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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 1989)
The Battalion OPINION Monday, November 6,1989 rh< Opinion Page Editor Juliette Rizzo 845-33l!Mo Inaction leads to tyranny of the vocal minoriti Allegations of censorship have been in the news a lot lately. Tipper Gore and the Rev. Donald Wildmon have in different ways been objecting loudly and publicly to read ing or viewing certain things which they find objectionable. Here in the Land of the Free — where we very much like to talk, yell and scream about various inherent rights while we seldom actually do anything to protect them — these people’s actions have stirred up quite a bit of rhetoric about the evils of censorship as opposed to the necessity of protecting our so-easily-influenced minds from the horrors of immoral writing or pro gramming. I subscribe to the libertarian philosophy of journalism, and — more importantly — I consider myself intelligent and free-thinking enough to be able to resist undue influence from things I read or see without any help from Dippy Tippy. Therefore, I disagree with the philosophies of all the above-men tioned people. However, I also disagree with a lot of the statements of the well-inten \ jsMtti I 1 Scot Walker Editor tioned liberals who have been speaking out against this type of “censorship.” The fact is, it’s not censorship. It’s censu- reship. According to unabridged Webster’s, censorship involves control exercised repres- sively, while censureship involves forming and announcing an opinion, especially one of disapproval. There is a big difference be tween the two. Censorship is anathema to anyone who proclaims belief in the Constitu tional rights of free speech and expression. Vote no to Prop, one, 11 Censureship, on the other hand, is just a nat ural human reaction that is an inherent part of our societal systems. Wildmon is one of the more recent of the morality crusaders, so I’ll use him as an ex ample. His big beef is with television shows, which he claims are full of sex and violence and adultery and immorality. (So is the Bi ble, but that’s not my point). One of Wild- mon’s methods is to make lists of all the shows he Finds objectionable, and then to threaten the companies that buy advertising during those shows (his list presently in cludes thirtysomething. The Golden Girls, and Cheers, among dozens of others). Either the company pulls its advertising from the show, or Wildmon puts the company on a blacklist, and urges all decent-minded Americans not to buy their products. The hope is obviously that enough advertisers will pull their business to convince the net works to cancel the show. What Wildmon is doing is actually a prime example of capitalism in action, and no one in the above scenario can be faulted for their actions. Wildmon sees something to which he objects, and he is perfectly within his rights to censure it. The advertisers are in business for one reason: to make money. The only way to do that is to keep their cus tomers happy. If the threat of a noycott ap pears serious enough to do some kind of fi nancial damage to the company, then they absolutely have to respond to it. Same goes for the network: If they are losing advertis ers, they have to change something to keep from losing more and to regain the ones they lost. Simple economics. Companies don’t have souls or morals or ideals, and un der our capitalistic system, they aren’t sup posed to. It just comes down to money. Same applies to the deal the record com panies made with Tipper Gore. The compa nies agreed to voluntarily put warning labels on records with adult content, such as pro fanity or sexually explicit language. Nothing idealistic here; the companies were just re sponding to public pressure in order to pro tect their future profits. (Quick side note: Record stores report that records with labels sell more than those without. So stick that on your list and cen sure it, Tipper.) (Quick side note number two: What Tip the Drip originally wanted was forConjj to pass a law banning the sale of thoxi cords. If that had passed, then yes,itwj indeed have been censorship, and 1W be writing a totally different column.) OK, so what should we do? First of all, we have to stop lettingp, like Wildmon and Gore beat us withoutd system. We need to be as loud astheti; We need to censure them, and censure advertisers and networks who given them. We need to work within the system What do you think would happenifaij people who watch Cheers, The Goldenm and thirtysomething got togethetii threatened to boycott all the advertiseml give in to Wildmon and his types? You’tti actly right. We’d win. No doubt about id cause there are more of us than thereat! them. They are just louder than weartj if we suffer from tyranny of the minoritil cause of our own inaction, then wedesti whatever we get. Scot Walker is a junior journalism and editor of The Battalion. In Matt Me Bur nett’s column of Wednesday Oct. 4, he said Texas legis lators are underpaid and need a rasie. In all probability, the great majority of Texans would agree with this, contin gent on certain conditions such as ban ning all money from PACs and lobby ists. However, the columnist failed to address the real issue — political chica nery under the guise of a constitutional amendment. As Clay Robison, Austin bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle points out, if Proposition One is approved, the Texas Constitution would be amended to allow the legislators to de termine their own pay and grant raises as often as they like. Proposition One reads,“To limit the salary of the Governor and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to not more than half of the Governor’s salary and to limit the salary of a member of the legislature to not more than one- fourth of the Governor’s salary.” Sounds great, doesn’t it? The key word is “limit.” However, taking into consideration that the legislature sets the Governor’s salary and can raise it or lower it without voter approval, the true intent of the Legislature becomes clear; to mislead the people of Texas into giving the Texas Legislature the right, without voter approval, to rasie their own salaries at will. To add insult to injury, if you will, Proposition 11 would rasie the per diem to $81, the maximum allowed by federal law. Even in public service, there should be fair and just compensation for serv ices and time rendered. Of course, it must be according to predetermined and acceptable guidelines. Those who argue that a Legislator’s job is part-time choose to ignore or fail to comprehend the realities of contem porary state government. Actual time spent in the chambers is minimal. However, in order to reach the right decision, considerable time must be spent in collecting, analyzing and disse minating the large amount of informa tion pertinent to Texas and its constitu- ents. Of equal absurdity, is the contention that low salaries are the source of all the problems and that sal aries should be comparable to those of corporate officers and professionals. Public service is not a corporation or a profession. Two factors must be considered in any discussion of pay raises: 1. Those who run for the legislature must come to the realization that, ah though a full-time job, it is public serv ice and not a career opportunity to make money. Grady D. Ray Guest Columnist 2. Legislators have certain financial, family and job-related obligations that have to be met. In lieu of raising salaries and the per diem, why not furnish the Legislators and their families with the basic neces sities. A complex of condos or apart ments could be built. Fashionable and comfortable without extravagance. All bills paid. Add a food service system and a few amenities. Each representa tive would have year-round use of their district’s unit for as long as they are in office. As for salaries, that could be deter mined by a non-partisan public com mittee, not by the people who would benefit by the raises. What else does a Texas Legislator need to legislate? - ' - Gib Lewis, the Speaker of the Texas House, recently was quoted as saying that morale was low in Austin. Public service was not fun anymore. No money and too much public scrutiny. Perhaps those out to make money should raise exotic animals or sell used cars. As to whether public scrutiny is indeed warranted, read the daily reve lations of millions of dollars from lob byists, questionable public and private activity and political chicanery under the pretense of amendments to the Texas Constitution. There will be those who argue that just because the legislators have the right to raise salaries, does not mean they will. Although the majority of the Texas Legislature are well-intentioned, honorable men and women, it would be difficult for them to not raise their own salaries. Conditions, circum stances and human nature dictate otherwise. Ironoically, you can not fault the Legislators. The citizens of Texas have allowed this to happen. They are the only ones who can change it. Vote against Propositions One and 11. Then write your Texas Legislators and tell them to become true represen tatives of their constituents. Texas does not need pawns to special interests and prisoners of individual ambitions serv ing in the Legislature. If they do change, then they would possibly de serve a raise. Grady Dale Ray is Precinct Chair man of the Brazos County Democratic Executive committee and a guest col umnist for The Battalion. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Scot O.Walker, Editor Wade See, Managing Editor Juliette Rizzo, Opinion Page Editor Fiona Soltes, City Editor Ellen Hobbs, Chuck Squatriglia, News Editors Tom Kehoe, Sports Editor Jay Janner, Art Director Dean Sueltenfuss, Lifestyles 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 77843-4111. Testing who’s timid and who’s no Democrats have launched an au tumn political offensive, accusing Pres ident Bush of timidity — which is a slightly kinder way of saying wimp. It’s a label Bush confronted and overcame when he was a candidate. Now there is a toughening tone at the White House, and from Bush’s Repub lican allies in Gongress, against the risk that Democrats can revive the image as an issue by calling him a hesitant, timid leader. Among other things, the president is vowing to stand, lobby and fight for a capital gains tax reduction, something the leader of Senate Democrats says he will not get. The House passed the tax measure as part of a budget bill, but the Senate stripped it away and differences be tween te two bills now are under nego tiation. The White House said Bush will look for the first opportunity to push the issue to a vote in the Senate, where the administration claims it can get majority support in an up or down test. Bush is expected to contact as many as 20 senators in a personal lob bying drive for the tax cut he advo cated as a candidate. “He’s going to press for it and it’s not the greatest issue of our times, but it sure as hell is a campaign promise that he kept and I think that’s what people admire about him,” said Sen. Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, the Republican whip. Another challenge to the Demo crats: Vice President Dan Quayle said Bush may pick an issue and try to veto one item in a composite bill, thus claim ing a power of line-item veto both he and Ronald Reagan have sought. “We are looking for a vehicle that might be a suitable test case,” said White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater. With that power, Bush could, for ex- Walter R. Mears Guest Columnist ample, have vetoed only the abortion language in the appropriations bill he rejected last Saturday because it pro vided federal funds for Medicaid abor tions in cases of rape or incest. The idea of forcing a legal challenge and a court decision on whether a pres ident already has the power to veto specific items is not new business. It was discussed during the Reagan years, but never pushed to a test. And nobody said it was going to hap pen this time. But raising the prospect fits the strategy of counterattack, draw ing a line against the Democrats run ning Congress, where the power to build hostage items into hard-to-veto bills always has been guarded against administration inroads. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Mis souri, the House majority leader, sounded the Democratic offensive: “The key to the current Republican strategy has been to perpetuate a pre carious status quo. Any great changes, even those that might inure to Ameri ca’s benefit, are avoided at all costs. Change is to be put off. The status quo is to be preserved. “George Bush appears to be deter mined to go down in history as the hes itation president,” Gephardt said in a speech at the National Press Club a week ago. “At least his first year in of fice could be entitled T he Year of lav ing Timidly.’” Sen. George Mitchell of Maine, leader of the Senate’s Democratic ma jority, already had accused Bush of “timidity” in dealing with the opportu nities opened by the move toward de mocracy in eastern Europe. The House has voted to approve nearly twice as much aid for Poland and Hungary as the administmi proposed. Democratic leaders and more tint lew Republicans complained at adni istration inaction in the brief andfuJ Panamanian coup against Manuell riega. Congress forced Bush into anali^Eei tion veto that could hurt Republic! the the Democrats out maneuvered bin flag-burning by passing a lawhedicj want and rejecting a constitution amendment he sought. Te “For the last three weeks, as ii Satur comes more and more obvious tharSttuk Democratic leadership of the Congrr 11011 can’t get their job done, they havelxG attacking President Bush more a more aggressively,V said Rep. Vgram Gingrich, the House Republicanwhifl For all of that, the Democratshil had trouble finding the voicesandlii themes to compete with the W:* House. Gephardt acknowledged problem, saying that congressio: Democrats must present a cohesj- program, not a batch of unconnei issues. He said they’re still trying,: hope to put together a consensusDt: ocratic agenda to be presented r year. First, Congress and the presidil will have to settle the capital gainsfiji along with other major issues—till rival child care programs; a minimil wage bill to replace one Bush vetoed^ too high and might veto again becai; of his insistence on a lower train:: wage for new workers; differences how and how much to spend fighi: drugs; the stalled budget bill that!jj forced automatic, if probably tefflfl rary, spending cuts. There’s plenty there to test will timid and who isn’t. Walter R. Mears is vice preside and columnist for The Associai' Press. the ohe bank service not yet offered that n\ight RESCUE THE SWINGS $ LOANS IN TEXAS