"Every generation needs a new revolution now and then … a little Revolution now and then is a good thing; The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
Thomas Jefferson made this statement in a 1787 letter to William Steven Smith; and if followed every 20 years (generic length of a generation), we would be in our twelfth revolution at this time. A new Austin Community College organization, "The Twelfth Revolution; Political Science and History Club," has taken their name from this statement, and has started something new.
"This semester has been interesting," said Club President Cassie Hayes. "We're just trying to form the club. It's an outlet to discuss politics and history; a chance to get together and debate on what is going on in the world right now."
The first few meetings were taken up with creating the group's constitution, but they now have time to discuss issues that fall through the present cracks caused by the past. On April 2, the group met to watch the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to commemorate his life and add to his activism. During the viewing, the group paused the speeches to discuss their thoughts and the passionate ideals of Dr. King's words.
According to group members, they do not care if interested students lean right, lean left, or stand in the middle.
"One girl commented on us being more on the liberal side, but I wanted to get it out there that we are open to all ideas of the political spectrum. The more people, the better," said Hayes.
The club has begun to grow by word of mouth. And it seems to be traveling fast.
"We're going to run out of space at the rate we are growing," said sponsoring Associate Professor of Government Roy Casagranda.
Some of the students that have joined said that they are feeling the freedom of having a forum to speak about their political views. Aside from the opportunity for expression, Casagranda seemed to draw some interest himself, as many of his students wanted to hear more of what he had to say and personally add to it.
"We really enjoyed the professor's class," said Hayes. "We have an outlet with him to learn about politics and we wanted to have further discussions."
With heated discussions and blossoming ideas, the club is looking to get involved in more activism. Their plan is to start with Voter Rescue - a movement where people visit polls and randomly survey voters about who they voted for, and compare it with the computer results. Professor Casagranda elaborated on the idea behind it.
"'Hacking Democracy' is a documentary on flawed computer systems during the election, our objective is to find out if the computers were accurate," he said.
Group members said that now is as good of a time as any for students to join and speak their mind. The club meets every other Tuesday until the end of the semester at the Pinnacle campus, 7 p.m. on the 10th floor in the faculty conference room.
"We're getting together and talking about politics," said Hayes. "Where else can we do that? And where else can I get into a group of people and discuss all these different things but here?"
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