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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 1980)
Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Wednesday November 26, 1980 Slouch By Jim Earle ‘Someone ought to fix that elevator!’ Reagan would waste social mandate efforts By DAVID S. BRODER ATLANTA — In the closing days of his cam paign, Ronald Reagan would conduct a quiz with his crowds. “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” he would ask. “No,” they would reply. “Is your family more stable than it was?” “No,” came the answering shout. It was a revealing exchange — and one that is freighted with significance for the future of American politics. As William Safire of the New York Times has pointed out, there were two quite separate impulses reflected in the Reagan-Republican victory. . .,. „ . . One was the widespread discontent with the economic policies of the Carter adnfiilistration bemsed to push his economic proposals. — the burden of taxes, regulations and inflation that made the Reagan voters tell him “No,” they were not better off than they had been. The other was the concern with drugs and divorce, with the changes in personal and fami ly relations, social and sexual norms, morality and religion that made the Reagan crowds say, “No,” they were not sanguine about their fami ly’s stability. Those two impulses, reflected in those two questions, set two different agendas for the in coming administration. The economic mandate is to reduce government spending, taxation and regulation and give people more room to seek their own goals. The social mandate is to expand the govern ment’s efforts to prescribe and regulate indi vidual behavior. As described by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, spokesman for the Moral Majority, the agenda includes constitutional amendments to ban abortion and reinstitute school prayers, legislation to restrict pornography and drug use — and opposition to the Equal Rights Amend ment. As I have visited a series of campuses, civic clubs and business forums in my post-election wanderings, what has been borne home to me is that Reagan and the Republicans face a fateful choice on which agenda they accept. To put it as directly as possible, if they choose the economic agenda, they have a chance of success that can broaden their constituency and give them a leg up on the Democrats in the struggle for the future of American politics. If they choose the social agenda, they will squan der their energies in what is probably a losing cause, divide their won ranks and alienate the very voters who could make them the majority of the next three decades. Those are sweeping and controversial state ments, but the evidence that supports them is clear. There is very broad readiness — at liberal universities as well as in industry meetings — to see what Reagan and the Republicans can do for P°btics. an ailing economy with their free-market poli- Reagan has an opportunity to win their sup- cies. But there is no such acceptance — either port by making the Republicans the party of in the dormitories or in the board rooms — of a prosperity. If he devotes himself, instead, to an return to Prohibition-era efforts to legislate so- effort to impose an older-generation view of cial behavior. morality on the young generation of Americans, In the campaign, Reagan and other Republi- he would waste a historic opportunity — and cans reaped votes from new constituencies of divide his own party in the process. Federal machinery about to spit out wine regulations By MICHAEL J. CONLON United Press International WASHINGTON — The government’s reg ulatory machinery is beginning to grind out a new labeling system for wine that should give consumers some fresh or at least better defined information about what they’re drinking. A revision of wine labels begun early in the past decade has progressed slowly because of controversies over what information should be required and the percentages of grapes to be allowed for various titles, among other things. Now Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has set Jan. 1, 1983, as the date when most of the regulations will take effect. One is designed to assure consumers that wines bearing geographic area designations are really made from grapes grown in those re gions. BATF, an arm of the Treasury Department, has received more than two dozen requests from vineyards and wine making associations to officially recognize their areas. More are likely to come in. They range from the familiar Finger Lakes in New York State to the exotic, Lime Kiln Valley in California and the unexpected, Fennville, a two-county area in southwest Michigan’s fruit belt. Some are historic. The application to declare California’s Guenoc Valley a viticultural area notes that the 4,000 plus acres got the name from Rancho Guenoc, an 1845 Mexican land grant. “In 1888,” the application says, “Lillie Lang try purchased a ranch of 4,000 acres, which includes much of the proposed viticultural area. There was a vineyard and winery in operation on Mrs. Langtry’s property prior to her purch ase of it. The winery operation continued until Prohibition.” This kind of detailed information, down to boundary lines, elevations and soil composi tion, is required as justification for area designa tions. BATF will not approve an area'j backers can show that the propostj locally or nationally known as then region. The backers must alsoprovij information about area characterist At least 85 percent of the grapes! labeled or advertised as being fronj nated area must be grown in that Any winery currently usingagei signation will have to submit it fora| stop using it when the new regi effect. 'Many wineries currently usee tions — Sonoma and Monterey aretj pies. That will still be permitted t regulations. The rules also provide for a nu changes ranging from the percentaisj in a varietal wine — at least 75 pen new definition of estate bottled—ir the winery bottling the beveragealjl the grapes for that wine on landiij controlled in a specific viticulturali' Dash C nize at 1 White C fundamentalist Protestants and Catholics by sympathizing with some of their social-issue concerns. But giving priority to that social agen da could carry substantial risks — as George Bush has been saying — of alienating the high- church Protestant voters who comprise the Re publican base. These are men and women whose celebration of their party’s victory is tempered by their firm opposition of having the government dictate what they read, or think, or say — or how and where their children pray. If Reagan makes Falwell’s crusade his per sonal cause, he will find himself expending energy and political capital that could otherwise And many of those who would fight him on the social agenda would be his own people. It is possible — though far from certain — that Reagan has some answers to the economic woes of America. It is highly unlikely that he or any other President can “cure” the social ills of our time. Jimmy Carter may be responsible, to some degree, for the resurgence of inflation, but the rise in the divorce rate, the emergence of homosexuals from the “closet,” and the growing number of unmarried couples sharing domi ciles are evidences of social changes far beyond the reach of any President or any democratic government. Besides, there is no American consensus that the changes are as destructive as Falwell and his followers sincerely believe them to be. When the Washington Post Poll asked, a year ago, if divorce, cohabitation, coed dorms and other such phenomena were evidence of “moral de cay” or “greater social tolerance,” by a 3-to-2 margin, the cross-section of Americans of all ages answered “Tolerance.” Among those be tween 25 and 35, that was the answer by a 3-to-l margin. In that poll and others, less than one-third of that “baby-boom” generation expressed agree ment with the Moral Majority condemnation of the Equal Rights Amendment, cohabitation by unmarried couples, homosexual teaching in school, easier divorce laws, open sale of pornog raphy or use of marijuana. Those young people between 25 and 35 are vitally important to our political future. They comprise 36 million of our present voting-age population of 160 million, but most of them are on the sidelines of politics now, watching but not participating in the elections. When they make their choice of candidates and parties — as they undoubtedly will late in this decade — they will put their stamp on the future of our DOS\ Capital in process of being dedixified Southern drawl no longer D. C. By DICK WEST United Press International WASHINGTON — Speaking of unfortunate timing, Bantam Books has just published a paperback original called “More HowTo Speak Southern.” If the rest of the country is anything like the capital, this book will be voted least likely to make the best-seller list. In the initial stages, however, they are pro vided with grits substitutes, such as cream of wheat and cornmeal mush. Texas A&l Will observe I iver the Tha Sterling Wednesday, lursday . . riday today... Sunday These MS 1 ie following r the Than! jasement Sr ain Cafetei owsing Lil wling and raft Shop . Student Pro; "ain Desk. These faci uring the unday: owling and rowsing Lil tudent Proj m. ’he Main C main < Remote Wednesday hursday . . riday aturday.. . unday As frequently happens during a transition period, the capital is teeming with charlatans and mountebanks. One of the more blatant fast- buck traps is a store-front language school that claims to have a cure for southernese. sense of civility that goes with the ten# After giving me a routine gentility tfi counsellor at one of the dedixification ce< j Ue told me I was terminally courteous. - y The capital currently is in the midst of a transition period. Which means, among other things, that it is in the process of being dedix ified. Pseudo-southern accents so painstakingly ac quired four years ago are disappearing from the cocktail circuit. The Y’all-Haul truck rental firm is changing its name back to U-Haul. And so on. “Students” are exposed to intensive doses of West Coast vulgate and theoretically come out talking like native Californians. More often than not, however, the school merely separates them from their tuition money. “We can’t do anything for you,” he solemnly. “Even if you learned to Down Easterner, you could never Yankee. Your gracious manners wouldg# away. ” I said, “Suppose I went to Mexico?! they’ve got a clinic down there that has® 111 wee successful in treating certain types of hursday . . riday aturday . . unday... . The A.P. rill close at eo pen Mon y services v What we don’t need at this point is a re fresher course in southern fried diction — e.g. ‘Ah shot an arrer into the ahr. ” When they emerge from the indoctrination, they still have spoonbread on their brpath and a tendency to drop the final “g” from their gerunds. He shook his head. “Not when southern pitality has spread all over your body,”lies arrer, as in, People in the upper social stratum, where appearances count most, usually can afford to hire private voice tutors to help then stop drawling. For those of us who are of and from the South, the problem is even more serious. In our cases, it’s a matter of overcoming the inborn He did, however, hold out one fain plastic surgery. A cosmetic operation, he| might give my congenial countenance lish look that would be acceptably nonsoufe People who are less affluent generally check into one of the neighborhood dedixification centers that are springing up all over town. Those who enroll in public dedixification prog rams are required to quit grits cold turkey, and to give up cold turkey as well. Warped The Battalion U S P S 045 360 MEMBER Texas Press Association Questions or comments concerning any editorial itll Southwest Journalism Congress should be directed to the editor. Editor Dillard Stone Managing Editor Rhonda Watters Asst. Managing Editor Scott Haring p-ttrrs poi icy City Editor Becky Swanson LETTERS POLICY Asst City Editor Angelique Copeland fQ ^ Editor should not exceed300 wM Sports Editor. Richard Oliver an d are subject to being cut ifthey are longer. Theeditonb Asst. Sports Editor Ritchie I riddy reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but rocus Editor . Scot k. Meyer make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each Asst. Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff must also be signed, show the address and phone number^ News Editors Lynn Blanco, writer. Todd Woodard Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, mchtf 1 Staff Writers Jennifer Afflerbach, Kurt Allen, subject to the same length constraints as letters. Nancy Andersen, Marcy Boyce, Jane G. 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