The Battalion • Page 5
Monday • July 31, 1993
■
^Presidential hopefuls learn conservative dance step
uick. everybody take a step
ipM Bforward. Now take a step
j^BLjy'baek. Now jump as far to
the ^^ht as you can.
J»|| Go on, keep scrambling.
I No, this is not a rehearsal
f for the Rockettes. It is an intro-
i duction of the candidates for
y the Republican Party presiden
tial nomination.
J Here we have Pete Wilson, the semi-anonymous
governor from California. He was having a problem
r with name recognition. In other words, nobody had
any idea who he was. Not satisfied with his 6 per-
; cent support rate among Republican voters, Wilson
decided he needed to pick an issue and use it to set
f: himself apart from the rest of the pack.
So he pressured the University of California
r Board of Regents to vote to end most affirmative ac
tion programs at all of the school’s nine state cam
puses. No more “special treatment” for blacks. Lati
nos or American Indians.
The “historic moment,” as Wilson later called it, is
■ supposed to boost his numbers at the polls and prove
to the die-hard conservative element of the Republi-
!| can Party that Wilson really is one of them.
Since he has supported state tax increases and
. continues to be a proponent of abortion rights, Wil
son has had to jump on the race issue in
hopes of tapping into the “angry, white
male” voter that every Republican candi
date is courting.
Wilson is no stranger to using race-
based politics toward his own political
advantage.
His support last year for Proposition
187, the California bill that would deny
basic social services to illegal aliens,
boosted his popularity immensely during his re-elec
tion campaign.
And on the face of it, his latest move might have
similar success. Playing to the misunderstandings
and bigotry of much of the white population could
conceivably garner for Wilson some of the notoriety
and improved name-recognition amongst Republican
voters he so desperately needs.
Yet it probably won’t for a couple of reasons.
First and foremost, a majority of Americans still
feel affirmative action needs only to be reformed, not
eliminated.
Only 33 percent of those polled in a recent USA
Today survey approved of the Republicans’ attempts
to completely do away with affirmative action.
Most agree with President Clinton that affirma
tive action needs to be “mended, not ended.”
And they are correct.
Affirmative action never has been about racial
quotas, hiring unqualified minorities or discriminat
ing against whites. It was initiated under Lyndon B.
Johnson as an attempt to combat the historical and
societal injustices that have existed in our country
for hundreds of years.
As Johnson said in 1965, “You do not wipe out
scores of centuries by saying, TSTow you’re free to go
where you want and do as you desire.’”
Those who call for an end to affirmative action in
our country have to also agree that America has
achieved complete racial and gender equality. Only
then would affirmative action no longer be needed.
And those who commit themselves to this
statement are either willfully blind or sorrowful
ly ignorant.
Yet Wilson has managed to turn the elimidhtion
of affirmative action into a hot issue and a corner
stone of his campaign.
In doing so, he has further cheapened the rational
political dialogue, while radicalizing and degrading
even further the polarized pastures of the Republi
can party. And hey, it still won’t work.
Guess what? Phil Gramm, Bob Dole and just
about every other serious Republican contender feel
exactly the way Wilson does.
And they’ve got more money.
Everybody is rushing to the far right. Even Bob
Dole, who leads his closest competitor by about 32
points, has had to endear himself lately to the radi
cal core of the Republican Party in order to prove he
is still their man.
He has criticized Hollywood in the past few
months for its “degenerative” effect on the Amer
ican family. He has flip-flopped once again on
gun control and is now in favor of repealing the
assault weapons ban.
This is the same man whose first speech as a
freshman senator in 1969 was to call for more
spending for housing for the disabled. That’s govern
ment spending, by the way. Sort of a big conserva
tive “no-no.”
Dole, who has benefited in the past from such
“liberal” programs as the GI Bill and New Deal agri
cultural programs, surely knows the value of govern
ment spending. Yet he and all of the Republican can
didates are going to find themselves having to jump
madly toward the right merely to stay in the ideolog
ical center of the Republican Party.
It is a difficult dance step, but they’ll probably get
it down.
Unencumbered by any personal convictions or
real beliefs, it can’t be that hard to run fast.
Chris Stidvent is a senior
philosophy major
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Editorials Board
Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views
of the editorials board. They do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the
Texas A&M student body, regents, administration,
faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons
and letters express the opinions of the authors.
Contact the opinion editor for information on
submitting guest columns.
Jay Robbins
Editor in Chief
Rob Clark
Managing Editor
Sterling Hayman
Opinion Editor
Kyle Littlefield
Assistant Opinion Editor
Seeking Safety
National Night Out allows students
to develop better safety habits.
Tomorrow, Texas A&M stu
dents and Bryan and College
Station citizens will have the
chance to participate in the 12th
'annual National Night Out.
The event, hosted by the
Brazos County Sheriff’s Office
and the Bryan, College Sta
tion and University Police De
partments, marks a communi
ty-wide effort to curtail the
crime and drug problems in
the Brazos Valley.
Although our community is
considered relatively safe, citi
zens can take many preventa
tive steps to prevent danger
ous situations.
Every year, crimes occur on
the A&M campus. Cars have
been vandalized. Bicycles have
been stolen. Dorm rooms have
. been vandalized.
And two students were
raped last semester.
The University has made
some efforts to prevent these
occurrences. New lighting has
been placed at many problem
areas of campus, and officers
frequently patrol the streets
and buildings.
Despite the actions of the
University, students still
should accept responsibility
for their own actions. Stu
dents should take steps to in
crease campus and communi
ty safety.
Sponsors of National Night
Out urge citizens to lock their
doors, turn on their outside
lights and spend the evening
with neighbors and police.
Students, however, should
not make this a one-time effort.
When walking around during
the evenings, students should
travel in pairs or groups.
When parking, students
also should avoid dimly lit, de
serted areas. And when leav
ing town,* students should
make sure their houses and
belongings are monitored by
neighbors or friends.
Texas A&M University has
long prided itself on the safe
and friendly atmosphere of the
campus and surrounding com
munity. In order to maintain
this environment, students,
citizens and law enforcement
officers all should cooperate in
their efforts.
National Night Out is a
good opportunity to focus on
safety, but students and citi
zens should practice these
habits year round.
i
i !
! 1
t
)
W
i
JVIail
Call
Fee increase could
price-out students
Today I received my tuition
notice and couldn’t believe my
leyes.
I had heard of the increases
which were coming, but after
all were added
up, my tuition
increased a stag
gering $989.
This is a 37
percent increase
, from last fall se-
; mester.
But wait,
jthat’s not all!
Another $10
per-seme sT e r
hour will • be
added on to my
“tuition if the
.Board of Regents votes to in-
j crease the general use fee.
The grand total then will be
$1,129. i
An unbelievable 43 percent
1 increase from just a year ago!
Now you might be saying
there must be more than meets
the eye because my tuition did
n’t rise that much. Well, I did
add one more hour of classes.
However, the real reason is
the fact that I am a nonresi
dent.
This is not the reason I
wrote this letter, however.
I wanted to show the students
and University
administrators of
Texas A&M why
it is so important
to carefully con
sider each in
crease that is
proposed and
how it will affect
’each individual.
•If not, you —
like myself —
may have seen
your last day as
an Aggie.
The new fee.increase may
not raise your tuition like
mine, but if mot this time,
maybe the next.
Timothy N. Connote
Class of ’95
MASHES*
Bosnia deserves chance to defend itself
David
Taylor
Columnist
I n 1979, Soviet tanks rolled
across the border into neigh
boring Afghanistan.
Presidents Carter and Reagan
followed a definite policy against
this blatant aggression.
Until the Soviets left in the late
’80s, the United States armed and
trained the .Afghan freedom fight
ers. It only made sense for us to
provide the Afghans with the means to resist
such an affront to their own independence.
It simply was the right thing to do.
With the fall of the Iron Curtain in Eastern
Europe, many old nations were reformed.
Yugoslavia divided itself into several differ
ent countries, including Serbia, Croatia, Mace
donia, Moldavia and, most infamously,
Bosnia-Hercegovena.
This reformation of old geography also re
newed ancient animosities.
For almost 1,000 years, the Serbs have
been at odds with their Moslem neighbors in
this region. Only the totalitarian oppression of
communism kept the tensions at bay for the
past 40 years.
After the division, Serbia armed and
trained the large Serb minority still remain
ing in Bosnia.
At that point, a new phrase entered the
English language: “ethnic cleansing.”
It seems that, for an area to be cleansed, no
Moslems may be present.
So how do you get rid of any Moslems who
happen to be still present?
Things get bad for the Moslems at this
point. The Serb atrocities reported by journal
ists and the United Nations have sparked
world-wide condemnation. But no real help.
In fact, the U.N. Secretary for Human
Rights resigned in protest this past week be-
cause all of his reports have
been virtually ignored.
In a brilliant effort to try
to keep the fighting from
spreading, the “civilized na
tions” declared an arms em
bargo against Bosnia.
The Serbs already were
getting plenty of neat
weapons from Serbia, so
guess who doesn’t get any decent guns? Yep,
the very people who need them most.
Sure, the United Nations has sent in
“peacekeepers.” Unfortunately, there is no
peace to keep.
So the United Nations declared six Moslem
safe havens — two of which promptly fell to
Serb forces.
Gee, I sure would feel safe as a Moslem in
Bosnia right about now.
During the whole conflict, the United Na
tions constantly has been threatening the
Serb rebels.
For example, this past year the U.N. com
mander told the Serbs to stop attacking the
Moslem safe haven Srebrenica ... or else.
So the Serbs took French and British
peacekeepers hostage, shot down a U.S. F-16
fighter and took Srebrenica anyway.
Effective policy.
What, you may ask, is the United States’
policy toward Bosnia?
Well, that depends on what week it is. As
with the past 40 years, the world, and NATO
in particular, has looked to the United States
for leadership ... and the world has found it
lacking.
One day we threaten air strikes, the next
we send in troops if things don’t improve.
Next, we need to use the United Nations.
A week later, we are threatening to go in
alone.
No wonder the Serbs won’t stop. They are
laughing all the way to the next safe-haven.
Last Wednesday, Congress took matters
into its own hands. The Senate passed a bill
ordering a unilateral lifting of the arms em
bargo against Bosnia if the United Nations
won’t end it.
Arguments over who should conduct for
eign policy in this country aside, this is the
best of the solutions already proposed.
Great Britain and France object strenuous
ly to this approach because they believe the
weapons may be used against their troops al
ready in place.
They, however, are missing the point.
Neither the U.N. troops nor the NATO
troops should be used to fight the Serbs in
Bosnia. They will not win, and it is not
their fight.
U.S. troops definitely should not be placed
in Bosnia. If you think Vietnam was a mess,
you will love Bosnia.
This part of the world tied-up over 100,000
of Hitler’s best troops only 50 years ago. The ge
ography is perfect for guerrilla warfare, and the
people are committed to fight for their cause.
We should not and cannot fight it for them.
The Bosnians, like the Afghans before
them, only want the chance to defend them
selves. They deserve the right to do so.
Bullies like the Serbs only stop when their
targets fight back.
The Afghans were able to successfully repel
the Soviets with less going for them than the
Bosnians.
Giving the Bosnians the chance is simply
the right thing to do.
David Taylor is a senior
management major
TTmE BATT/YLI C3LnT
Editorial Staff
Jay ROBBINS, Editor in Chief
Rob Clark, managing editor
Sterling Hayman, Opinion Editor
GRETCHEN Perrenot, City Editor
JODY Holley, Night News Editor
STACY Stanton, Night News Editor
Michael Landauer, aggielife editor
Nick Georgandis, Sports Editor
Stew Milne, photo editor
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