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. FV)SCKT\OM. CORPS iNMESTtfcATto <§>mi THE RECCftD HEW OER^eV 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?! Express iti The Battalion ts Interested in hearing from its readers. All letters to the editor are welcome. Written letter must be no longer than 200 words. Letters must be signed and include classifi cation, address and daytime phone number for ver ification purposes. Anonymous fetters will not be published. The Battalion reserves the right to edit ail fetters for length, style and accuracy. There Is no guaran tee fetters wifi appear. . Letters may be brought to 013 Reed McDonald, sent to Campus Mail Stop 1111 or can be faxed to 84S-S408. l; ;