Students Get Political Lessons From the Pros

The college students in Martha Escutia’s Political Science 101 class in Huntington Park are an inquisitive bunch.

Why, Jose Quirate wants to know, is it illegal to park his car on his front yard? Why, wonders Marcos Ramos, does government procrastinate when battered women need help? Why is it, Danette Gomez complains, that when she asks her friend what political party she belongs to, the friend replies that the only party she’s acquainted with is the kind she’s invited to on weekends?

And why, others wanted to know, did it take East Los Angeles College officials so long to establish an extension center in the blue-collar, southeast corner of L.A.? “We have as much right to get educated as anybody,” one student said, “but even for me, East L.A. is too far away.”

Escutia, a Democratic assemblywoman from Bell who railed against Proposition 187, was clearly pleased as her charges asked question after question about the Constitution.

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The busy Escutia, who is expecting her first child next month, thought teaching a class at the community college’s new South East Center would be part of her campaign to empower and enlighten the next generation of Latino voters.

The weekly Thursday night class in Room 105, however, wasn’t a primer on how to defeat the new Republican majorities in Congress and in Sacramento, or to sabotage the upcoming ballot initiative on affirmative action.

It was a class about American political ideals. It was about James Madison and how to protect the rights of minorities when popular public sentiment might sweep them aside. It was about the system of checks and balances. It was about religious freedom. It was about the Articles of Confederation.

It also was about articulating a point of view you didn’t agree with.

In one exercise, half of the class was assigned to defend a woman’s right to an abortion. The other half was assigned to attack it. The experience was an eye-opening one.

“I couldn’t believe what the other side was saying. They were stupid because at one time, I did the same thing,” one anti-abortion student said. “Can you believe that?”

“Your side was all wrong,” countered one from the pro-abortion side of the classroom.

In another exercise, Quirate--who maintains his pursuit of happiness is being infringed by “plain dumb” parking laws--knew what to expect when former state Sen. Art Torres came to class. Quirate, aware Torres was a renowned speaker, became tongue-tied in a challenging give-and-take with the veteran lawmaker.

“I anticipated this kind of questions, but it isn’t the same when you don’t have very much experience on going head-to-head with a monumental figure like Sen. Torres,” Quirate admitted later. “I know that’s the way things get done up in Sacramento, so I guess I should have not gotten nervous.”

The man Republicans love to hate, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, came to Escutia’s class, and the students learned a lesson: Splendid oratory is one thing, but getting votes is something else again.

On the eve of the recall election against Paul Horcher--the former Republican who defied his party and voted for Brown to remain as Assembly Speaker--Brown said, “If the Lord is with Paul Horcher, he will win. If the Lord isn’t, he will lose. . . .”

The kids cheered his powers of persuasion. But when word of Horcher’s defeat reached them, more than one student noted, “Well, the Lord didn’t win that. You gotta work harder than that.”

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That practical side of politics, and that it could even affect Escutia’s students, was evident when she gave the final exam the other evening. First, she handed out voter registration cards, U.S. citizenship pamphlets and other material, underscoring that all the lessons of the class would be useless if they failed to join the political process.

Then came the exam and its weighted final question.

“Assume that in 1996, you defeated President Clinton and now you are the first Latino President,” the final question began. “You’re a Democrat (who was not supported by a majority of white voters, especially the elderly). . . . Describe your legislative agenda and discuss the best way to implement it into law. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of presidential power, focusing on the factors that the president can manipulate.”

Some variables were thrown in for the students to consider. Among them: Newt Gingrich and the Republicans control Congress; the budget deficit is $10 trillion; the Social Security program has gone bankrupt, and Russia has sold nuclear weapons to Cuba, which is now pointing missiles at U.S. cities. Also, there is a government war against the Zapatistas in Mexico, and immigration remains very high.

“Oh my God,” one student murmured. “Piece of cake,” another said.