Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1988)
Opinion The Battalion Tuesday, Nov. 8, 1988 Voter’s Guide not Constituents must educate meant to persuade themselves before election In Monday’s Voters’ Guide, a listing was given of the views of George Bush and Michael Dukakis on the issues concerning defense, for eign, economic and domestic policies. The Battalion has received several calls inquiring about the partisanship of the guide. The Vot ers’ Guide was neither an endorsement nor a paid advertisement for either candidate. The guide, compiled from information from the American Freedom Coalition, was an attempt to provide an overview of the presidential candidates’ opinions on the issues and was not meant as a push for either candidate. We used the information from the AFC because it was the most complete source to which we had access. The AFC is prohibited by law from being a partisan organiza tion, and The Battalion has declined from endorsing either party The Battalion Voters’ Guide was not published to tell you how to vote, but rather to inform you of the issues and the candidates’ views. We apologize if that purpose was lost because of how the informa tion was presented. The Battalion Editorial Board No endorsements from Batt editors As the above editorial mentioned, The Battalion’s editorial board de cided not to endorse a presidential, or any other candidate, in today’s ection. By keeping abreast of current events, issues and political stances, we have tried to educate ourselves about who would be the most appropriate leaders for our country. And at the same time, we’ve tried to help our readers do the same by covering as many po- tical races and candidates as possible and by offering a free flow of ideas on the Opinion Page. However, we would not feel comfortable advising our peers on) how to use their vote. But we do feel comfortable encouraging stu dents, faculty and staff to exercise their right to vote. The Battalion Editorial Board Get out and vote. Exercise your con stitutional right. Do your civic duty and vote! Make a difference in how this country is run. Don’t be apathetic. Use your political “clout,” make sure your voice is heard and get out the vote! Take an active role. Ensure your right to com plain when the candidate of your choice isn’t elected and the opposing party hurls the country into an abyss of de struction, chaos and decidedly bad eco nomic and foreign policy. Be patriotic: show concern for the nation’s future and get out the vote. On and on and on, the list of reasons — all admirable, of course — professing why you should vote goes on . Today, voter, is the day youcan make a differ ence. You know what I say to that? “Hogwash, and here’s why.” A few days ago, I heard someone make what many would consider a shocking (but nevertheless insightful) remark, “Don’t vote. If you’re stupid, don’t vote!” Certainly this is in direct op position to the multitude of reasons why you should vote, hut this statement goes a long way in summing up the reasons why you shouldn’t vote: beingstupid. Voter, you’re stupid (perhaps igno rant is a better term here) if you vote just for the sake of doing it. Everyone else votes, everyone else urges you to do it and you’re a communist if you don’t. Besides, it’s the sign of being an adult, of making responsible decisions, of exercising your constitutional right, blah, blah, blah. Join the bandwagon, succumb to peer, parental, political or whatever pressure is applied in convinc ing you to vote. After all, it’s for the good of the country! No, it isn’t! Especially if you’re “issue Suna Purser Columnist Universi Bfeesearch expi mk fiscal year I lowed the candidates and their .cfed $245 milli< paigns, and whether they’re n s University offi< wrong, the informed voter, is abj^ encc Monday I ho cr ime 'i 1110 ranl ' h< I ■utions in the ; And voter, you really dkfstJNaiional Science you vote straight party becauseBfigures from t family has voted a straight DemoJ'jb.■ 31 show a Republican tic ket since the beginriij™ 1 '' 011 .' 1 ’ time, the Republicans or Dei: jgy SK . m alwav.saccurately reflect my Uthough stil ignorant.” You’re stupid if you vote in ignorance. What I mean by this is: Can you make an intelligent and well- thought out choice? Do you know what the issues are and have you studied them? What is your position on defense, foreign, domestic and economic policy? What are the candidates’ positions on these issues? Does Candidate A, regard less of party affiliation, address the is sues more in line with your position than does Candidate B? What effects will Candidate A’s policy have, as op posed to Candidate B’s, on the issues, our country, our citizens and the United States’ role as a “world leader?” [sity should re If your answer to any of these ques tions is, “I don’t know,” you’re issue ig norant and don’t belong at the polls. Stay home, eat bon-bons and watch tele vision. Do the well-informed and issue intelligent voters a favor — don’t cancel out their votes, whether they’re “right” or “wrong” — by casting a vote when you don’t even know what the issues are, much less where you and the candidates stand on those issues. Whether the informed voters make a “bad” or “good” decision is a matter of perspective, but at least they know what the election is all about and have made an intelligent choice. They have fol- ideologies <>i I in nnl !anuli;in\| preliminary, the these candidates, so I'll vote stnjvary little from party because the Democ rats orRfMB cn complete! licans usually represent mv politic ■the A&M h In any given election, straightpjcluded in forthco balloting may not be the best orvB based on the choice. You don’t have to look national c find extremists in all political paFTTjf 16 ~ tl11 s * -'I du.ns u- lei of eft*^^ NSF others will always be right of right | ude research ex Casting a straight party ballot>;r| s ^ e °* science t because it’s a hunih nadition oniPj™ ma y not i n i i i dollars counted Other equally absurd reason <> ( ®y NSF offiri . lK ways mean you’re electing the besi^&M administ didate for the job. Eet down you facade: study and vote for the: dates who will best serve the city,si nation, regardless of party affiliatid In essence, it comes to this: be sponsible, well-informed voter. U standing the issues, the candidate! their stands on the issues takes til tience and concentration — thing! of us don’t want to waste on somi as mundane as politics and el And if you choose not to understami issues and candidates, so be it fine. Just do the nation a favor and in the glow of ignorance at your house and not at the election polls Suna Purser is a journalism uate, a graduate student in English columnist for The Battalion. Byjacq Researchers ai ledical “whodu ,ts holding the I Cat scratch d terinarians an< ars, Dr. John I August, a ve nail animal me A&M Vel id the disease ars, but that tf sease were dis ople who have “It’s a historic Texas Maybe we should be forced to vote — or stop complaining have known abc lily been iden ears,” he said. CSD is a ba lansmitted to h Today we’re supposed to vote. Today we can exercise pur Constitutional right to pick the next leader of our country. Today we must choose between two no ble men who have worked their way to the top of their respective political par ties and now are one step away from be ing the most powerful individual in America. Or we can sleep late. We can completely ignore the el ementary schools and churches where ballot boxes are set up. We can wait and turn on the 5:30 national news to find that journalists Jiave already correctly predicted the winner of the election. Then we can wait for the new president to take office in January and watch him screw up. This will lead to complaints about the government, about the party in power, which leads to anarchy in the streets, a violent overthrow of the government and the downfall of American society. In a last ditch power attempt, we launch a full-scale nuclear assault <s)/98Q f<ARi~ Spence BRY/)n , TEXAS* against the Soviet Union, which results in the destruction of the Earth (several times with our current capabilities) and leaves nothing but a race of cockroaches which eventually will evolve and go through the same HELL we’ve just ex perienced. And it’s all because you wanted to sleep late. So how come the greatest nation in the world, the place where we let the voices of our enemies speak (as long as they don’t talk about anarchy in the Steve Masters Columnist t streets or the steps that follow), a place where you can get donuts 24 hours a day, a place where a raving madman can scream obscenities and call it a talk show, how come we don’t vote? Because we were up all night getting donuts and listening to Morton Downey J r? I think it’s much deeper than that. (Get ready for The Voter Revelation.) I think we’re too lazy. I think that just because the polls don’t come to you, you don’t bother. Right? Right. We need some motivation. The Soviet Union has over a 95 percent voting rate, the highest in the world. We need to be told to vote. We need pressure and stress, like our boss standing there breathing down your neck saying, “TWO MINUTES TO DEADLINE! YOUR FIRST BORN WILL BE MINE!” (Boy, I sure hate editors.) We apparently can’t respond to vot ing unless it’s a requirement, so let’s make it a law. Forget the war on drugs. Let’s hear it for the war on non-voters! All we need is Nancy Reagan in the Red Dress® making her plea to “Just Go Vote.” With this method we wouldn’t even need to register. Save time and money, right? Right. I knew you’d see it my way. Instead of registering or bothering to remember when the elections are, we could just form some militant organiza tion (like the Corps or the PLO) to round people up on voting day, put them in cattle cars, take them to the polls and, at gunpoint, watch them vote. How much could a cattle car cost any- AT LONG LAST way: It only gets expensive when you those ignorant protestors who w rather be shot than vote for presidi (Although I’d bet there’d bequitea bullets taken over the choice we us® have — take this year, for examp! short Cheek or a Republican. “Um cuse me, sir? Did you say that wasa or a .45?”) But bullets don’t cost either. Then they could just hold elect* whenever they raised enough me for the transportation. But there drawbacks. With the Republicans in power would require deficit-spending viously not a high priority with voi now) without new taxes (“Who! that? Blasphemy! Off with his Id ue!”), so it would take longer toacf the money necessary. With the Dei crats in power, there would be t# taxes, but welfare recipients wot thrive, so the population would end much larger and more money would necessary for transportation. Of course, after a while, count votes would become obsolete. Who* is in office could just pick the nextf (or girl — maybe we’ll be liberated ists) and we could roll right along sure the party in power would be traordinarily fair and use infalli judgment before selecting itself toi for another term. By this time though, revolution in Soviet Union would have turned tl* around to a republican form of gotf merit. China would follow suit and would be alone in our oppressive ciety. We woidd try the last ditch po» play and end up nuking the world. So our choice is that we destroy® selves while enjoying our freedomot destroy ourselves without freedom am known widely for my optimism don’t think that decision is tootougli As for me, just wake me upwhenl 5:30 news comes on. Steve Masters is a senior journf major, senior staff writer and a coin 1 nist for The Battalion. Mens Lai Texa: Wat $3 The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Lydia Berzsenyi, Editor Becky Weisenfels, Managing Editor Anthony Wilson, Opinion Page Editor Richard Williams, City Editor D AJensen, Denise Thompson, News Editors Hal Hammons, Sports Editor Jay Janner, Art Director Leslie Guy, Entertainment 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. BLOOM COUNTY by Berke Breathe -hOS-MitniA rapi UUtL It