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Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, March 7, 1988 Opinion Ini William Shatner can be our Super Tuesday hero March is the cruellest month, breeding candi dates out of the dead electorate, mixing promises and handshakes, stirring dull cam paigns with south ern delegates. That’s right, gang. Tuesday is our first say in the Mark Nair 1988 presidential race. Tuesday is Su per Tuesday — the Southern Response. This is what happens. Tomorrow 20 states (not all of them southern, but that really doesn’t matter) will hold a huge shindig, an election if you will, to see who each state wants as its presidential nominee. Actually, it’s a bit more com plicated than that — it also has to do with the Party Delegates. You see, when you vote on Tuesday, you actually are helping decide which candidates get how many delegates (Texas, The State in the Super Tuesday ruckus, has 183 Democratic delegates and 111 Republi can delegates to give away. In all, Super Tuesday offers more than 1,300 Demo cratic delegates and 700 Republican del egates). The number of delegates a candidate receives is deee-rectly proportional to the number of votes he received in the state’s primary or caucus. So, say Paul Simon steals away from the Super Tues day offensive with all the Texas Demo cratic delegates. When the Democratic National Convention rolls around, these delegates convene at the convention, jump up and down, hoot and holler and say they like Paul. (Convention delegates are strange an imals. They are the few, the insane, the foolish. Watch the convention; you’ll be lieve me.) But to get back to the point. Here at The Battalion, we have received roughly 86,591 letters to the editor ex- Look before voting In reading Jeff Farmer’s column “Keep Those Min isters Out of Offi- Ricardo Davis ce” (Feb. 19, Guest Columnist 1988), I am led to ask what qualifies a person to do a job. Mr. Farmer’s rationale for his pre requisites for the presidency obviously have not been logically thought out. For instance, “no legal firm is run by a phys icist,” yet I know chemists specialize in patent law and some scientists start con sultation firms. Why? Because they edu cated themselves on areas outside the traditional scope of chemistry. Why does a math (or any other non-journa lism) major write columns in a college paper? Hopefully because he has trained himself as a writer and knows the responsibilities of a journalist. In writing on any subject he investigates and obtains first-hand, reliable informa tion; then, he objectively familiarizes himself with the subject. He works to provide a clear knowledge base for his comments to avoid misrepresentation, distortion, or libel. He tempers his work with honestly and integrity. Unfortu nately, Mr. Farmer’s article does not qualify as responsible journalism. When one applies for a job, the per sonnel representative basically considers the applicants training, experience, past achievements and personality. The same holds true for the presidency. Each voter acts as an “interviewer”, ob taining position papers and “resumes.” The voter questions the candidate or hears the candidates questioned to get their views. Mr. Farmer gives the reader three small sentences as qualifications for Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson; one mentioning both candidates’ “theo logical training,” and one pitifully small sentence for each candidate to elaborate on his qualifications. Whereas the meat of the article elaborates on the support ers of the candidates and the failure of recent presidents (due to their igno rance of and inexperience in federal legislative government). A careful look at the history and operation of the fed eral government shows that you don’t need to be a tenured bureaucrat to run the country. However, in certain areas the entrenched federal bureaucracy tends to run itself with little executive interference. Even Mr. Farmer’s compa rison of Pat Robertson and Jesse Jack- son with the other candidates is weak. He presumptuously touts all candidates as at least “adequately qualified, except for the two ministers.” Concerning the Christian voters who “are not amused” by the condition or our present government, the main rea son for their involvement in politics re sults from an increased awareness that the Scriptures address all areas of civil government. They look over the past 30 years of American civil government and realize there is no difference (in prin- Ricardo Davis is a graduate chemistry student. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Sue Krenek, Editor Daniel A. LaBry, Managing Editor Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor Amy Couvillon, City Editor Robbyn L. Lister and Becky Weisenfels, News Editors Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor Sam B. Myers, Photo Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac ulty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department of Journalism. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1 111. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col lege Station TX 77843-4 111. plaining which presidential candidate is the best and which one is the worst for The Job. Usually a letter follows these lines: “EDITOR: Doofus Dooley, son of an All-American lumberjack and auto worker was raised in an All-American log cabin by an All-American family. When Doofus was not painting his All- American house the wonderful colors of Red, White and Blue, he was engaged in doing All-American homework for those less fortunate than him. In his spare time, Doofus plays All-American rules football and drinks the All-Ameri can drink, Coke-a-Cola. Doofus knows what he is doing and will nuke the God less Commies if they even sneeze the wrong way. Vote for Doofus Dooley if you are a true, red-blooded All-Ameri can American.” Way to go, Doofus. Personally, I think it’s fine if someone wants to give all of our All-American Texas delegates to such a candidate. That is what America is all about, get ting a Doofus in the Great White House. So far, we’ve been very successful. As for me, though, I think I’ll reserve my vote for a man who can really, really, do the job. A tough man, a stern man, a man with the answers. For such a per son, we have to look no further than syndicated TV. There! There, on the bridge, sitting next to the tall guy with the pointed ears, it’s our man, our pal. Yes! William “the funky dude” Shatner. Think about it. Who could direct, star, star, star and star in the fifth Star Trek sequel and still look like a 20-year old kid? William, that’s who. Who else could stand the strain of ac tually portraying a streetwise, rough- and-tumble copper named Hooker? (A strain, by the way, that is comparable to the strain of the presidency.) Nobody except William “the Shat” Shatner. Who can better portray the goofy, ar rogant, pompous, Grecian formula-la den, inept American President? Who can fill the shoes of Ronald Wilson gan: Bill “Beam Me Up” Shatner. Born in Canada but, gosh darn, a percent pure All-American, Will Shatner can keep America strong, l America great. William Shatner — togo where no politican has gone before. But (heavy sigh) even with my inces sant ramblings, even with my logicaland intelligent arguments, even with sparkling oratory, we’ll probably endup with some Doofus in the White House anyway. I guess this is now the New Ira dition in the grand U.S. of A. It's the style. How do you think Harding eve got into office? After eight years of that, though,and four years of this, I wonder, without the wise guidance of William Shatner, I we’ll ever learn. Mark Nair is a senior political sn'ence major and opinion page editor for The Battalion. ciple) between “liberal” and “conservati ve” humanists. They also see that Chris tians who are ignorant of what the Scripture teaches concerning civil gov ernment are ineffective in office. His tory testifies over and over that when “the righteous rule the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule the people groan.” Joseph the patriarch, Deborah (one of Israel’s first Judges), King Jo- siah, King David, and Daniel (governor during the Babylonian and Medo-Per- sian rule over Israel) are a few examples of how righteous rulers, who don’t “bow the knee” to their ideologies, bring the glory of God to any nation (2 Kings 22- 23; Daniel 3,6). Instead of cowing under the world’s cry “you can’t legislate mor ality — the Church is separate from the State” and allowing the legislation if im morality, Christians are realizing that “morality cannot be legislated, but be havior can be regulated. Judicial de crees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.” Christians are reading the First Amendment and finding that the restrictions are on Con gress, not the Church; people’s eyes are being opened to the magnitude of the intellectual scandal and “newspeak” concerning the First Amendment.” In addressing the issue of qualifica tions, I’ll give Mr. Robertson and Mr. Jackson the acid test. The Scriptural imperative concern ing protection of innocent lives from harm is one principle both candidates address. God sees abortion, infanticide and euthanasia as abominable, mur derous acts. How do our minister candi dates stand on these issues? Pat Rob ertson affirms the Scripture’s teaching by condemning the slaughter of millions of preborn children and favors legis lation protecting the lives of the elderly, infirm and preborn persons. Jesse Jack- son supports the Roe v. Wade decision and opposes any legislation to protect the lives of these people. I challange every registered voter to take the “interviewer’s approach.” In formation is available from various stu dent organizations supporting various candidates in the MSC; these sources al most always provide reliable informa tion. Persue the candidate’s “resumes,” comparing their training the experi ence. Investigate their dealings for in tegrity and competence in “public” and “private” life. Listen to them speak and answer questions in debate. Once you’ve chosen your candidate, help him with a little sweat off your brow or a few dol lars. Aid his campaign in some small way. Then vote in the primary on March 8th. If you wait until the general election November 4th, you may not like the slate. If you do not vote for your choice in the primary thinking your can didate’s chances were slim, then the fault is yours. NON NON. SON- VOO WUN YOU'D WANE TOGKJN By More p 'ear’s Int< icfore, T tudents ; vound do Interna iaturday i nony nan 'ear. Chri he Inten ion from lamed on "or holdir :ver put o The In jation als tanding i 'ear. Gat how chai he aware las to ha joint rath dio wins lated in r ties, he sa Carran, Mexico-1 ast semes age nurr victims. The r that MS, the cer strikes 5 sons in t said Frei of the Pa “At 5( have abc “We hav cause w< Mail Call Those silly senators EDITOR: prove the world around them. One has only to look at Guy Broom, Chet Brooks and Kevin Murray to realize the kind of man Jackie Sherrill is. Just whatever is the matter with those silly faculty sen ators? Imagine them harassing the Board of Regents for bestowing a full professorship with tenure upon the great Jackie Sherrill. Obviously this overly objectionable group of bookworms is completely unaware of Mr. Sherrill’s unique qualifications for such an appointment. Let’s face it, if this were high school, these senators would be the nerds jealous of the Friday night hero who always gets the girl. The man may not have the “academic qualificatins, ex perience and/or achievement in arts, letters or sciences outside the academy” to warrent such an appointment, yet he does something which is far more valuable. He molds young men into great leaders of society, men who can go into the world and use the social skills and discipline they learned through years of toil on the football field to im- I would also like to take this time to nominate the Bagwhan Shan Ranjeesh to replace Frank Vandiver as President of Texas A&M University. Once you get right down to it, he is the only one capable of filling those shoes. Michael A. Dunn ’88 Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. 1'he editorial staff rt- serves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the clas sification, address and telephone number of the writer. 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