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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1975)
Page 2 THE BATTALION TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1975 BQ explains band disciplin . j/ y.. |'^ 'MOSCOW SAYS THEY KNOW IT'S THE YEAR OF THE RABBIT AND SO WHAT?' Editor: I, too, am a transfer student, but I did not come from a major univer sity as did Tommy Duer, whose comments were aired in the Batt of February 12. Nevertheless, I agree with Duer on some of his comments concerning music education at A&M. But I am also a BQ. And for that reason I take exception to some of the remarks by Duer. The Aggie Band is not merely “a group of sol diers.” Nor is the Aggie Band just a group of musicians. The Band at A&M is a way of life that many have tried and not so many have decided Friedman explains needs Batt economist tells how to remain in. According to the A&M catalogue, the Aggie Band “furnishes music for military ceremonies, yell practices, and athletic events.” Duer made several comments about the music programs at other schools. I don’t give a damn for other schools, if I did, I most likely wouldn’t be here at A&M. But A&M, like the Aggie Band, is unique, and for this reason above other schools. Being a musician involves talent and discipline. The Aggie Band is the finest band of its nature in the nation because of much talent and greater amounts of discipline. This discipline involves short hair, un iforms (issued, not purchased), and living in 40-year-old dorms. I agree with Duer that the music program at A&M falls short of that at Coasters other schools. But if he has half the talent and discipline found in the average BQ, he should be able to organize something. If he can’t or is not willing to work for what he be lieves in, he can hop on his bike, stuff a pom-pom up his nose and cookiepush his way to any of those “other” schixil.s. Besides, with the other pressing problems of being an Aggie, i.e. passing, money, sleep, I don’t see how Duer has energy to bother with a music program. I bother with being in the Band be cause I wouldn’t have it any other way. But then, Duer would gladly have it any other way. Tommy Duer, get to work or get lost. If you want a music education, go to a music school, or start build ing one. Mark Kelley By RODNEY HAMIM A By MIKE PERRIN Milton Friedman says he likes freedom. But he is willing to do it in. Friedman made several state ments during his speech last Thursday, which if true, mean the future of freedom is not bright, be cause Friedman is unwilling to take the steps needed to ensure our perpetual freedom. His statements were: “Government tends to grow . . . government is in efficient . . . government be comes a master instead of a servant over time . . . there has never been a successful government program . . . government projects which are unsuccessful only get more money . . . everyone wants special privileges . . . freedom depends on alterna tive employment opportuni ties ... it is inevitable that regulatory agencies will be taken over by those they reg ulate . . . our tax structure makes certain undesirable tac tics profitable . . . govern ment has no mechanism to eliminate mistakes or bad pro grams . . . the Federal Re serve is a terrible, crazy way to operate ...” The implications of these state ments are obvious: government is not viable as a problem solver be cause it is not oriented toward per formance: the only job a politician must do is to get re-elected. Gov ernment failures can be expanded because government revenue is ob tained by force, not in the marketp lace. Government inefficiency is the only reason we aren’t taken over al ready. But the same government inefficiency makes government of no value in promoting positive ac tion. Government regulation eliminated or cut to a minimum competition in many areas: doctors, lawyers, in short, most “profes sional” positions. It is no coinci dence that the people in these fields tend to be high-income earners. This is why the American Medical Association likes for government to give it the power to license doctors, the American Bar Association gets the power to license lawyers and so on. Who controls the AMA? Doctors. Who controls the ABA? Lawyers. Who benefits from each? Doctors and lawyers. The public is supposed to be protected against incompe tence and so on, but the actual case is that doctors and lawyers and pro tected from competition. And as far as government effi ciency goes, how about Urban Re newal; how about the Postal Ser vice? Don’t forget Aid to Families with Dependent Children, which made it profitable for households to have only one parent — the result was that the number of homes with out fathers increased during this period. The list of government fail ures goes on and on; can you name a good governmental program? Yet government grows; why? Be cause government has the power to extract income from you whether or not you want to pay. Not only that — you pay bureaucrats to sit around all day and dream up ways to in crease their sphere of influence; you think of ways to cut it only in your spare time. And yet Dr. Friedman is willing to have a government with the pow ers it has even though he admits that it will inevitably grow and spread its influence. Forty years ago, the gov ernment spent 10 per cent of the national income; today government j ias - spends 40 per cent of national in come and that figure is still rising. And yet Friedman does not sug gest some sort of institutional con trol on government. He only hopes that “the population will wake up to the fact that government is not via ble as a problem solver.” But he is not willing to suggest a cure; he wants government “for some things.” There are only two things which make government the unique in stitution it is: the power to tax and the power to deficit finance. The cure then, for government is this: eliminate the power to tax and let government finance only by selling bonds. This will do two major things: 1.) The government will then have to pass programs which people will want to support. Other wise, no one will have to pay any contributions to the government; 2) In selling bonds, the payback re venue will have to come from prog rams (not taxes). The government will have to have a rate of return on investments, like any other busi ness. This means that government will have to operate in the real world of money. Instead of merely increas ing their tax rate, they will have to offer more services and have to sell more bonds. Several “governments” could spring up under this proposal. For example, if you want assurances of quality products, then corporations will spring up like Consumers Union and Underwriters’ Laboratories. Right now, the com petition from the federal govern ment is so high that corporations Ti dTTUT] ki 1 1 \ ^ 5 ( < J. J JUjlLxiJi JjH rne battalion is iro Neeis of FOR CftPOPO s „ AND CITY (MeOJS! —AND VM» THIS IS YOUR CHAfUCO TO xix MOD F6ATURING Work Hours, WITH t\Jo (AORe LATG NIGHTS?! COIAG BY FDOIH 216 IM TH6 R££L> [AcUouald Building, or Pro we 845-2611 E© Dt? KETYj?, Cbe Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the university administration or the Board of Directors. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise operated by students as a university and community newspaper. •Editorial policy is determined by the editor.., LETTERS POUCY Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guaran tee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone number for verifica tion. Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. .fMgn&jbers of the Student Publications Board are: Jim Lindsey* chairman; Dr. Tom Adair, Dr. R. A. Albanese, Dr. H. E. Hierth, W. C. Harrison, Steve Eberhard, Don Hegi, and John Nash, Jr. Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. MEMBER The Associated Press, Texas Press Association Editor Assistant Editor Managing Editor Assistant Managing Editor Sports Editor Photo Editor City Editor News Editors Greg Moses Will Anderson LaTonya Perrin Roxie Hearn Mike Bruton Glen Johnson Rod Speer Barbara West Douglas Winship Reporters . . . T. C. Gallucci, Tony Gallucci, Paul McGrath, Robert Cessna, Gerald Olivier, Rose Mary Traverso, Steve Gray, Judy Baggett, Alan Killingsworth, Sayeeful Islam, Mary Jeanne Quebe, Cathryn Clement, Robin Schriver, Cindy Maciel. Photographers Douglas Winship, David Kimmel, Gary Baldasari, Jack Holm, Chris Svatek, Steve Krauss, Kevin Fortorny. cannot come in. The government can waste money in research to make up for its inefficiency. It can also give away its results, which a business cannot. People pay for the results through forced taxes now; in the future, only those who use the test results will have to pay. In the same way, government services which are viable will be performed. Those which are wastrel in approach will not. Charity will move into the private area instead of through wasteful government programs; more and better services will be provided. Why should we set up a govern ment which can force us to pay for programs we disagree with and even use our own money as legal fees against us? If government is doing a good job, then there will be voluntary support; if they are not doing a good job, then why should they exist? This institutional bulwark of no taxes can prevent government from growing past the point of diminish ing returns, can prevent it from wasting 40 per cent of the national income, can prevent it from creat ing inflation in its haste to spend and reluctance to tax. In short, Dr. Friedman showed us the why of change. This column suggests the how. * * * * * * * * * * * * -K 8:00 a.m. to 9 p.m. MON. thru SAT. Xc \331 UNIVERSITY DR. above the Kesami Sandwich Shoppe 846-7614 J *- The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M, is published in College Station, Texas, daily except Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and holiday periods, September through May, and once a week during summer school. Mail subscriptions are $5.00 per semester; $9.50 per school year; $10.50 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 59r sales tax. Advertising rate furnished a on request. Address: The Battalion, Room TJ7, Services Building, College' Station, Texas 77843. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous origin published herein. Right of repriTduction of all other matter herein are also reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas. Camp Olympia is looking for summer counselors. If you enjoy the outdoors and the rewarding experience of working with children, visit the employment center for an interview Friday, Feb. 21 with an Olympia representative. Q&BKSb Olympia SIGN UP FOR AN INTERVIEW AT THE A&M PLACEMENT CENTER PF AM I S presents Roger Rozell Terri Jimenez Susan Mathis WASH & WEAR HAIRSTYLES FOR MEN & WOMEN sUmmerjobs ^ We’re Looking for Counselors lvXuA<Xcuy-- id; a. n&vwtu 7^ CffiiltL Hurt Aid/sJyUAtn&U. mow 1» ’ / ^ * i,nr>OOOOn<LliMl fOOOOOOoSURRI