Your View: YAL not dedicated to libertarians

Matt Greenemeier wrote a piece last week attacking a student organization, the Young Americans for Liberty, for "blatantly lying," "using dishonesty" and "tricking people" while recruiting potential members on the concourse.

I'd like to address a few of his claims and hopefully fill in some gaping holes in his unfounded tirade.

Firstly, he never said how YAL was being dishonest. He said that YAL lied about being nonpartisan, but he never could quite pinpoint exactly which political party YAL supports. The reason he couldn't is because YAL in fact is unaffiliated, and this should be clear even from the short list of YAL's goals: they are anti-war, pro-free market, anti-Federal Reserve, pro-personal liberties, anti-drug war, and they generally distrust a government's ability to solve society's problems.

Now, tell me: would you categorize this set of beliefs as Republican, Democrat, or even under the Libertarian Party (which is somewhat wishy-washy on all of these points, especially on the Federal Reserve and waging war)? The answer, just as if YAL could vote as a single entity in public office elections, is unashamedly and honestly "none of the above."

Not to mention that YAL is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which means that for YAL to retain its tax-exempt status, it cannot endorse a political candidate for office nor can it give money to any political campaign.

Effective journalism demands honesty, and the first step toward honesty is getting the facts straight before reporting. YAL has admitted their biases (they're kind of in the business of doing just that), so where are Matt's?

Jonathan Newman

graduate student, economics