, even if it is a vivid and sometimes volatile
clash. As a Republican, I have long sought for, fought for more liberty, more
opportunity. I am also pro-life, and I believe that the family, one man and one
woman, remains the most critical unit for our society.
I also think that we need a revival of respect for the
Supreme Governor of the world, as mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.
I recognize that these values are under attack, too.
But I also recognize today that the First Amendment is the
first line of defense—and offense.
But before I go on, let me speak a little about myself.
I am a blogger, writer, and commentator on topics both
timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal.
Born in Torrance, CA, the same year that Ronald Reagan was
elected President, Arthur Christopher Schaper, I have lived in California all
my life.
My political bent has always been conservative, protecting
life, carrying about family, but regarding the leanest government as best,
respecting the genius of the Constitution and the general wisdom of individuals
and private interests.
A libertarian on some issues, but liberal in the true sense of
the world, I learned a great deal about free markets, free enterprise, and free
people while earning Bachelors' Degrees at UC Irvine, followed by his few and
frustrating years a teacher in LA area schools.
When I came to UC Irvine, I was already a conservative, I
was already a Republican. Unlike many students, when I graduated in 2003, I was
more conservative. Sometimes, I had to ditch classes and do all the required
classwork for the grade.
One of the best pieces of advice I received, I got from one
of the most obnoxious and disrespectful faculty members on this campus: Raymond
Novaco. He was just awful, but the best advice he gave to his students: “If you
do not understanding, you can ask me questions. But better yet, go to the
stacks. Go to the library. Read some books. Think about it, then read some
more. Then think about it some more. That way, it will be knowledge that you
have acquired.
I followed his advice, right down to dropping his class at
the second week!
Originally I was a French major, and wanted to be a French
Teacher. I grew tired of the anti-Christian, anti-liberty messages from much of
French Literature, I eventually joined the school of Social Ecology. I studied
Psych and Social Behavior and Criminology.
I was always interested in politics, following the
Congressional races and the national contests. I was here when Ahh-nold started
floating a bid for governor.
I even connected with the College Republicans, and wrote for
a newspaper called “The Irvine Review”.
In a way, that’s when my writing career took off. I was even
on TV, over at the KDOC station on “The Hot Seat with Wally George.” I weighed
two-hundred fifty pounds, with more hair on my head.
After I graduated from UCI, I pursued a teaching credential
at Cal State Long Beach, focusing on history, but ready to teach English or
French. Oh La La.
Teaching was not as fun as learning. I liked my teachers,
but I did not like being a teacher. I worked in three difference schools. I
worked at one of the best charter schools in the region, and walked off the
job.
I was in the wrong business.
Then I started writing again.
My career writing took off in 2010, after Congress passed
and President Obama signed into law the dreaded Affordable Care Act. Outraged
at the insufferable arrogance of Washington DC, I began blogging. I really liked it.
There is something inside of me. I love to write and I love
to be published to be read.
In 2011, while still lingering in the education field as a
substitute, I began writing letters to the local and national press.
Then my editorials appeared in the Los Angeles
Jewish Observer and the Daily Breeze. In Rhode Island, his commentaries on the
local politics there (combined with the similar miasma of liberalism in
California) made him a well-known and sought-after columnist on the East Coast.
In 2012, after layoffs and terminations, I focused entirely
on politics .I joined the local Beach Cities Republicans, based in Torrance. At
the time, David Hadley was the President of the club.
I worked on the state assembly campaign as well as the
Congressional race. For the first time in recent memory, my Congressional seat
would have a totally new fight.
I ended up with Henry Waxman the Taxman. I began blogging
about him in a site called “Waxman Watch”. He found out about it, and shut me
down in an open forum in Redondo Beach.
I realized that you could really frighten politicians! I
liked doing it.
After that election, I focused on getting a fifty-state
strategy in place. I focused on New England, the most liberal region in the
country.
From Go Local Prov and Go Local Worcester to 990WBOB based
in Providence, I commented on the web and on the radio about the
politics of the day.
Finally, after much cajoling from his Southern
California conservative peers, I returned to writing for the South Bay and
focusing on California issues again.
Still working with the Beach Cities Republicans, I learned
that the former President, David Hadley, was going to run for state assembly.
He had worked very hard to assembly a strong endorsement and fundraising group,
the South Bay One Hundred.
This was 2013.
He later confided in me that if he could not find the right
candidate to compete for the seat, he would run. I didn’t think much of it.
Then he called me in 2013 and told me: “I cannot find anyone
to run. I am going to run.”
I was resistance, and dismissive until near the end. But he
would reach out to me, and I was full-bore to get him elected.
And he won!
The first Republican in 22 years in the South Bay-- and he is representing me!
And today, I hope to follow his example, as well as adding
my experience and knowledge to not just engage our base, but to enlarge our
numbers, and expand our influence.
Engage our base: there are lots of Republicans in the South
Bay—and throughout the state of California, who think that Republicans are on
the run instead of on the rise.
That is not true. We have stopped the supermajority.
Republicans of all ethnic backgrounds are wining local races, sometimes in the
most unlikely of places. Hawthorne, Lawndale, Alameda County. Republicans are
winning, we just are not hearing the story.
And we are not getting enough people involved.
Enlarging our numbers. One of the first things that I wanted
to do—was reach out to the college groups.
You have graciously welcomed me here to speak with you. It
is my hope—our necessity—that we take back the universities, that we put
pressure liberal groups and progressive administrators. They need to start
respecting all opinions, especially the right ones.
And when we start affecting the culture, we will expand our
influence. Students will no longer graduate in bondage to old ideas about
making the government more intrusive an the individual irrelevant.
Instead of a monologue of dissent and conformity, a dialogue
of freedom vs. slavery will emerge. Instead of being confined by the
imposition, we will define the narrative, and win the argument.
I hope to help make that happen this evening and furthermore
afterwards.
I look forward to working with you to end regressive anti-freedom on this
campus, and working with you for more victories, both at the local and the
state level.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Arthur Schaper
President, Beach Cities Republicans
UCI Alumnus, 2003
