Bob Barr Luncheon

Bob Barr Speaks at Chapter February 2007 Luncheon

We have Jim Ravenel ’45 to thank for arranging for Bob Barr to visit our Chapter again. When introducing Bob, Jim offered us a long, 8-page, version or an abbreviated one. Not surprisingly, the assembled alumni chose the short version.

Bob started his remarks by recounting his attendance at Congressman Charles Norwood’s funeral. Congressman Norwood recently passed away after a fight with lung disease and cancer. Bob was struck by how these types of things bring Republicans and Democrats together in a non-partisan way that is far too often lacking in the halls of government.

The most recent elections, he said, indicate that the country is relatively evenly split between the Republicans and Democrats. It is unfortunate that too few people who occupy the political “middle ground” are actively involved in politics. This lack of a broad cross-section of people involved in the political process leaves the agenda, by default, to the two extremes. This, says Bob, is a bad thing for the American people.

He also said that over the past five years, the Republican administration grew complacent and failed to actively engage the American public to promote their agenda. As a result, the party lost big in the recent elections.

Those in attendance were interested in Bob’s take on the 2008 Presidential elections. Bob believes that Senator Hilary Clinton will be on the Democratic ticket. He believes this primarily because the Clinton camp has the single biggest fund raising machine by far. On the Republican side, he sees the race for the nomination as a two-man race between former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senator John McCain. Each man, he says, will have some substantive issues to overcome on the way. Giuliani, for example, is a gun control advocate. McCain’s stance on the Iraq war may require attention.

During the Q&A after his prepared remarks, Bob fielded a couple of interesting questions. Paul Hurst ’62, asked about his stance on privacy vs security in today’s world. Bob said that his stance on this always starts from the base of the provisions of the 4^th Amendment to the Constitution, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. This, he says, was drafted in times that are just as volatile and dangerous as the present day world. Only those who forget this county’s history at that time try to make a case to bend the rules because we are facing more dangerous times today. That said, he believes that the Presidents assertion that he can authorize the surveillance of citizen’s phone conversations and emails without any cause troubles him greatly. He considers that policy a violation of our rights under the 4^th Amendment.

The next question solicited his stance on illegal immigration. Bob’s response was that he views this as strictly a security issue, not really a purely immigration issue. If people want to immigrate to this country to live and work, that’s fine. However, we need to know who those people are for security reasons. There needs to be an accounting. He does not see the construction of a wall on the Mexican border, for instance, as a good idea at all. He does, however, view the use of the military to secure our borders as a proper use of our armed forces in protecting the security of our country.

Many thanks to Mr. Barr for visiting our Chapter again. He always has an interesting and educational perspective on our country’s political scene.

For more info on Bob Barr's recent involvements and activities click the link below:

Bob Barr's Web Site

Click on a thumbnail image to view a full sized picture.

Crowd gathers before lunch.

Bob Barr starts his prepared remarks.

Chapter President Steve Frederick '72 presents Bob with his personalized Atlanta Chapter apron.