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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1984)
MHDBDDHnDB Page 4/The Battalion/Monday, September 3, 1984 Students voice differing political opinion Texas A&M Young Democrats praise Mondale/Ferraro By DIB WALDRIP Reporter Texas A&M Young Democrats support the Mondale/Ferraro ticket and the Democratic platform whole heartedly, said Young Democrats president, Gary Young, Friday. Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale is a people person, Young said, and Mondale’s policies represent the mainstream beliefs of the U.S. citizens. Mondale’s running mate Ger aldine Ferraro is a great administra tor, a very strong person, said YD vice-president Catherine Poole. “Ferraro is a great gal!” she said. “It was a courageous move by Mon dale, and I applaud him.” Ferraro is an asset to the Demo cratic ticket. Young said. The platform is the most moder ate platform in years, Young said. He has not heard any complaints from the YD’s concerning the plat form, he said. The major disagreement within the party at the convention dealt with the minority planks introduced in committee. Young said. Mondale will place his priorities in different areas if elected, and Mon dale will shift the tdx burden away from the poor and middle class, young said. The bulk of military spending should be spent on preparing troops and building conventional weapons, not spent on nuclear arms, Young said. Military life should be up-graded to help recruit those who otherwise would be on welfare, Poole said. Many democrats believe President Reagan has thrown too much money at the problem without knowing ex actly what the problem is, Young said. “We need to have a defense, but not an offense,” Young said. On foreign policy matters, the YD’s believe that the people of Cen tral America should be helped, but the solution is not military action, Poole said. “The number one problem in Central America is poverty,” Young said. Most Democrats disagree with the way Reagan handled the Grenada situation; however, it was obvious that some action held to be taken. Young said. The YD’s support the Equal Rights Amendment and equal pay for equal work, Poole said. “I feel that the Republican women do not support the Republican’s stand on ERA,” she said. “It is an in sult to all women.” The YD’s believe abortion must be a personsal decision, but abortion should not be used as a birth control measure. Young said. On homosexuality, YD’s believe in tolerance as long as it is a private matter, Young said. However, the Since the convention, many con servative democrats will stay with the party because of the moderate plat form, Young said. According to Poole, the Republi cans will have more desertions to the other party because of the extreme ositions of the Republican plat- orm. “Ronald Reagan is a great states man and image maker, but he has no substance,” Young said. “The de bates will kill Reagan becuase of his policies.” YD’s do not support affirmative ac tion for homosexuals, he said. Most Democrats support “tough restraints” on handguns as a crime prevention measure. Young said. The present gun registration system needs improvement, he said. The Republicans are trying to make the Democrats look less patri otic, but Democrats are just as patri otic as anyone, Poole said. The Democrats oppose <t school prayer amendment because the United States is a country of many religions, not just Christians, Poole said. The YD’s do not oppose volun tary prayer. “We have a good tradition of Ag gie Democrats like Sul Ross and Earl Rudder,” Young said. The YD’s are working with stu dents clnd the community to reverse the apathetic attitude toward politics and elections, Poole said. Aggie G.O.P. says Republican platform suits most Aggies By KATHERINE HURT Reporter The Republican platform reflects an optimistic attitude in America that has been gathering momentum since Ronald Reagan was elected president four years ago. Grant Swartzwelder, president of the Ag gie G.O.P. (formerly College Repub licans), said Friday. The American public is beginning to see that the Republican party rep resents a better way of life because under the Reagan administration the economy has improved, taxes have been lowered and the national defense system is being restored to a g osition of international supremacy, wartzwelder said. “The platform easily suits most people at A&M,” Swartzwelder, a se nior petroleum engineer from Dun canville, said. He said the Aggie G.O.P. has reg istered over 800 students to vote in the Republican Party in the past three days. “These students include a crossec- tion of students from the Greeks to the Corps and represent the student body as a whole,” he sdid. Though the Republican platform has been called too conservative by some moderate Republicans, Lia Stokes, secretary of Aggie G.O.P., said it does not alienate moderate student Republicans in the Aggie G.O.P. “If we (Republicans) work from a conservative base, we can relax on certain measures and become more liberal to plebse everyone,” she said. Many moderate student Demo crats, however, feel that the Demo cratic platform is far too liberal, Stokes said, and many have regis tered to vote this year in the Repub lican Party because they feel more comfortable with its conservative platform. Stokes said many student Demo crats who support House Represen tative Phil Gramm of College Station aligned with Republicans when he joined that party almost two years ago. There is a general consensus among Aggie G.O.P. members con cerning issues in the Republican platform, Stokes said. “We support his (Reagan’s) eco nomic plans 100 percent, as well as his plans for strong national de fense,” she said. In regard to Reagan’s and the Re publicans’ economic plans, Swartz welder said he believes Republicans are committed to an “ironclad” promise they made in their platform to oppose “any attempts to increase taxes,” as long as the economy con tinues to recover. In view of the large national defi cit, Swartzwelder said Reagan’s op position to any new taxes is feasible because Reagan supports measures to cut federal spending and because Reagan supports a constitutional amendment calling for a balanced budget. Swbrtzwelder said he feels a bal anced budget amendment is a good idea as long as it is enacted properly. “A budget amendment will be likely to pass as long as we (Republi cans) win a majority of both the House and the Senate,” he said. Swartzwelder also supports a mea sure in the platform that calls for a presidential line-item veto. The line- item veto would allow the president to veto small parts of the budget without vetoing the entire budget. He believes the veto would give the e resident control over the federal udget that is currently denied him. President Reagan’s large national defense budget doesn’t worry Swartzwelder. He said that once America’s defense system regains its position of international superiority, that suffered so much during the Carter/Mondale administration, de fense spending will level off. America is safer now than it was in past years, he said, because of Rea- With $250 in your checking account, you don’t pay us we pay you Checking accounts at BrazosBanc are free with a $250 minimum monthly balance. We pay you 5.25% (the maximum permitted by law) for every dollar in your account — regardless of balance. Funds in excess of $2,500 earn a variable rate not less than the aver age paid on Money Market Funds. Most banks charge for checking, require a high balance for no charge or levy a “per check” fee. At BrazosBanc, keep $250 in your account and write all the checks you need. There are no “hidden” charges. For an interest bearing checking account without charges, come to BrazosBanc. Savings Association of Tbxas (A DIVISION OF LAMAR SAVINGS ASSOCIATION) HOME OFFICE: AUSTIN. TX COLLEGE STATION BRANCH OPEN LATE Monday - Thursday until 5 Friday until 6 for new student accounts College Station Branch Office: Texas Avenue at Southwest Parkway • 696-2800 gan’s “sound leadership and hard line stance on defense and foreign policy.” The Aggie G.O.P. also supports the Republican stance on nuclear power, Swartzwelder said. The gov ernment needs to continue tight control and regulation, he said, and added that “the dangers exist, but the long-term benefits (of nuclear power) outweigh them.” He said other forms of energy like oil shale and solar need to be pro moted because “our natural re sources won’t last forever.” Stokes said the Aggie G.O.P. sup ports Republican opinion that “there is no necessity for the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.).” She agrees with the idea of equal pay for equal work but said there are other laws, like the fourteenth amendment, that guarantee equal pay. Stokes said the E.R.A. is “just a feminist movement.” International studen support republicans By BRAD WHITTEN Reporter Ronald Reagan and the Re publican Party have a better for eign policy than Walter Mondale and the Democrats, according to many international students at Texas A&M. “I like the way Reagan has been asserting himself around the world,” said Nabil Abou- Kheir, a Lebanese graduate stu dent. He said he likes the way Rea gan is counterattacking the Soviet influence. “I don’t like Mondale’s poli cies," Abou-Kheir said. “The United States was pushed around under the Carter administration. Reagan is helping to put the U.S. back into a position of respect." Nazim Nemur, a senior in in dustrial engineering from the United Arab Emigrates, said Rea gan is a strong president. “I don’t think the embassy should be moved from Eel Aviv to Jerusalem, but Mondale is for it,” Nemur said. He said he thought Reagan could do more internationally than Mondale. Wahid Sliema, a Palestinian, said he also thought Reagan was a strong president. “1 don't think Mondale would address any of the problems in the Middle East,” he said. “There is a better chance that Reagan will do something because he is in of fice and has already taken some initiative. “It seems like whenever you get a new president in it takes him a while to get things together. At the end of four years they are re ady to do something and they are voted out of office.’’ He said that the U S. was only counti v that could inline the Middle East and find astl lion and that Reagan has the: eign policy that could bring alt a change. Claudio Carrasco, a junior microbiology from Chile, Reagan has done somethingi his country by recognizing it “Chili is better off thaniu under Carter,” he said. 1 Democrats didn’t give us aidf support us in any way. The I publicans are much more dined to support nations Chili." Eduardo Mendez, a Ventt lian working on his mastrn business computing science, the U.S. has supported mi “bad governments’’ in the pi but things are changing. “Americans are more am now about things in South Art* ca,” he said. “Reagan and thd publicans are becoming nt concerned with human rid They aren’t supporting gme merits just so they will be o side of the U.S." Estuardo Moran, A first agriculture student from Gta mala, said Mondale couldn't be sirring a president as Reagan. “Reagan has a better philc phy about economic aid/ Nf said. “I just hope that Cont: will accept his bills. ' 1 lungs in South Afl^j haven’t been getting worse un Reagan like they were underG lei. We needed economic aidi Carter and Mondale wouU give it to us. If Reagan stays ir fice I think Central Americai become more stable." Crimestoppers Swartzwelder applauded Republi cans’ support of prayer in the public schools because, he said, “This coun try wis created under God and we shouldn’t desert Him now because of minority complaints.” He favors non-denominational prayer by the students in a quiet pe riod each day. Sometime during the week of May 19, someone used a key to gain ac cess to rooms 323 & 324 of the Zachry Engineering Building on the Texas A&M University campus. Burglars stole an Apple Office Sys- tem Computer, serial # A3243722139508 and a TI-PC Computer with color monitor, serial #3564130193. In the same building, about four days later, burglars used a key to steal a T.I. Computer, sets 0764140571, a printer and board. These computer systoc valued at nearly $ 15,000. With your help. Crime Stop and the Texas A&M Police Do ment will put the persons respr hie for these break-ins in jail. Call 775-TIPS with yotirinfn tion, if it leads to an arrest a f rand jury indictment, we will 1,000 in cash. 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