July 4, 2020
Thoughts about Liberal Democracy on America’s Birthday, by Victor Menaldo
A Political Economy Forum Fellow and graduate student at UW, Kai Ping (Brian) Leung, spoke to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday about his experience as a pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong. The purpose of the hearing was to discuss Beijing’s recent arrogation of the rights of the territory’s citizens: China’s new National Security Law, which is slated to severely restrict the ability of Hong Kongers to speak freely, organize, and fight for democracy. Brian, who participated in the 2014 Umbrella Protests and, again, in the protests against China’s extradition law last summer, reminds me how fortunate I truly am: I have the ability to express whatever thought I have, pursue whatever question strikes my fancy by exercising academic freedom, and engage in endless debate, criticism, and dissent.
Brian is someone who I truly admire, and who reminds me that, whatever this country’s flaws and problems—do I really need to state them?—I should be truly grateful for the rights and opportunities it affords its citizens and residents (not to everybody equally, of course, not yet at least, but more on that below.) I won’t speak for everybody, but in my case at least I am writing this blog post without fear from the comfort of my home, as I hear my children play and laugh merrily in the background, and have what is perhaps the best job in the world: a professor in the world’s best higher education system. That is obviously not to say that this is true of everybody in this country and that there is not much progress to be made still. Obviously, there is, but just the fact that we acknowledge this and dedicate so much time, thought and speech, money, and countless institutions to that endeavor speaks volumes. Living up to America’s ideals—freedom, equality, and opportunity—is the endless struggle we have chosen for ourselves, and something that few people in other countries pursue as consciously and doggedly as us. It’s our national religion. Endless Twitter feeds, college classrooms, protests, and this venue, the Political Economy Forum, are all living, breathing proof of this.
Another person in Brian’s category is my father: he was a dark, dirt poor immigrant who did not speak a lick of English when he came to the United States. Having arrived in 1974, at 17 years old, to have surgery after being shot in the eye, he then stayed in the United States to seek a better life: he learned English by watching Sesame Street on T.V. and worked his way through college, with stints in factories and cleaning houses and office buildings, and was lucky enough (!) to meet my mother, herself the daughter of immigrants and a secretary working for the New York courts in Long Island. My parents later returned us to Latin America, first Venezuela and then Mexico, and while growing up there I witnessed corruption, brutality, abuse, dictatorship, and poverty.
With few economic opportunities south of the border, I followed in my dad’s footsteps, returning to the U.S. and also working my way through college (alas, I spent the second semester of my senior working at a non-profit hundreds of miles away from campus, in another state; while grateful for that opportunity, I did miss my share of parting revelries!). I had no choice but to do the pay-as-you-study approach while pursuing a master’s degree, working the strangest jobs (including as a journalist for a Spanish language newspaper in San Diego, which really cemented my profound reverence for the First Amendment), before having the good fortune of getting into a (fully paid for!) doctoral program in political science at Stanford in 2003. I have never looked back since, and thank the teachers and mentors who made my journey possible. This venue is one small way in which I try to honor them.
There are countless other stories like Brian’s and my dad’s. Please feel free to share them and your own thoughts on the country’s birthday.
