Viewpoint
The Battalion Wednesday
Texas A&M University July 5, 1978
Wanted: Scapegoats
We don’t know quite what to make of the just-concluded annual get-
together of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Atlanta.
The meeting, attended by some 250 mayors and other municipal officials
and held in the lengthening shadow of California’s Proposition 13, began on a
kind of “don’t blame us” note as mayor after mayor took the microphone to call
on the federal government to “tighten its belt” and cut spending.
A resolution introduced by Mayor Coleman Young of Detroit aligning the
conference with the burgeoning taxpayers’ revolt was sanitized in committee
by deleting references to the need “to reduce the number of municipal
employees” and “the size of municipal government.”
The mayors sobered up a little, however, when Wayne F. Anderson,
executive director of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Rela
tions, reminded them that the fastest growing federal expense has been aid to
local governments, which increased from $7 billion to $80 billion in less than
two decades.
Not that the mayors didn’t have some legitimate complaints. Anderson also
observed that the federal government “has purposely raced local govern
ments’ fiscal engines” by requiring matching funds for many of its aid pro
grams. This has meant increased local taxes.
Yet as a New Bedford, Mass., city councilman pointed out, while local
officials duck the blame for increased spending they eagerly accept federal
money.
“If the plague were being passed out, we’d be the first in line,” said Ralph
Saulnier.
Thus as the conference progressed, a grudging consensus emerged that
there was going to have to be belt-tightening at all levels of government —
local, state and federal. But just how this was to be accomplished with the least
curtailment of essential services remained an unanswered question at the end.
The nation’s harried mayors clearly are aware of the implications of the
movement started by the voters of California.
Yet if their inconclusive conference left us with one overall impression, it is
that the politicians closest to the people are still looking for someone else —
the statehouse or the White House — to bail them out of their difficulties,
even as the unhappy taxpayers nip more fiercely at their heels.
Scripps-Howard Newspapers
In search of the missing electorate
By DAVID S. BRODER
PALO ALTO, CALIF —The real story
of American politics this year does not
make a good Fourth of July speech. It is an
invisible story. It is the play that was never
performed because the audience never
showed up. It is, in short, the story of
non-voting, the decision by millions of
American citizens not to participate in the
most basic and fundamental of the rites of
democracy: the choice of elected officials.
That was the subject of a two-day meet-
are some of the trends:
—During the past decade, more than 15
million Americans, many of them regular
voters in the past, have stopped voting.
—Turnout in presidential races has
dropped from 63.8 percent in I960 to .54.4
percent in 1976.
-—The turnout in the 1974 mid-term
elections was the second lowest in 150
years, and the continuing falloff may drag
this November’s percentage even below
that all-time nadir ol 1926. . ,
—-F.xcent for Arkansas, whit:
ing of politicians, political scientists anti —T'xcept for Arkansas, which had its
journalists, convened here last week by a hottest contests in a' quaj:tcr-eeiitnr\. the
committee of the American Bar Associa
tion. The lawyers are trying to decide
whether any changes in the laws govern
ing the administration of elections might
reverse the appalling and apparently ac
celerating drop in the use of the franchise.
It is a grim story to be telling on the
202nd birthday of the country. For, more
than any other warning sign, it signals that
the foundations of this experiment in self-
government are crumbling.
THE FIGURES ARE so bad they can
barely be comprehended. As summarized
here by Walter Dean Burnham of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and Curtis Cans of the Committee for the
Study of the American Electorate, here
turnout in state primaries so far this year is
down below past levels. In New Jersey,
barely 10 percent of the eligible Republi
cans participated in the primary in which
Jell Bell defeated Sen. Clifford P. Case,
R-N.J.
—Even the celebrated Proposition 13
failed to draw large numbers of turned-off
voters back to the polls in California.
Turnout was below that of the 1976 pri
mary and probably even lower than off-
year 1974. Overall, referenda votes on the
supposedly dominant tax questions draw
even smaller tunrouts than normal elec
tions.
THIS DECAY IN the voting base of the
country has taken place in the same period
that significant steps have been made in
reducing the legal and mechanical barriers
to registration. The Voting Rights Act ef
fectively ended ballot-box discrimination
against blacks in the South; residency re
quirements for federal elections have been
reduced to help mobile voters; states with
more than half the population now offer
the option of registering simply by return
of a postcard.
And yet registration and voting per
centages decline. In the face,of this fact,
there was-no great optimism at this meet
ing ahatVt 'iTi'c 'pbfchtial for mechanical
changes in registration-and-voting proce
dures.
Burnham estimated that if the United
States were to adopt the kind of fully au
tomatic system of universal voter registra
tion has (with the expense and burden
borne by the government, not the indi
vidual citizen), it might increase participa
tion between 7 and 9 percent. That would
not bring voting back to the 1960 level.
An even more modest Carter adminis
tration proposal (not well-regarded by
most of the experts who met here) for
election-day registration at the polls was
killed by Congress last year.
Many of those present said they believe
that the politicians in power, Republicans
and Democrats alike, are quite comforta
ble with the relatively restricted electorate
they have. The wealthier and better-
educated of their constituents enjoy dis
proportionate influence, because they
vote in twice the proportion as the poor
and less-educated.
Indeed, as overall turnout has declined
in the past two decades, the class bias in
the active electorate has increased signifi
cantly, tending to impose status quo
policies no matter who is governipg.
BUT THE REAL QUESTION is how
long anyone jcah gPVorn without the
legitimacy that comes from a genuine and
representative mandate from the electo
rate.
Jimmy Carter was elected by 27.2 per
cent of the potential voters, and now finds
himself buffeted about by the single
interest pressure groups. Their power is
immense in a politics as lacking in a mass
base of popular support as ours is today.
The conferees here seemed to think that
pattern will persist until a political parts
comes along that really offers the voters
meaningful choices and then mobilizes
them to bring them to the polls.
And no one professed to know wher
that might be.
c) 1978, The Washington Post Company
Means and madness to celebrating the 4th
By MARK WILLIS
Battalion City Editor
We are back, none too happy about it,
but we re back.
Those of you who had to return Monday
out of guilt, paranoid fear, or for a test, have
the sympathy of the majority.
The rest and you too, can now reflect on
our holiday, hopefully with contentment.
For many the break meant visits with
friends and/or relatives, which in rare in
stances are one in the same. Visits that
renewed old ties neglected or ignored, dip
lomatic relations with parents, or old love
affairs are now done.
Many took advantage of the free time to
participate in the summer sports. These
folks are easy to spot. They are the ones
who move like 80-year-olds, groan as if dy
ing, sport various bandages, and mumble
references to the time, “I used to be pretty
good.” Unplanned acrobatics on water skis
and the use of muscles that never forgot,
but surely tried, have taken their toll.
Others celebrated the holiday in the tra
ditional college manner. They tested their
livers with various and sundry beverages.
Those of us who attempted to beat the heat
by maintaining a steady stupor throughout
the weekend will also be easy to spot, if we
can be found at all.
C ommentary
Don’t let the resemblance to plague
victims bother you. This affliction is not
contagious, though the “black death” may
seem preferable to those stricken. Symp
toms include unsteady hands, eyes that re
semble maps of the Houston freeway sys
tem, and short-term memory loss. The lat
ter may be considered a blessing, though
only temporary; such foolishness usually
returns to haunt you. These are symptoms
of other sins also, that seem to be gaining
ground on the more traditional agents of
self-imposed idiocy.
Letter to the Editor
Bugs and buses
Editor:
Since I have attended TAMU, I’ve noticed
something during the warmer months,
that makes my skin crawl; it’s those giant
roaches, in large numbers.
Most bugs are fine with me. Spiders,
beetles, grasshoppers; they are cool. But
those roaches, some of which I would be
scared to step on, are too much. I cringe at
the thought of one crawling up my leg.
Can’t something be done about them? I
realize that there are several reasonable
explanations for this problem: 1) an at
tempt to control them has been made,
with little effect, 2) such an attempt may
be ecologically harmful, 3) it may be too
expensive to successfully deal with this
problem, 4) no real attempt has been
made to solve this problem, 5) the prob
lem has been dealt with and I just don’t
realize it, or 6) it is just one of those things
we can do very little about so we have to
live with it.
Hopefully, I’ve included all the pos
sibilities. But still, in my eyes, roach infes
tation exists here. For my peace of mind, I
would appreciate someone’s attention to
this “urgent” problem.
And to a less urgent cause, I wish to
comment about the shuttle bus service,
both intra-campus and off-campus routes.
I lived off campus last semester, and
while I was not entirely satisfied with this
service, it was acceptable. I wish to make a
suggestion, not to the service itself, but to
how it was rendered.
Many times I returned to or from cam
pus, say after 7:00 p.m., on a basically
empty bus. I also observed the intra
campus shuttle bus on numerous occa
sions, to see no more then five passengers
riding it. This may not have been the case
on rainy days or during peak hours, but I
know it was like this the rest of the time.
I don’t suggest doing away with these
valuable services, but why can’t mini
buses, or something similar to them, be
used during these “off hours? They would
be just as effective, and it might possibly
cut operation costs.
—Noel Mclnnis, ‘81
Those few who studied and otherwise
used the free time wisely are free to gloat.
They will, to be sure.
Despite all of this, let us not forget what
this holiday represents.
The Fourth of July is the celebration of
the success of the “American Experiment.”
This may not be a bicentennial year, but it
is just as important. We are still here and
free.
The United States endures, despite in
flation, the energy shortage, various politi
cal threats both internal and externaf gov
ernmental scandal, and even Proposition
13.
We are surviving the Carter family. De
spite his problems, Jimmy Carter is prog
ressing, we hope, and is, no doubt, doing
his best. Billy is supplying the entire nation
with fertilizer and Ruth Carter Stapleton is
gettingpornography off the streets and into
church, (where it belongs?).
Yes, this country has its problems, yet
the fact that we spent our holidays in our
various methods attests to the system’s
strength. No place else on this planet are
people allowed to make fools of themselves
with nothing to fear except their own
stupidity.
For all its faults this country is still free,
prosperous, and a damned good place to
live.
r r\ I * ■ . \ v 7ViL=_
MOSCOW-The Carter
I Administration announced
Readers
Guest viewpoints, in addi
tion to Letters to the Editor,
are welcome. All pieces sub
mitted to Readers’ forum
should be:
F oru m
• Typed triple space
• Limited to 60 characters per
line
• Limited to 100 lines
R
Top of the News 0
State ^
Hill will not intervene
goo
tten :
I staji
Attorney General John Hill said in Austin he has no reason togot, nt
court to force a recount of votes in the May 6 referendum O’ us | or
parimutuel horse race betting. Hill released copies of a letter to Mr mora
and Mrs. Tom Russell of Red Oak, Texas, declining to interv ene. T ! q ie ^
investigation of the matters did not produce grounds for instigating irs j n ^
court order to impound ballot boxes and recount votes, Mill said, qtfcrf
iver g
Opinions on rail studies asked Ah
Buttv
DHL
I he Railn >.id Com mi son decided Mondav in \ustin to solicit publttwo i
comments on a $2 million project to develop a State Rail Man ng sp
local rail studies in Dallas, El Paso, Galveston, Laredo and Collrt * 1 r Din
Station. The commission approved publication of proposed rules li V spec
the project which is funded by a grant from the Federal Hailr 1 1 be p
Administration A hearing will l»- held \uc I for tl
Union, hospital to negotiate
t $2 1
ftic
Butte
nedy
Negotiators from Wadley Hospital and from a union whose m- • hh n
bers are striking the medical center were scheduled to meet tches
nesday with a federal mediator in efforts to settle- the labor dispute.a L e
The strike against Texarkana s largest hospital by members of the»_ip 0 ,
Communications Workers of America begins its eighth day WVdno t. II
day. The negotiations will be the first since June 2-1
ty ft
Nation
)on
ride]
hip
Fireworks burn auto
‘Am
igh
Two teen-agers in Baxter Springs. Kan . who threw fir ret.den
from a car to celebrate the Fourth of July found the nojsemakencu
make more than a loud bang. One firecracker fell on the hackx-alof
their vehicle, landing among numerous other firecrackers- lb
fireworks went off and caught the car on fire. Tire youths wereinn-
jured in the incident.
ayw
idea
life
ask
d fc:
he
1 hi
Poor economic health predicted '
a
U.S. government S|x>kcsmen said Monday the index of the
lutioflu
future economic health slipped 0.1 percent in May. glootm evidmr:
the economy could he headed for a sharp slowdown in the it-maindrr
of 1978 and perhaps a recession before the end of 1979 The decliw
in the Commerce Dei>artment's Index of Leading Economic Indica
tors was the first since January and followed a healths 1.0 percent rise
in April.
lirtv
-tly
t ac
Flight rule opposed by blind
sd i
;xas
hen
A day after six blind persons were refused permission to keep their
canes alxiard a flight from Cleveland, the National Federation of the
Blind said Monthly it would push for legislation to end the practice.
The six blind persons, traveling to Baltimore* for the \ FI) comention,
decided to take* a bus when United Airlines oflici,d\ in Clev eland told
them they would have to store their canes in overhead baggage com
partments. A Federal Aviation Administration regulation maintains
that canes can become hazards during turbulence or a crash.
oc I
ei
9
Sea creatures killed
f
Biolo
archei
Three sharks and a stingrav on displav m tl,, |,,|,| n a Miani^
theatei where the movie [aws 2 was being shown have beenfoaafLr - ^
dead, victims of an apparent poisoning, then owm-i said The . 1 !
nurse shat hs a zebra < at shai k and an \ustrah.m stimnav vv«*refound 1 ™ 15 ’
dead in their tank Monday. John Creekmore. owner of Clceaii’s U.i 11 /? 115
rare fish store, who had supplied all four s, a , reaton s s.,n| 'It'shard?}* °
to accept that someone would hurt a helpless fish re
illing
Prison fight quieted
irine I
Studit
One inmate was killed and several others injured during a violtn cor< J ‘
fight in the honor ward of the Marion < mn < tional Institute MoodtyP nia >
prison officials said. Officials said the fight broke out shortly afte ^ I 00 **
a.m., but they could not immediately determine how manv mn diseas
were involved or what set off the dispute. Officers from the Man ,ri -
Post of the Ohio Highway Patrol and the Marion < omitv slicriff‘®* 0 l°^
department, called to assist prison officers in quieting the distm 1 ^ ana
bance, were interviewing witnesses to the brawl this morning. ’ have
World
Radicals have bomb spree
Radical nationalists set off 27 bombs on tbe French-ruled Mediterj
ranean island of Corsica Monday night in the biggest single ontlw al:
of terrorist attacks since the start of the’ secessionist movement in the;
1960s, police reported Monday. There were no immediate reports(
injuries or arrests. Police investigators said the bombing spree iipparj
ently was launched by the Corsican National Liberation Front
show its sympathy for the Breton secessionists.
Marxists recapture villages
Marxist South Yemen has recaptured two border villages it claims
were occupied by troops from North Yemen, the leftist daily news j
paper As Safir reported in a special dispatch from Aden. The news
paper said South Yemen regained control of the two villages in tin
northern Beihan region Monday, the day after they allegedly were I
seized by North Yemen troops attacking across the desolate Araliianj
Desert. The Beihan area is about 150 miles northeast of Aden fflH
some 100 miles southeast of the North Yemen capital of Sanaa.
Weather
Partly cloudy and hot today and Thursday. High today upper
90s, low tonight low 70s. High tomorrow upper 90s. Winds
from the southeast at 10-15 mph decreasing to less than 5
mph tonight.
The Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the
editin' or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily
those of the University administration or the Board of Re
gents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting
enterprise operated hy students as a university and com
munity newspaper. Editorial policy is determined hy the
editor.
LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are
subject to fjeing cut to that length or less if longer. The
editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does
not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be
signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone
number for verification.
Address correspondence to Letters to the Editor, The
Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building, College
Station, Texas 77843.
Represented nationally hy National Educational Adver
tising Services, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los.
Angeles.
The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from
September through May except during exam and holiday
periods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday
through Thursday.
Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per .seniesU'rT
school year; $35.00 per full year. Advertising 1 '
nished on request. Address: The Battalion, fc
Heed McDonald Building, College Station, Tex*
United Press International is entitled exchi^
use for reproduction of all news dispatches cred*
Rights of reproduction of all other matter herdf*
Second-Class postage paid at College Station, fl
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor 1)^
Sports Editor Pan
1 News Editor Lev Royl*
City Editor Mi
Campus Editor Fl*
Photo Editor Pal
Copyeditor &
Reporter Scold
Student Publications Board: Boh ftogmd
Joe Arredondo, Dr. Cary Halter. Dr. Charles^
Dr Clinton A Phillips. Rebel Rice DinrUrt
Publications: Donald C\ Johnson.
V
/