In Brief

I wish to express my embarrassment that Princeton University is providing a podium from which a self-proclaimed communist, Van Jones, can pour his “destroy America because it is evil” message into malleable young minds (Notebook, March 17). Unfortunately, most of them have never been taught enough American history to see through the propaganda. They have never been told about the protections from big government that the writers of the Constitution painstakingly built into the document, and the reasons for them.

Two generations of students have not been taught what the founders understood about government and human nature. First of all, that government is the natural enemy of the people and that it must be kept under restraint. Second, you cannot trust people with great power; only the law can be relied upon. Third, that the source of America’s power is the opportunity for a law-abiding citizen to prosper or fail without government interference. This is enshrined in our unique Bill of Rights and has lured the best and brightest from all over the world to come to our shores and become Americans

We are watching the systematic destruction of our liberty and the free enterprise system, on which it depends. This is a proven path to totalitarianism. Labels are meaningless. Whether you call it liberal, progressive, socialist, communist, fascist, Nazi, or any other convenient designation, the end result is the same.

The tools include control of education and the press, forcing people into dependency, creating economic chaos, debauching the currency, setting groups against each other and encouraging class warfare, concentration of government power, lies, propaganda, intimidation, and, finally, installing judges who will declare it all legal. After Marxism fails, as it always has, and living standards are lowered dramatically, most of the people become willing to accept a strong leader to clean up the mess, and to surrender any remaining freedom in the process.

This was successfully used by Lenin and Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Mao, Castro, and now Chavez in Venezuela. We must not allow our imperial president and his tame Congress to follow in their footsteps. Now we are only one Supreme Court justice and one congressional election away from losing all that has worked so well for over 200 years.

I do not consider this faculty appointment to represent “Princeton in the nation’s service.”

I am appalled at the decision by Princeton to assign a position at the University to such a polarizing figure as Van Jones (Notebook, March 17). This man was removed from his “czar” position in the Obama administration because of his radical political agenda. Jones is an avowed Communist, with designs on destroying the freedoms and constitution of this country. In addition, Jones has been very outspoken – as evidenced by video recordings seen on national television – against the whites of this nation.  Racial hatred has no place at Princeton, or anywhere in this country for that matter.

How can Princeton think it wise, in perilous financial times as these, to hire a person who very possibly will turn a sizable number of alumni away from making a large donation to Annual Giving? As someone who made calls to my classmates for the big 50th class Annual Giving effort, I know personally of some who refused my request for contributions because Professor Pete Singer is still on the faculty. I intend to let my wallet speak to this issue.

If Princeton does not reverse what I feel is a very unwise hiring decision, I would hope the University monitors closely what kind of material Jones presents to students. A “visiting” professorship is a testing ground for Van Jones. Let it be only that, a test.

He urged a probe into the Bush ­administration’s complicity in 9/11. He slurred congressional Republicans with a crude anatomical epithet. The resulting flap forced him to resign as adviser to President Obama. So ­Princeton names him a “distinguished visiting fellow” teaching environmental politics?

Anyone wanting evidence that Van Jones will twist facts to push his agenda need only peruse his book, The Green Collar Economy. It argues that, in the grip of a “military-petroleum complex,” we’ve become “a vulture society” burning “our ancestors’ remains” for fuel. Only a “Green New Deal” to “completely overhaul” the economy will avert “eco-apocalypse.”

Read no further than the introduction, titled “Reality Check,” to discover the hoax behind this hyperventilated prose. To back up his claim that “oil companies are not finding any more oil fields,” Jones footnotes an article in The Wall Street Journal. Consult the article and you’ll find it says the opposite: “Big strikes are still possible. This month [November 2007], Petrobras announced a deep-water find off Brazil’s Atlantic coast that appears to be the largest discovery since [2000].”

The next footnote is supposed to support Jones’ view that “some experts” fear oil supplies have “already peaked and are heading for a permanent worldwide decline.” The “experts” Jones digs up, from an obscure German advocacy group, reported that “the peak of world oil production was in 2006.” That’s already proved wrong.

And so it goes, fact after putative fact. Should students have to subject Jones’ every word to a “reality check”?

It’s interesting to note what wasn’t said in the March 17 In Brief item on Van Jones. It says he is to become a visiting fellow and is called “an environmental activist.” It wasn’t mentioned that he also has been identified as a Marxist, Leninist, Maoist, Communist, anti-capitalist, and leader of STORM, an advocate of freeing the police officer murderer, Mumia Abu-Jamal. He has never denied any of these appellations. I wonder why they were not mentioned.

PAW notes that Van Jones has been hired as a visiting fellow in the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy (Notebook, March 17). I do not appreciate my alma mater serving as a haven for Communist agitators, and he certainly has no qualifications re a Program in Science, Technology or Environmental Quality.

I was shocked to see Van Jones was hired as a visiting fellow (Notebook, March 17). He was not fired from the Obama administration merely because of his political activities, but mainly because he told a bald-faced lie about 9-11. He said the Bush administration had planned it so they could go to war. Technically he resigned, but apparently was asked to leave because he was an embarrassment to the Obama administration. What are his academic credentials? Does he have an advanced degree?

Also, Professor Cornel West *80 was a dubious hire. He was eased out of Harvard because he had not published any sound academic articles in years, and was cutting his classes to campaign for Al Sharpton.

But most important of all, Princeton is doing a disservice to the students in the African-American studies program. They deserve top-notch black professors, not these two.

PAW reported (Notebook, March 17) that Van Jones had resigned [his White House position]. He resigned under pressure of the Congress for radical ideas on the environment. President Obama was pushed into agreement.

Now that he needs an audience, Princeton gives him the credibility of our University. What is the point? Do we take on someone who has failed his country so that one can radicalize part of our student body? He titles his course “Green Economics for the Disadvantaged.” We have given him the platform for his controversial ideas and not for an education!