The Battalion
Viewpoint
October 2, 1981
Slouch By Jim Earle
‘What a terrific idea! An all-white T-shirt!’
Credibility
is threat to
problem
Reagan
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — The fiscal year is one
of those bits of jargon that thrives in its own
natural habitat, the corporate report or the
agency budget, but is never quite at home
in a living-room discussion or barroom bull-
session.
But in Washington this week, the talk is
that the new fiscal year, fiscal 1982, will be a
year like no other. That, of course, is be
cause the first round of Ronald Reagan’s
budget and tax cuts were effective on Oct.
1, and the effects, both good and ill, can
then begin to be measured.
As a journalist, I am in a weak position to
tramp on anyone’s enthusiasm for some
thing new. Novelty, real or simulated, is
the lifeblood of our business. But what
strikes me as we all prepare to enter this
new fiscal year and maybe this new era is
the enduring importance of one of the old
est and most basic political rules of them all.
That rule is: Keep your commitments.
Jimmy Carter fell victim to disregarding
it, as much as he fell victim to inflation, the
OPEC oil squeeze and the messed-up Ira
nian hostage situation.
The rap on Carter, from politicians who
knew him before he came to Washington,
was that his handshake was sometimes
something less than an ironclad guarantee.
He started getting in trouble in this capital
when politicians of his own Democratic
Party learned, to their chagrin, that he was
capable of changing his mind about tax re
bates, water projects and national health
programs, sometimes without bothering to
inform them. By the time he was reneging
on things like the neutron bomb deploy
ment and the Iowa debate challenge, the
game was up for him.
Reagan and his administration — com
posed of more experienced and tested poli
ticians — had every reason to profit from
Carter’s unhappy example. But, increas
ingly, they too seem to be falling into the
same trap, with the same results. And that
is more worrisome for the long run than the
financial quavers that usher in the new fis
cal year.
The elderly in this country, to take one
example, understood Reagan to say pretty
plainly in his campaign that whatever the
financial problems in the Social Security
system, he was not going to tamper with the
commitments that had been made or the
benefits that had been promised. They be
lieved that because he had said in October
1980, that the ‘‘over-riding goal’ of any So
cial Security reform must be that “the be
lt is not too late to halt the damage. But it
is none too early to focus on the risks of
reviving the credibility problem that ulti
mately crippled Jimmy Carter. This threat
is a lot more serious to the Reagan adminis
tration’s future than another month of high
interest rates.
Warped
Reader responds to editorial
T>\i
Editor:
Mr. Al-Khowaiter seems to lack a ground
basis which will justify his noble intention
to familiarize the American public with the
“root causes” of the Arab-Israel conflict
(Battalion, Sept. 30).
Reader's
The state of Israel was established in
1948. Not as an immediate solution, but
rather as an accomplishment of the bible
prophecies and the dreams of Jews all over
the world during nearly 2,000 years of
exile. Oppression of Jews has not been
exclusive to Europe. To mention only the
short period before the state of Israel was
established, Jews were slain in Damascus in
1948, in Iraq in 1941, in Lybia in 1945, in
Egypt in 1946 and 1948, and in Yemen in
1947 and 1948. Sabri Jiris, a PLO official
wrote in 1975: “This is hardly the place to
describe how the Jews of Arab states were
driven out of their ancient homes, how they
Forum
were shamefully deported after their prop
erty had been commandeered or taken over
at the lowest possible valuation.”
tstur*-
Israel was owned by Jews before !’-ipn<l
percent by arubs who lived there, fermi=
cent by arabs who lived in other ciwej'P ^
More than 70 percent of the land AP 1
ed by the British government of
and it passed to the ownership of
my guest to check this!). ■f as
The United Nations 1947‘ Parti
solution’ offered both the Jews andff;'
their own separate states. Israel anfl
the resolution in spite of its ridiil
geographical boundries. The Paw
Arabs rejected it in the pursued"
all.”
This is why over 55 percent of the immig
ration to Israel since 1948 has been from
arab countries, not European.
It is today’s fashion to play thed
the oppressed minority but this pan
issue seems to deserve a deeper I
Maybe this is why the American mil
has a different picture of the stateo(|
than that of Mr. Al-Khowaiter
E
As for “taking away the peasant’s land”:
8.6 percent of the land area now known as
■he
■ at
■ks
Roni and Pere #itudi
Bs,
Btv id
nefits of those now receiving — or looking
forward to receiving — Social Security
must be protected.
But twice he has tested that faith by
amending the understanding. Twice he has
proposed delays or reductions in prospec
tive benefits. Twice he has stirred a hor
net’s nest of criticism. And twice he has
backed off.
More broadly, the President said that
there would be certain social “safety-net”
programs for the “truly needy” that would
be “exempt from cuts.” But now his budget
director, David A. Stockman, says “we can
never promise” such exemption for any
program.
Stockman also explained last weekend
that the commitments he and others,
speaking for the President, made to Repub
licans in Congress in order to secure their
votes for last summer’s keystone budget
and tax bills were not really commitments
either.
At a luncheon with reporters, he said,
“People develop expectations...(but) we
never made any commitments. ” Well, that
just won’t wash with the Republicans who
were involved, and who understood that
assurances had been given about the fund
ing of dozens of programs vital to their dis
tricts.
What happens when one politician be
gins to doubt another’s word is a swift and
sickening destruction of the mutual com
mitments that are essential to success.
Without that mutual trust, government it
self becomes impossible and the course of
policy unpredictable.
People inside an administration get con
fusing signals from the top and are no longer
certain what is the real policy line. The
country saw that last week in the contradic
tory statements from Cabinet officers and
White House aides on school lunch prog
rams and the future of revenue-sharing.
Then the congressmen who have been
willing to put their necks on the line for the
President retreat to their customary cau
tion, and the chief executive finds himself
without the allies he needs to win the bat
tles on Capitol Hill. Something very like
that is happening to Reagan on the new
round of budget cuts.
.RIGHT, MR. PRMHDKNT. V/F-’I i. 'IURN OFF THE SIGN..
It s your turn
United Way needs more support
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Editor:
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This letter is in regard to the apparent
lack of support demonstrated by Texas
A&M University faculty, staff and students
to this year’s United Way Campaign.
Editor:
Surely one or more of the 19 agencies
funded by the Brazos County United Way
touches most of you in some way.
Faculty and staff — think about the
scouting, educational and recreational
programs your children are involved in.
And students, think of the various job
opportunities and volunteer positions pro
vided by these agencies.
I had been avoiding yell practices be
cause I was embarrassed by the “grody”
Aggie jokes I remember from last year. Re
cently, I heard from friends that the yell
leaders have decided to clean up their stor
ies. So I went to this last midnight yell and
much to my surprise and delight, the stor
ies were much cleaner.
But now a new rumor has deflated my
renewed excitement — some say
absence of crudeness was due to tb moran
sence of the PM magazine anchoupdaboi
Please clarify this matter — are weAtwitest 1
finally changing one of our less honorJbcfin
traditions, or are we hanging onto the!
form of humor?
At any rate, for those of us who
embarrassed to be seen by fellow Ags,d
dally guys, and visitors when sex-re r
jokes are told, I’d like to give oun"
thanks to the yell leaders for the change
for one of our most exciting yell practii
Michele Du Mond|
To date, only 25 percent of Texas A&M’s
campus goal of $56,000 has been reached.
This year’s Brazos County campaign ends
Oct. 2, but it’s never too late to give. Your
contributions are the only way the United
Way can work for all of us.
Sherry Evans
By Scott McCullar
I
P --- U>?r-.r.=-^=.
: r^r|( /protect your designer
jeans with the NEW
TEXAN SIZED
BELT BUCKLE
FOR THAT NIPPLE-
0N-THE BUTT look
©®»3!»/a©SK!
-—
JEA/V5 THAT /AAKE
A SZRL FEEL LIKE
A WOMAN
TUPLESS BLUE
JEAN LAGOON
STARRING
MISS "TuST-PAST-PUBERTy"
HERSELF, BROOKE
SHIELDS
The Battalion
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