Page 2 THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1975
BQ explains band disciplin
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'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
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Cbe Battalion
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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.
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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.
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