Opinion
Wednesday, November 6, 1991
The Battalion
Page 9
Conservatives
need radicals
Duke may open doors for other
extremist views on political issues
A s I write this, record numbers
Louisianians are pouring into
the polling places to cast their
votes in a futile attempt to elect a
decent governor. They are forced by
themselves to choose between the lesser
of two evils, not unlike our
S jsition last November:
owever, the entire nation is
watching them.
Edwin Edwards is banking
on his status as former
Democratic governor to pull
him through, though he prefers
not to dwell on his past —
probably a wise move consid
ering his scandalous history
which includes two indict
ments and earned him the
nickname of "The Silver
Zipper" for his frolics with
younger women. To a nation
that sees Louisiana as the state
which was enamored of Huey
j Long, legislated the strictest
i challenge thus far to Roe vs.
I Wade and banned Lone Star
beer, Edwards seems par for the
| course.
His challenger does not. David
Duke is a political enigma to most peo
ple. How a former grand wizard of the
Ku Klux Klan can overcome his past
without rebuking it when Teddy
| Kennedy cannot is a mystery to many.
In actuality, Duke is an evil, but a nec
essary one.
Duke represents conservatives in
the same manner that the National Rifle
Association represents gun owners.
The tactic employed by both parties is
extremism. The NRA claims to adhere
to numerous realistic and unrealistic
ideals. They hire powerful lobbyists to
push for relaxed handgun measures for
self-defense purposes. They lobbied
with comparable fervor for continued
private ownership of fully-automatic
weapons under the veil of
Constitutional rights. In actuality, the
NRA expected to win the handgun
argument and lose the automatic
weapons case.
But their methods are effective.
They adopt a used-car salesman
approach. By initially asking for some
thing outrageous, the settlement they
obtain is still very much along the lines
of their original goal.
Duke's extremism is undeniable.
He advocated paying people with high
IQs to have more chflaren. He founded
the National Association for the
Advancement of White People. His
McBumvtt is
senior electrkqi
engineering
major.
views on welfare, affirmative action
and crime follow suit. If Duke ever
becomes a force with which to be reck
oned, he may provide an answer to
many angry Americans. They will not
necessarily believe in what he says, but
he may be able to gain a palat
able settlement with the liberal
front.
Conservatives need an
extremist. Liberals have had
them for years, though they
cannot as easily be targeted as
being evil. A conservative
extremist will sound racist.
Duke does. A liberal extrem
ist will simply appear to be
overgenerous though the poli
cies he endorses may be quite
harmful. For example, propo
nents of virtually unbridled
welfare are actually supporting
a policy which would lead to a
lackadaisical underclass.
Duke wants very restricted
welfare with contraceptives
being distributed to the benefi
ciaries. In light of the perception that
much higher percentages of welfare
recipients are black, Duke will appear
as a racist. He may well be, but the
views on welfare that he shares with
many people are not necessarily so.
As a person, David Duke is not wor
thy of support. As the first conserva
tive ultra-extremist, he is worthy of
attention. In Louisiana, his politics of
resentment are welcomed with open
arms by many. Only the state with the
highest illiteracy rate in the nation
could actually put such a man in the
position to be governor.
Tom Carleton of Louisiana State
University was quoted in the Boston
Globe as saying "There are just more
angry people, more threatened people,
more vulnerable people in Louisiana,
who have been that way longer than
anywhere else in the country. It's just
ripe for anti-establishment appeal like
Duke's."
If David Duke the candidate were
not David Duke the Klansman, he
would be quite a refreshing and appeal
ing candidate.
Conservatives need an extremist
representative, one whose views are
such that they balance those of the lib
erals and promote effective conserva
tive settlements on some traditionally
liberal-dominated issues. Though Duke
should not be the man, he can possibly
open the door for the "right" person.
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Long wait for peace strains negotiations
Mideast faces difficult struggle
P eace, The dream of the Middle East, a region
that forgot what it means to live in peace. War
and conflict, intrigue and hate, have distorted
both the landscape and the views of the people.
The result is that each group's idea or peace includes
issues and demands which come into direct conflict with
other issues and demands upheld by another group. So
is peace feasible in the Middle East?
Through years of conflict,
lence, each group has developed their owr
demands and grievances. Almost always.
le and vio-
own
these
demands and grievances are diametrically
opposed to those of some other group.
The Palestinians, for example, want their
own separate state on land that is currently
occupied by Israel. The Israelis, on the other
Band, sternly oppose any such development, • f:
On die contrary, they continue settling the
Christina
Maimarides
Malmaridas is
a graduate
student in
business
administration
the Soviet Union.
Lebanon wants Israel to stop supporting the
militias at the buffer zone in south Lebanon.
Israel demands that Lebanon quit supporting
Moslem fundamentalist guerillas who attack
Israeli army units as well as villages in northern
Israel. Israel also wants all Arab countries to
recognize its right to exist, but the Arabs refuse
to even consider this as long as Israel occupies
Arab land.
The Arabs further complain about Israel's insistence
on disobeying U.N. resolution 242 which states Israel
should give up the disputed land as the only feasible
means of achieving peace in the
region.
Under such adverse conditions,
how can peace be reached? That
region is important for world
peace because of its war potential,
it also is important economically
for its richness in oil, culture and
symbolism because of its long his
tory and its ties to early
Christianity, Judaism and Islam,
Peace, if achieved, will owe a
lot to the determination of the
United States and the Soviets. The
United States and the Soviet Union
are no longer bitter enemies. They have chosen to end
their Middle Eastern policies of divide and rule and now
promote peace within the region.
With the current international developments, it is
much more cost efficient and stabilizing to make friends
of old foes and see that cooperation, not mistrust, dictates
policy. But it will be hard for our modern-day peacemak
ers to bridge the divide they have helped create over the
years between Arabs and Israelis.
However, if the United States and the Soviet Union
diplomatically make it understood to the Arabs and
Israelis that the changing world order means govern
ments whose actions impede the transition to peace in the
region cannot be financially supported or befriended,
then Mideast leaders might thinktwice before they boy
cott the peace negotiations.
The initial accusations and insults from one delegation
to the other were to be expected. After all, for 43 years
the Arabs and Israelis never had the opportunity to insult
one another in the other's presence.
The role of our peacemakers in this stage is to
make sure that the different parties do not walk
out of the negotiations.
Basically, it is well understood that the parties
were brought to the negotiating table not by a
genuine commitment to find peace, but under
pressure from the United States and the Soviets. :
To make it even more difficult for the Middle
East leaders, the fundamentalist subgroups within
each country are openly and aggressively opposed
to the idea of negotiations and peace.
For instance, in Israel, the government of
Prime Minister Shamir remains in power because
of the its coalition with radical, right-wing parties
who stand for Israel's right to all occupied areas,
and urge for the rapid settlement of these areas.
Without the support of these groups, Shamir's
government would be in danger of collapse, so he
must take their voice into consideration if he
wants to remain in office: :
Syria, on the other hand, has an almost totali
tarian regime which uses the threat of Israel to jus
tify its existence. If peace is achieved, such a regime will
have to surrender much of its powers since Israel will no
longer be a threat
The fate of peace, however,
should not be determined by the
radicals in each country or by the
self-interests of each country's
government
The vast majority of people in
the Middle East are tired of Wood,
of violence, of losing loved ones,
of living in fear, anger or in the
hope of revenge. Last week, thou
sands of Palestinians took to the
streets to publicize their support
for the peace process. And even |i
though they were booed and
attacked by their radical copatriots, they were protected
by Israeli soldiers who, for the first time in so many years
of occupation, intervened in favor of a Palestinian group.
So is peace feasible? My conclusion is that peace is
feasible, but it will take time and lots of negotiations. The
leaders of the middle eastern countries obviously need
some positive and negative reinforcement by the United
States and the Soviets to strengthen their commitment.
ace can II
achieved.
Mail Call
Help student find
lost heirloom
❖ Tragedy struck me and my family June 23
while attending a transfer conference.
The chain that held my grandmother's dia
mond pendant broke and I lost the only real
keepsake that had belonged to my grandmother
who passed away in January.
After searching the campus and hotel room
as well as what seemed to be the entire
Bryan/College Station area to no avail, we had
lost all hope of ever finding this priceless memo
ry. It recently occurred to me that someone
reading The Battalion might have found it or
might know who did.
If someone attending that conference found
my grandmother's diamond pendant, I am hop
ing he or she will let me know. I am almost cer
tain it was lost in Rudder Auditorium, and I am
offering a reward for its return, no questions
asked. Please call The Battalion at 845-3314 and
ask the opinion editor for my number.
Andrea Waller '93
Wal-Mart follows
laws about firearms
In response to Ellen Hobbs' column in the
Mon. Oct. 28th issue.
Hobbs states "... you can walk into a Wal-
mart and buy a semi-automatic handgun ... by
doing nothing more than filling
out a two-page federal form and handing them
cash."
This statement is not necessarily true. I
called Wal-mart headquarters and found out
that out of over 1600 stores, only 650 stores are
listed as having the option to carry handguns.
The person I talked to said that this does not
mean all 650 stores stock handguns.
True, in Texas you must only fill out a two-
page federal form.
But Wal-Mart abides by all state laws in the
state in which the store is located.
For example, in Florida, there is a three day
waiting period.
During this time, the store makes a phone
call to a state agency to find out if the purchaser
has a history of crime or mental disorders.
David R. Webb ‘93
Hava an opinion?!
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