The Duc Pond

I understand the pride that comes with seeing someone of your ethnicity accomplish great things in America. If you and/or your parents come to the U.S. with nothing and make a great contribution to society, it should be commended. I hope to do something like that one day.

But don’t let race blind you to the dangers of placing people in office who don’t share your vision for what a great society should be. The Vietnamese American lawyer Viet Dinh is a very accomplished and brilliant man. But his role as chief architect of the USA PATRIOT Act needs to be scrutinized carefully before I as a Vietnamese American can support him (currently all he’s doing is teaching at Georgetown, I believe, but bear with me as I set him up as an example). If I want Vietnamese Americans to play a more prominent role in American society, I need to make sure that the people we pick to lead us are the finest we have to offer.

This is why I’m imploring the Hispanic community to carefully scrutinize Alberto R. Gonzales before throwing the full weight of their support behind him to become Attorney General. Minorities should have a particular interest in defending their civil liberties to the greatest extent possible, and that means supporting people who share our views of freedom. Many of our parents escaped totalitarian regimes and it’s the absolute least we can do for them and for the country that took them in to make sure liberty endures for centuries to come.

So please take a moment to do some research. As for me, former Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh’s writings and interviews seem to portray him as being fair-minded and open to discussion. He does seem to love America and its liberties, but perhaps doesn’t agree with people like me on that line where defending freedom turns into curtailing freedom. It’s a tough balance, don’t get me wrong. But it’s a slippery slope, and the smallest things may have significant consequences.