Slouch
by Jim Earle
“The strangest thing just happened to me! By the time I
finished writing up my cheat notes, I realized that I had
learned what I was supposed to know. “
Opinion
‘Nice guy’ tactics hurt U.S.
Frankly, it just seems that the United States is going to
“nice guy” itself to death.
President Carter, in justifiable response to the Soviet
aggression in Afghanistan, offered $400 million in military
and economic aid to Pakistani ruler Muhammad Zia ul-Haq.
However, there are already woes and cries from the left
that Zia is “another Shah and that American support for the
dictator’s “despotic regime” will result in a similar backlash
when he is ultimately and unavoidably overthrown.
Well folks, it’s a real world out there, and there are no
absolutes.
• -.ft* - - -
If he is ultimately to be overthrown, then let it be by
Pakistanis and not under the tank treads of Russian aggres
sion.
By the same token, what is this preoccupation with always
having to support ONLY lilywhite, saintly governments?
If critics can find one, fine, but like we noted earlier, this
is a real world and not one of left wing idealistic fantasy.
No, if we’re going to keep looking for “nice guys” to
support and trying so hard to be the same ourselves, we’re
going to lose everything we have.
This nice guy stuff has got to stop.
Newport (Vt.) Daily Express
the small society
by Brickman
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
LETTERS POLICY
Letttrs 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 lettirs 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 Lettirs to the Editor. The
Battalion. Room 216, Reed McDonald Building. College
Station. Texas 77643.
Represented nationally by National Educational Adver
tising Services. Inc.. New York City. Chicago and l»s
Angeles.
The Battalion is published Monday through Fridas from
ieptember through May except during exam and holiday
xriods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday
hrmigh Thursday.
Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester. $33.25 per
sch<x)l year; $35.00 per hill year. Advertising rates furnished
on request. Address; The Battalion. Room 216. Reed
McDonald Building. College Station. Texas 77843.
United Press International is entitled exclusively to the
use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it
Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved.
Second-Class postage paid at College Station. TX 77843
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Roy Bragg
Associate Editor Keith Taylor
News Editor Rusty Cawley
Asst. News Editor Karen Cornelison
Copy Editor Dillard Stone
Sports Editor Tony Gallucci
Focus Editor Rhonda Watters
City Editor Louie Arthur
Campus Editor Diane Blake
Staff Writers Nancy Andersen,
Tricia Brunhart, Mike Burrichter,-
Angelique Copeland, Laura Cortez,
Meril Edwards, Carol Hancock,
Kathleen McElroy, Debbie Nelson,
Richard Oliver, Tim Sager,
Steve Sisney, Becky Swanson,
Andy Williams
Chief Photographer Lynn Blanco
Photographers Lee Roy Leschper,
Paul Childress, Steve Clark, Ed Cunnius
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
those of the editor or of the writer of the
article and are not necessarily those of the
^Jniversity administration or the Board of
Regents. 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.
Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Monday
February 11, 1980
Common Cause aided by
timing more than popular view
The
lids or
Nation
By DAVID BRODER
WASHINGTON — The 1970s — that
paradox of a decade — gave us a set of
stunning contrasts. There was Watergate,
the classic political scandal, but there was
also Common Cause, the classic good gov
ernment “reform” group. There was John
Mitchell, the jailed attorney general, but
there was also Archibald Cox, the special
prosecutor who was fired by Richard Nixon
because he would not obey corrupt com
mands.
and a remarkably well-informed discus-
The trouble with symbols is that they do
not always age gracefully — and that is
particularly so with symbols of civic or per
sonal virtue. Some of the heroes of Water
gate, like some of the heroes of the civil
rights movement, have celebrated their
own righteousness so often and so well that
they have become, quite frankly, bores.
Archibald Cox, at age 67, and Common
Cause, nearing age 10, do not seem to be in
danger of succumbing to that temptation.
The Carter administration could not
bend its age guidelines for judicial appoin-
ments to give Cox a circuit court judgeship
(in part, one suspects, becasue he was
proposed by Edward M. Kennedy). But
Common Cause is wisely not bound by
such foolish consistency. Its board recog
nized that two days a week of Cox’s time (all
he can spare from his Harvard Law School
duties) is worth almost anyone else’s full
time services.
defined and achieved by the state — and
private goals are conparatively “selfish.”
That view suffuses its rhetorical assaults on
“special interest” group , and fuels its un
ending crusade to rid te political system of
supposedly wicked private contributions
and to flood it, instead, with the purity of
public (ortax-supported) subsidies.
There is a gread deal open to challenge in
that view of the world, but there is also a
gread deal to be said for the political utility
of having a vigorous organization acting on
that faith.
day thi
nivei
Cox is fond of speaking in nautical im
ages, and in an interview the day before his
election, he described government as if it
were a ship — the Enterprise — that is
drifting in circles.
“We have to move the Enterprise
along,” Cox said. “When people don’t see
the Enterprise working, they lose confi
dence and they have to look out for them
selves.”
It is quite true, as Common Cause Presi
dent David Cohen said, that the organiza
tion has become a bulwark to many of the
“institutional people” in Congress — Re
publicans like Barber Conable and Tom
Railsback, Democrats like Tom Foley and
David Obey — who really are interested in
improving the effect veness of the institu
tion.
When Cox was elected last Saturday as
the third chairman of Common Cause (fol
lowing founder John Gardner and Nan Wa
terman, who held the post for the past
three years), the meeting of the organiza
tion’s governing board was described by
my colleague, Chris Colford, as being char
acterized by “vast hope, immense vitality,
The modern bureaucratic-political state
that Cox glorifies as the Enterprise (with all
its space-age connotations) others see as
Leviathan, crushing the citizenry in its
path.
For all its avowed nonpartisanship,
Common Cause is an embodiment of the
liberal view that the public good is best
It is also true that this viewpoint — and
its organizational embodiment in Common
Cause — is a motivating force for many who
would otherwise have abandoned politics
as a hopeless morass. As Common Cause
board member Kathleen Gilligan Sebelius
of Kansas remarked, after a just-completed
tour of Common Cause groups in 25 states,
“We found that there are thousands of peo
ple out there who are i
that they can have an effects;
making. That’s pretty fantastic!]
and age.”
Common Cause wentt!
in the late 1970s, likealotofi
tions. Its membership dropped
from its peak to 213,000 mei
the end of 1979 it was backup
members — with an extradi^ Kuhn <
cent renewal rate.
From its beginning, Connn(|
been lucky. Fifteen monthsaft
launched the organization witli]
goal of cleaning up the systemoli
finance, the Watergate
one of history’s most dramatic
the evils of secret political
Common Cause soared.
Finding Archie Cox withsoai
is another bit of luck. On the
was elected chairman of Conn
talking about the continuing
prove the character of the politiej
ery, the FBI blew the whistle
more alleged congressional chei
The timing was incredible, i
politics — as in every otherkica i ons ;
— sometimes it’s more imports jdual
lucky in your timing than
views.
(c) 1980, The Washington Posit
She
om t<
al, lik
read}
iSCUSS
ms.
Mor
iearly
roug
ia anc
ites f
Jates \
tudei
Commons residents tired of invasion
Editor:
I am disturbed by the large number of
Corps members who make use of the Com
mons area as though they own it. Specifical
ly, the Corps people invade our TV room
and switch channels, much to the disdain of
the Commons area residents. The signs by
the TV rooms state, “For Commons area
residents only and invited guests.” Well,
the Corps have ignored these signs and feel
that the building use fee covers these
rooms. It does not. The Commons resi
dents pay for the TV rooms, and they
should have exclusive utilization of these
TV rooms. Finally, the Corps still use our
pool tables and ping pong tables. Several
times I have waited for these tables because
the Corps had taken up many of the tables.
Richard Leonardon
(This letter was accompanied by 12 other
signatures.)
Ashamed of others
ashamed; not necessarily of myself, but of
my fellow student and Americans.
I agree whole heartedly with Mr.
Alvarez, and if a foreigner to our country
can recognize what a priviledge it is to live
and study in this country, shouldn’t we as
Americans quit sitting back and taking
America for granted? Maybe it’s because
most Americans have never been out of the
go and serve for my country.
No one, man or woman, wan!!'r
family, friends and home to go to rtf
we have a responsibility that hash
since the day we were born as ciS
this country, and that is to love it, p
and everything that it stands for.
Editor:
After reading the letter written by Oscar
Alvarez in Tuesday’s Batt, I felt so
country and seen that it is like overseas and
don’t realize how good we really have it.
I am a woman. I’m not trying to be a
women’s libber or sound like a martyr, but
if there is a war and I am called, I will gladly
I never have been good withfoitffl
guages and don’t want to have to Mjf’
sian, now!
THOTZ