We, the undersigned, are members of the long blue line of alumni of St. Xavier High School: either alumni, or current students. We write in response to the call by Tim Mulvey, ’01, to remove Vivek Ramaswamy, ’03, from the board of directors of St. Xavier High School.

We stand behind keeping Vivek Ramaswamy on the board of trustees of St. Xavier High School. We believe Vivek exemplifies the values we were taught: to honor the Truth above all things, to strive for personal excellence in the pursuit of service to others, and to be especially considerate of the plight of those on the margins of society. We believe that Vivek is speaking uncomfortable truths that many people in positions of privilege and power would rather keep quiet, and that is why there is such pushback against him. 

Rather than go along with slogans chanted by powerful corporations and institutions, Vivek asks the question “But is this actually helping these people we claim to be helping?  Or is it possible that giant corporations and unaccountable government agencies have ulterior motives?” We share Vivek’s beliefs that many of the policies which are ostensibly intended to help people on the margins are harming those people, and that a corrupted establishment is increasingly aggressive about stamping out all forms of dissent, with help from a national media complex that sees its job as to defend the establishment rather than to question it.

Rather than challenge Vivek on the specific facts he does raise, we have seen a response of anger, denial, and personal criticism. This same response has been consistently used by powerful people and institutions to shout down uncomfortable truths which threaten the white collar elite hold on cultural power.  We reject this response. We see this deeply uncivil behavior as an example of the pattern we were taught about in social justice class: that privileged concentrations of power will do everything they can to hold on to that power.   

In additional to speaking uncomfortable truths – both to republicans and to democrats - we believe that Vivek exemplifies the kind of respectful dialogue that this country badly needs.    Even while attacked and mocked disrespectfully, he has shown, over and over, in small scale encounters away from broadcast media,  a respectful demeanor that does not yield to vitriol, and does not stoop to attacking, demeaning, or criticizing the people he disagrees with.   There are numerous such videos available for anyone who cares to find them.  

We have seen Vivek, repeatedly, give the microphone to ordinary people who interrupted his talks, let them speak their pieces, engaged them in honest back and forth. Many times he ultimately won them over. It is for this reason – Vivek’s capacity to win over people who disagree with him, by being firm and respectful even to people who are interrupting and disrespecting him – that we believe he is so heavily criticized by establishment figures such as Mr. Mulvey.

No, we do not agree with everything Mr. Ramaswamy stands for or claims to be true. Yes, Mr. Ramaswamy has said provocative things on broadcast media. This is only reasonable, because broadcast media is not a mechanism for the pursuit of truth, but rather a tool used consistently by governments and large corporations for propaganda.

 The pursuit of truth requires dialogue, not monologue. It requires us to be intellectually challenged, rather than emotionally inflamed. It requires us to consider the validity of perspectives that make us uncomfortable, instead of dividing the world into good guys who happen to think exactly the way we do, and bad guys who disagree with us. The defining feature of modern mass media is that no one is allowed to challenge the orthodoxies championed by the state and its cheerleaders in the cultural elite.  Yes, Mr. Ramaswamy is rude and disrespectful to members of what Thomas Piketty calls the Brahmin class. But when interacting with ordinary people, who are not professional propagandists, Vivek consistently demonstrates what respectful, honest disagreement looks like. That is why we support him.  That kind of dialogue is what the country needs more of – back and forth between human beings who disagree with each other, not corporations and governments shouting and threatening people through human-shaped mouthpieces.

We invite Mr. Mulvey to debate Mr. Ramaswamy over who best embodies the values of the long blue line.   Perhaps some of our classmates will believe it is a spokesman for a government agency with every incentive to conceal the bad behavior of the government. We believe these values are better embodied by Mr. Ramaswamy, a successful scientist-entrepreneur who channeled the essence of Cincinnatus by walking away from a successful career as a founder and CEO, to spend his own money waging a long shot campaign to save the soul of the country.

By giving the microphone to people who shout insults at him, Mr. Ramaswamy has demonstrated what respectful dialogue looks like, and – more importantly – how powerfully effective a strategy that is. We stand with Vivek.