According to Robert Fow, Vice President Dick Cheney is a fascist.
A local man easily recognized by his thick glasses and plaid clothing, Fow has been a mainstay of the Penn campus for eight years. He comes to Locust Walk to trumpet anti-Bush sentiments and hand out political journals. He is seeking followers in the cause of removing Cheney from office.
"We're here to secure the future," said Fow. "The main fascist spread is coming from within the United States."
Although Fow is a registered Democrat, his views are a little different than those espoused by your typical blue-state liberal.
Fow is a follower of controversial political leader Lyndon LaRouche, who has been denounced by critics as a conspiracy theorist and a political extremist.
Since meeting LaRouche when he spoke at Swarthmore College in 1970, Fow has been captivated by LaRouche's political theories, including calls to respond to an ongoing national and international crisis.
A self-proclaimed Marxist as a young man, Fow said that LaRouche opened his eyes to the faults of communism while attending classes taught by LaRouche near Penn's campus in 1970.
"He had a lot to teach and a lot to clear up for me," Fow said. "He began to criticize my own false ideas and laid out certain things for me that would not have been found out ... from learning in a [college] classroom."
Fow became more and more involved in the LaRouche movement and has distributed LaRouche-sponsored journals and newspapers across the city for the last 25 years.
In that time span, authorities have tried to censor him several times, he said.
For example, on March 30, Penn Police officers forced Fow to leave his spot at 36th Street and Locust Walk for the second time in the past year, he said.
After speaking to police officials, however, Fow said he was allowed to resume his post and harbors no ill will toward the University.
"I'm sure it won't happen again," he said. "They're not out to get LaRouche."
Fow said the response to his presence on campus has ranged from apathy to outright disdain.
Wharton sophomore and College Republicans President Jack Abraham said that while he doesn't mind that Fow is allowed on campus, he finds Fow's political views to be baseless and arbitrary.
"It seems the LaRouche support base is a group of fanatics who like to rebel against things but have no idea what they're rebelling against or what they'd like to change," he said.
Still, Fow remains proud to support LaRouche, a man who has run for the Democratic nomination for president a record-setting eight consecutive times.
"You can't think anyone else can be a guide -- no Democratic leader, no Republican leader, no one in other countries," Fow said. "No one has a grasp on the situation the way [LaRouche] does."
