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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1986)
Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, April 7, 1986 Opinion Skepticism, selfishness hallmarks of democracylE Notebook in hand, I went to the Wiley Lecture Series last Tues day night deter mined to dig out a column. And after that “Cotton Bowl” of the lec ture circuit, so dubbed by George Will, had tooted its Cynthia Gay final fuzzy opinion of the evening, I ex perienced what I think the audience in mass experienced — a higher degree of intellectual confusion. For two hours we listened to two pres idents and a historian discuss interna tional interventionism. Their names on the marquis had drawn us in, and, when it was all over, they had bequeathed to us wrinkled brows and an unsettling feeling that Reagan was doing nothing right, and if we weren’t skeptical, we should be. After all, isn’t that the hallmark of de mocracy — being skeptical of whoever’s in power, look but for yourself, and then demand more? This historic meeting of Jimmy Car ter and Gerald Ford revealed far more than their insights and opinions. It made painfully clear the inherent weak ness of this political system of ours that’s subject to the ebb and flow of our suspi cions, doubts and fears. Or, as George Will put it in an earlier seminar: “The problem with American government is that it is responsible to a fault. The government with that ethic is incapable of leadership, and leadership is getting people to do what they would rather not do.” We would rather not fight a war. We would rather not send troops to Nicara gua. We hate that innocent Americans are getting bombed out of airplanes, but we’d rather not bomb Libya. Further more, we’d rather not believe that the Soviet Union might want to destroy us some day. Throughout the Wiley Lecture, for mer presidents Ford and Carter and Dr. Stephen Ambrose catered to every one of the above stated fears. They each had their own set of facts, disagreeing with our president’s course in varying de grees. But the saddest moments of the evening came when the audience re sponded. The more the speakers con demned, the louder the claps. Yes, the men who’ve made a profession of read ing the public’s response had succeeded again. But all these successful deceptions merely fortify our illusions, and we feel excused to forget it all for the time be ing. It’s just so easy to say we don’t be lieve the administration’s tough talk be cause we don’t trust Reagan. It’s easy to imply that because he’s the so-called “Great Communicator,” he must be ly ing. And it’s so much easier than saying we don’t want to believe him because we are running scared. Example: Nicaragua. Carter said Tuesday we should send troops only when the United States is di rectly threatened. Ford then agreed that Nicaragua was not a military threat to this country. Their assertions are deval ued, however, in the light of the simple, available facts. Nicaragua’s location poses a threat. With coasts on the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the nation has access to sea lanes that carry one-half of the U.S. crude oil. Moreover, it’s a mere half hour by jet to the Panama Canal. When we laughed at the notion of the Sandinistas in Har lingen, they laughed right along with us. Why should they advance north when they’re in the catbird seat at home base? Nicaragua is a strategic hot spot that should be raising America’s eyebrows right now, not after some potential, dis- asrous fact. “In its foreign policy, Nicaragua to day is indisputably aligned with Mos cow,” Time magazine recently reported. It may be indisputable, but lest we for get, that obvious truth was debated loud and long a few years ago by the same people now telling us that these commu nists mean us no harm. MARGULIBS nm © W86 HOUSTON Pt>5>r 1| H || II United Feature Syndicate Carter proposed we negotiate. Ford said we should pressure the Sandinistas to reform. Many of our congressmen have expressed their heartfelt desire that “we actively pursue negotiations.” Yawn. Each time they’ve ballyhooed to solve the situation at the conference ta ble, Reagan has retorted that we already have tried 10 times. In other words, ignore the fact that the Sandinistas have the largest army in the region (62,000 troops), that they are trained by more than 3,500 Cuban and Soviet military advisers, that they’ve re ceived $500 million in aid, (five times more than the Contra aid package our House of Representatives voted down) and most recently, 12 Mi-24 helicopter gunships.' In the midst of this verbal battery fire, Americans once again can choose to believe Reagan or claim he just hasn’t tried hard enough to negotiate. Now mind you, the administration is dealing with a regime that’s caused 250,000 Ni caraguans already to flee their home land, a regime that was receiving U.S. aid in 1980 when it went behind our backs to Moscow, a regime that sends its students to Cuba and the Soviet Union to enrich themselves in the totality of communist propaganda. Tried and untrue, the Sandinistas promised their people democracy, bet ter living conditions, and a free press six years ago, and the Nicaraguans are now worse off on all three counts. Daniel Or tega heads a nine-member directorate mirroring the Soviet Politburo and en forced by the DGSE, the Nicaraguan equivalent of the infamous KGB. The people stand in lines waiting for basic staples and hoping to have enough to eat.. All television stations, radio stations and newspapers are controlled by the Sandinistas. Radio Catolica lost its voice Jan. 1 because it delayed Ortega’s New Year’s speech. The last independent newspaper. La Prensa, also was forced into government censorship. Four of La Prensa's reporters and one photogra pher have been jailed and five newspa permen live in exile. “Only the public opinion of the West ern world can save us,” editor Roberto Cardenal Chamorro said. “For this rea son, the international propaganda ma chinery of the Sandinistas aims to pre sent us as traitors to the motherland who have sold out to Ronald Reagan and as unprofessional journalists t are despised bv the Nicaraguan| Solidarity with the free World is the; I ygen necessary for our continued t tence.” Chamorro apparently doesn't reti I this American democracy is farfa united. But then he didn’t attends Wiley Lecture Series and hearAirisl cans applaud our speakers’ suggatti to cast more olive branches at theSai nistas. And he’d have trouble diges Ambrose’s view about communis^ “They’re sane, rational men . want to enjoy life in peace.” Chamorro has faith that Amenc | can listen only so long as these mem calm our fears before we wakeupto increasingly dangerous set of real The only question is, how long is long? Cynthia Gay is a junior jourmlismi i jor and a columnist for The Battik Buchanan a Washington oddity honest and ideologico Letters to the editor have blasted him. Edi torials have de nounced him. Members of Con gress have called for his resignation and George Mc Govern, indignant and eloquent, says he has “crossed a line.” I am talking of Patrick Buchanan admitted that his influence was limited. He had wanted to put Jonas Savimbi in the hero’s chair at the State of the Union message but had, alas, been overruled. The world lost yet another hero and I another column. Richard Cohen about whom, I promise, you should care not one whit. He punches the clock like you and me. We are excused for not knowing that because Buchanan is being treated as if he were his own man — a loose cannon at the White House. Only a year ago, however, the papers were full of stories about how Buchanan was being ignored and, indicative of political impotence, given a windowless office. He himself What was really lost was perspective. It was, of course, Buchanan who penned that now infamous op-ed piece for the Washington Post. In it, he enun ciated the Buchanan Doctrine that holds that you either favor the president’s mindless Nicaragua policy or you are, sorry if the shoe fits, a commie symp: “With the vote on Contra aid the Demo cratic Party will reveal whether it stands with Ronald Reagan and the resistance — or Daniel Ortega and the commu nists.” The choice is yours. Ronald Reagan I leave to you. But it says plenty about the president’s popu larity and his amazing ability to be held harmless for what he does. Not only do his critics pretend that Buchanan is an independent operator but, in a telltale salute to Reagan’s standing, they call upon him to resign. Perish the thought that they should demand that Reagan fire Buchanan: That would be holding the president responsible for being president. office. The fact is that (5) the elimina tion of the communist regime has been the goal all along and the president (6) has been less than candid. But there is another choice. And that is to recognize that Buchanan is the president’s man. On this issue he has been told, or allowed, to red-bait. What this says about the vaunted character of But the president is the president. When it comes to Nicaragua, he has chosen a certain course and wants a cer tain outcome: the elimination of the Sandinista regime. The means to that end entails a liberal amount of 100- mule-team snake oil. A Gontra aid pro gram that once was (1) supposed to get the Cubans out of Nicaragua and then to (2) interdict the flow of arms to El Sal vador is now (3) designed to prod the Sandinistas to the bargaining table so that they can (4) be persuaded to leave Reagan’s intentions should come as no surprise. He is a fervent anti-com munist and always has been. When it comes to the Sandinistas, his ideology holds they can not be trusted, they will enter into military agreements with the Soviet Union and, indeed, they are sim ply an outpost of the U.S.S.R. For these red pests only the Orkin man will suf fice. In the context of American politics, that is not an unorthodox view, and maybe there is something to it. But the president plays cute about what he wants. Other presidents — Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson — took hell for their lack of “candor.” Not so for Rea gan. He gets to hide his intentions un der a bushel of terms that would make a Soviet propagandist blush — freedom fighter, for one — and everyone si hosannas to his openness and hones Reagan’s ultimate achievementasaji tician is to be seen as somethingelse Now the call is for Buchanan to( on his sword for red-baiting. Bud chanan is that Washington oddity: honest man, burning with ideoloji zeal, who wants to leave theworldte for being in it. He gave up year jiving and jabbing on televiss -writing columns and doing speeches windows, though) for the $75,100ai of a presidential assistant. Hedidt because he knows that Ronald Ri his kind of president, that the them hold identical views on Nicaraj communism and what history about Democrats who, in their« chose wrong. The old lament of conservativese let Reagan be Reagan. NoneedforA Pat Buchanan already is. Richard Cohen is a columnist to Washington Post Writers Group, Bo crii wit bat Everyone guilty of prostitution EDITOR: Almost everybody in society is guilty of prostitution. If you want to persecute everybody that sells themselves then you’d see an empty world. From hooker to head of the board of directors of a major corporation, whether it’s your body or mind, it’s all the same. In fact, I respect hookers more than the businessman or engineers because it’s not their minds that they’re selling. I get a little irritated when I read articles such as Loren Steffy’s. People don’t understand and can’t accept the fact that there aren’t any levels in this world. I think the church has the grab on this market of insecurity. Everyone is too ashamed or just doubt themselves and so they have to look outward and either acknowledge their powerless stature as a mere mortal, or they have to attack. But more than too often people forget or don’t realize that the repercussions of these attacks are more painful and only complete a part in a never ending cycle. It may be because of society’s — Mail Call — insecurity and outlashes that negative self-images occur, and that they come back to haunt you. Yes, I condone prostitution. I condone everything in life except for not enjoying everything that there is and for preventing others from doing the same. Mark Padovani Not leaving EDITOR: Tuesday evening, while driving down Texas Avenue to get to this illustrious institution, I was “fortunate” enough to have to stop at a red light next to a yellow station wagon filled with four male Aggies. As we turned on to Jersey Street, one of those wonderful, well-bred, open-minded Aggie gentleman yelled out “Chink” at me. Well guys, you probably know who you are. (Yes, you’re the ones who turned into the golf course parking lot.) But, then, most likely, you can’t read this anyway. With the ignorance that you demonstrated to me when you called me a “Chink,’Tm sure reading is beyond your level of intelligence. I’m disappointed. I’m supposed to be living in the best country in the whole world. Yet, I still encounter “Chink,” and “Gook,” here and there. What’s even better is. when people try to imitate Chinese. (Boy, when I plan to learn Chinese, I hope I can imitate the sounds as well as some of you can!) I’ve been an American citizen for 14 years. I hate to tell you this folks, but I can’t change the color of my skin nor my hair, nor have plastic surgery done to my face so I can look like a true American. But then, how many of you out there are true Americans? I guess you’re stuck with me and others who look like me. And no matter what some of you said or will say to me, I’m not leaving. Think about what I just wrote. If some of you can think! Nguyen Hien Dung ’87 Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length. 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