i I
i i
Jimiuumuiuimuiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiimiiiiu
'i
I a
The Battalion
Viewpoint
October 14,19S
ii
Slouch By Jim Earle
“It's not a bad idea, but do you really think that we ’re going to
always have power shortages?”
A new breed of liberals emerges
By IRA R. ALLEN
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Starting with George
McGovern’s defeat in 1972, liberalism has
been on the run.
Now that it’s in full retreat, a re-polished
brand of liberalism has begun to emerge in
the Senate, where there is always a plenti
ful supply of deep-thinkers willing to have
their ideas — and themselves — consi
dered presidential material.
Two of the latest up-and-comers striving
to make Democrats forget about Walter
Mondale and Edward Kennedy in 1984 are
Sens. Gary Hart of Colorado and Paul Tson-
gas of Massachusetts.
Hart, handsome and intense, gazes forth
on the cover of this month’s influential
Washington Monthly magazine, which
asks, “Should this man be president?” The
magazine’s answer seems to be a resound
ing “maybe.”
Tsongas has made a splash with a book
that outlines a program for modern liberals
so that they will not continue to be “round
pegs (who) no longer fit into the square
realities of our world. ”
Thoughtful and informative, Tsongas is
also truly depressing in his recital of the
dangers facing the modern world. Of such
negativism, leaders are not usually made.
The irony of each senator’s claim to
Democratic dominance is that while they
profess to be men of fresh approaches,
Tsongas and Hart each attained his present
prominence by stepping over the bodies of
their failed patrons.
Hart went from managing McGovern’s
disastrous presidential campaign to run
ning for Senate just two years later as some
one trying to “redefine” liberalism and
“question some of the premises upon which
the Democratic Party has operated.
Tsongas, once a Republican, defeated
Edward Brooke, 12 years after urging a Re
publican congressman for whom he worked
not to challenge the Senate’s only black.
One reason for Tsongas’ victory was cam
paign help from Kennedy, who had never
before campaigned hard for a Brooke oppo
nent.
Then, in the midst of Kennedy’s cam
paign for the Democratic presidential
nomination last year, Tsongas taunted his
senior colleague in a powerful speech to the
Americans for Democratic Action: “This is a
different generation. And if we do not speak
to this generation in its terms, liberalism
will decline. And if we do not meet these
needs, liberalism should decline.”
The Tsongas book came out of that ADA
speech, made well before the Ronald
Reagan juggernaut completed its devasta
tion of liberals.
Their ambitions shouldn’t of course de
nigrate what they are saying. Both are prop
erly concerned about energy and the en
vironment, with each breaking from liberal
orthodoxy in important areas: Hart touting
a strong, lean defense posture and in
creased military spending, and
urging a tougher foreign policy
Russians, increased reliance on
energy and more tax breaks for
Both have also broken from organi
on the Chrysler bailout and others
issues.
Hart, proclaiming the end of
Deal and something called a
industrial economy” relying on
communications and computerpoti
much fuzzier on the issues thanlfl
He was once quoted in Business
according to Washington Monl
saying the “agenda of the Democral
should be to devise non-progra
non-bureaucratic solutions to
vize the private sector.”
Tsongas may not make itaslan I
simply because he labors in Kennedi I
dow and is not half so telegenic as ti I
oradan.
He does, however, present a wt I
challenge to those who look at iss I
strictly political terms. He asks I
judged by readers with “an idelogicaj
slate. ”
“The question should not be whi
am consistent with liberal or Dei
traditions, but rather whether my
of reality is correct or not,” he says,
the matter of philosophy can lx
dered.”
Say in 1984?
Assassina tions
mold U.S. history
couutw#
iftssa
pis, cow
Mac
ic anni
wnsorc
fin Clul
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — So much of our life,
so much of our history, has been shaped by
the bullet and the gun that it almost makes a
mockery of humanity’s persistent efforts to
deal sensibly with the problems of this
world. The assassination of Anwar Sadat is
another cruel reminder of the heedlessness
with which violence discards the dreams
and plans of governments, leaders and av
erage citizens.
That hard lesson was first borne home to
me on Dealy Plaza in Dallas almost 18 years
ago. The assassination of John F. Kennedy
was the most fateful crime of the decade,
not because he was more important or irre
placeable than the other victims who fol
lowed, but because so much more than a
man was killed that day.
That was the day that a whole generation
of Americans lost its innocence. Many of
those people have been impelled, by forces
more powerful than reason, to search for a
cause commensurate in scale to the loss
they felt. All of the bizarre conspiracy
theories, including the one that led to last
week’s grisly disturbance of the remains of
Lee Harvey Oswald, reflect an unsatisfied
hunger for some way to rationalize the
dreadful act.
Even now, they find it hard to accept
that a man like Oswald could have ended
the hopes that were embodied in John Ken
nedy. He had brought a new spirit and a
new generation to American public life, and
his assassination altered the political cycles
of America in a fundamental way.
I have always felt that had Kennedy lived
and won a second term against Barry Gold-
water in 1964, as I think he would have,
then neither party would have come back in
1968 with candidates representing a pre-
Kennedy generation in American politics. I
do not know who the nominees would have
been, but I doubt very much that the choice
would have lain solely among Lyndon John
son, Hubert Humphrey and George Wal
lace on the Democratic side, or among
Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Nelson
Rockefeller on the Republican side.
With Kennedy leaving the White House
at age 51, it is unlikely that either party
would have willingly chosen a successor
older chronologically and more antiquated
politically than the retiring President.
America would have moved ahead with
new leadership — and it might possibly
have been spared the agonies of Vietnam
and Watergate that cost us so much of our
substance and spirit.
What Kennedy’s loss meant to the whole
nation, Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder in
1968 compounded — with special cost to
the black community. It is 13 years since he
was murdered in Memphis, and no one has
emerged to replace him. There is no black
spokesman who can command such an audi
ence. And, more important, there is no one
of any race who can evoke the moral indig
nation of the American people against the
continuing policies which shame this nation
and the world. The gap between a King and
a Jesse Jackson or a Jerry Falwell is a very
large one.
The assassination of Sen. Robert F. Ken
nedy, later in 1968, had other kinds of costs.
He was a marvelously engaging man, al
ways changing and growing. No one can
know what kind of President he would have
been, or even if he would have been nomin
ated or elected in 1968.
What we do know is that his absence
changed the character of the 1968 conven
tion, and the subsequent history of the
Democratic Party. I have always thought
that if Kennedy had come to Chicago,
somehow he and Humphrey would have
become ticket-mates on a platform separat
ing them from the Johnson policies on
Vietnam.
To bring this sad tale down to our own
time, with the assaults on President
Reagan, Pope John Paul II and President
Sadat, the calamities — real and averted —
are all too plain.
Reagan is the authentic voice of Reagan-
ism. Had he not been spared, it seems very
doubtful that the economic program he
espoused would have made it through Con
gress— for good or ill. More important, the
hope he had inspired in millions of Amer
icans, who trust him more than they sup
port his program, would have vanished.
Had Pope John been felled, not only
would the Roman Catholic Church have
lost its leader, the Solidarity movement in
Poland — probably the most important new
force on the face of the earth — would have
lost its spiritual mentor and protector. And
around the world, the symbol of strength in
an ancient institution would have been
mourned.
Of all these targets, Sadat was probably
the largest historical figure, a man who was
unique in personality, courage and vision.
We sense already — and will, I fear, learn
more — how irreplaceable he was, yet
another lesson in the terrible tyranny of gun
and bullet.
ity.
The
ms thr
inderga
ren fro
I'll! tour
f n camp
“We
-u
hildren,
Berzii
ir, 120
'ers will
’hations
torse, h
goats and
Library hours need to be extende
Editor:
It seems to me now that A.M.C. has
changed to TAMU and has a student body
of more than 35,000 that the library would
stay open later during the week. Last
semester, it wasn’t such a big thing because
of the availability of open classrooms
around campus to study in. But this semes
ter it’s different. With the increase in size of
the student body has also come vandalism
and theft. The buildings that were open last
semester are now locked at night. So where
can we study?
Being open through Dead Week would
allow more useful time to study.
If you agree with me, write me a letter
stating that you do. I’ll compile and deliver
them to the right person. We as Aggies can
only get things done by showing our needs
to the administration. Write: P.O. Box
3370, College Station 77841.
Correction
RRR
A caption under a photograph in .'t
day’s edition of The Battalion misftf
identified a couple wearing Aggie T-si
as Elaine and George Johnson of Hori
In fact, the couple is Nelly and David®
ens of Bryan.
One idea for saving cost of electricity
would be to close down the top two or three
floors.
Another idea is to keep the library open
24 hours during Dead Week as well as Fin
als Week. It’s an act of desperation if one
has to pull all-nighters during Finals Week.
Warped
By Scott McCullar
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Editor Angelique Copeland
Managing Editor Marcy Boyce
City Editor Jane G. Brust
Asst. City Editor Kathy O’Connell
Photo Editor Greg Gammon
Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy
Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
Asst. Focus Editor Debbie Nelson
News Editors Jennifer Afilerbach
Bernie Fette, Belinda McCoy
Diana Sultenfuss
Staff Writers Frank L. Christlieb
Randy Clements, Gaye Denley, Terry Duran
Nancy Floeck, Phyllis Henderson
Colette Hutchings, Denise Richter, Rick Stolle
Nancy Weatherley
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Graphic Artist Richard DeLeon Jr.
Photographers Brian Tate
Becky Swanson, Dave Einsel
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory nevWpjM
students in reporting, editing and photograph) &
within the Department of Communications.
Questions or comments concerning any editorial
should be directed to the editor.
LETTERS POLICY
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 woiJi
length, and are subject to being cut if they arc longer,
editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style 1
length, but will make every effort to maintain the autl* 1
intent. Each letter must also be signed, show the adW
and phone number of the writer.
Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, aJ 1 !
not subject to the same length constraints as Wj*
Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor,!
Battalion, 216 Heed McDonald, Texas A&M Uniw 1 '* 1
College Station, TX 77843.
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper
operated as a community service to Texas A&M University
and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Bat
talion are those of the editor or the author, and do not
necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M Universi
ty administrators or faculty members, or of the Board of
Regents.
The Battalion is published daily during Texas A&M
and spring semesters, except for holiday and examifjJJ
periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester,JS
per school year and $35 per full year. Advertising ^
furnished on request.
Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald
ing, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX ’
United Press International is entitled exclusively I" (
use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited®
Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein restf 1
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 11
L