Presidential Hopeful Attacks Parties

For Democratic presidential candidate Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., last week's New Hampshire primary was only the beginning of what he hopes will be a nationwide movement to reform American society.

In a conference call with college reporters from across the nation yesterday afternoon, LaRouche, whose campaign has been little noticed, attacked the "political machines" that are pushing Al Gore '69 and George W. Bush to what he called the inevitable nominations of their parties. LaRouche defended his personal record and called for college students to "turn this nation around."

He emphasized that improved education of children and the vigor of youth would be the forces to bring change to the country.

"It's up to you," LaRouche said. "You've got the energy and youth."

LaRouche, who's in his seventh presidential campaign, encourages senior citizens to work with these students, in an effort to combine energy and wisdom.

"You have the ability to be the catalyst to bring together different groups of people," he told the student reporters. "That's the only chance this nation has."

LaRouche said the United States should ensure that all high school graduates have the same standard of education and engage in "cognitive learning"--where they discover ideas on their own--rather than simply regurgitating facts.

He said the government needs to reach out to the many "lost souls out there."

"Once they get turned on to knowledge, it doesn't quit," LaRouche said.

In the conference call, entitled "LaRouche in Dialogue with America's Campuses" and moderated by LaRouche National Spokesperson Deborah Freeman, the candidate spoke for nearly 100 minutes on a wide variety of issues. The call was simultaneously broadcast on the Internet.

LaRouche said the top 20 percent of Americans dominate the presidential campaigns.

"[Both parties] have greatly ignored the lower 80 percent of lower-income family brackets and their problems," he said.

LaRouche said the "only hope" is an appeal to the "Forgotten Man and Woman"--blacks, Latinos, women, labor and the bottom 80 percent of society--alluding to the "Forgotten Man" appeal of Franklin D. Roosevelt '04 in 1932.

"Bring the people back into the system," he said, adding that a minority of the Democratic National Committee controls the party apparatus.

"Let's get these bureaucrats cleared out of there," he said. "Let's take politics back."

The establishment and major media, he said, are excluding him from major debates and presidential primaries.

"The campaign silence in the mass media is not going to work," he said. "I think the fight's a good one."

LaRouche said he is currently on the ballot in 29 states and will be an official candidate in 45 states in the end.

LaRouche told students that too much of the economy is based on stocks and management and not enough on what he considers basics like industry and agriculture.

"We've been losing industry, we've been losing farms," LaRouche said. "We have a debt pileup beyond belief and it's getting worse."

To remedy the situation, LaRouche advocated a return to the Bretton Woods monetary system adopted by Roosevelt in 1944, saying that the government must reorganize the bankrupt system and must impose high protective tariffs on trade.

LaRouche also defended his personal record during the call. He has served time in prison for fraud and tax evasion--and ran his campaign in 1992 from his prison cell.

"There have been factions in government which have been out to get me," he said. "The operation against me...is the most extensive of any operation run against any public figure in recent memory."

LaRouche also attacked the integrity of fellow presidential candidates, describing Gore as "totally irresponsible" and attacking Bush's practices during his oil days.

"You want to see corruption?" he said. " Look at George W. Bush! Now he's probably too dumb to know what he did, but it was run through him."