k‘bn.
dnesday • February 11, 1998
The Battalion
OPlNlOfl
ATE OF THE UNION
Year
the
woman
100 presidential elections provide opportunity for Clinton, Dole to battle
[lyp;,
orai,-'
hinking about Campaign
le 2000 yet? Up until these
e ^ past few weeks, A1 Gore’s
lential posturing may have
he
Adam
Collett
columnist
' Uv the only reminder that an-
11! race for the White House
r around the corner. And if
re thinking about the race,
uir naylle you’re assuming
loallbJGore and George W. Bush
1 e among their respective
:s’ filemt-runners for the
ienjtial nomination,
i. hat’s what you’re predict-
Tlljiien maybe you’re not thinking enough. Person-
Tn ready to start printing bumper stickers for
£ v. Clinton 2000.
lOj/ait a minute,” you might say, “Clinton’s a lame
■*-^and I Dole barely made it through the last campaign
^ iut a pacemaker.” But that’s not what I meant; I’m
‘ , onrecord right now to predict a presidential race
u j r 3e«lizabeth Dole and Hillaiy Clinton.
r months now, the idea of Elizabeth Dole run-
; for president in 2000 has been given not entirely
ions consideration in the press. Bob Dole has
announced publicly that his wife is not preclud-
n y le possibility. While some in the media are chalk-
, ic talk up to hype, others have had to admit that
l|. lea isn’t totally ludicrous. Personally, I think both
n and Clinton have decent qualifications,
j izabeth Dole has a solid record of public service
Ip smooth her transition from candidate-for-
| , lady role to candidate-for-president role. She
j! ed the Office for Consumer Affairs under John-
ind Nixon. She was transportation secretary un-
Leagan and served as Secretary of Labor for Bush.
President, coincidentally, is a title she currently
s as the head of the Red Cross. And before all of
she earned a law degree and a master’s degree in
education and government
from Harvard.
First lady Hillary
Clinton, on die oth
er hand, has
also received
public atten
tion of late,
mostly for
demonstrating
savvy and grace
in dealing with
her husband’s
most recent
scandal. And like
Dole, Hillaiy Clin
ton received a law
degree (although hers was
from Yale, where she first
met Bill). She has worked
as an attorney for the
Children’s Defense
Fund, and served on the
inquiry staff for Water
gate. She taught at the
University of Arkansas,
Fayetteville. Finally, she is
generally perceived to
have redefined the role of
first lady by her extensive
work on national issues
including, of course,
health-care reform.
Although Dole appears
to have the better creden
tials (working as president
of a char itable organization rather
than as an attorney for one, for exam
ple), I still have to give the nod to Flillary
because, unlike
Dole, she’s got cam
paign-strategy op
tions.
It’s not that I
don’t like Dole.
I’ve already de
scribed how she
has been a
good, uncon-
troversial
public ser
vant, a regular
straight arrow.
L
Unfortunately, that’s about the only card she can play.
And although straight-arrow candidates have been
and continue to be elected to public office, they tend
to suffer at the ballot box when competing against
someone with an edge, a theme or a scheme.
Hillaiy has not just one, but two possible strate
gies. First, she can play the role of dutiful yet misused
politician’s wife. Just before the preliminaries, she can
go public with her story of how she supported Bill for
the good of the country, in spite of his history of un
faithfulness and shady political deals.
She can even detail how he manipulated and/or
bullied her into covering up for him all these years.
The latter method may not be currently working for
Monica Lewinsky, but one has to think that Hillary
can probably get a better lawyer.
Her second strategy option is to become some
thing of a shady character herself. After all, flying in
the face of what’s left of American conventional wis
dom, Bill Clinton’s approval ratings hit a record high
shortly after the latest accusations. It seems that all
Hillary has to do is leak stories of her own unfaithful
ness and improper political conduct, and she’ll be on
her way to the podium at the Democratic convention.
Regardless of the outcome, it should be a fabulous
media event. If Elizabeth Dole and Hillary Clinton do
win their parties respective nominations, the female
voting block can’t lose. The election might even add a
new dimension to the good-old-fashioned college ri
valry between Yale and Harvard.
And when the dust has settled, if Hillary has
come out on top, there will be one additional ben
efit. Assuming that Hillary’s tastes won’t have
changed significantly, we’ll be able to spend a lit
tle less taxpayer money on the traditional post-in-
augural redecorating in the White House.
Adam Collett is an educational administration
graduate student
RSPECTIVES
CAMPUS CONNECTION
15,fr.
fsUL
rsoik
■lose*
merican Indians
erve as an example
Len
Callaway
columnist
) ver the
past
^few
:ades, great
des have
F m made to-
rd the goal
'J reparation
he case of
tain injus-
js per
med under
banner of
ial or reli-
us degradation.
All in all, the world is more sensi-
1 2 today than ciny other point in
tory, and the list of apologies and
rets just keeps coming.
It appears as if humanity is mak-
; some effort to heal itself of past
aries and is trying to prevent
:se same grievances in the future,
rirf wever, at least in America, one
I evance is consistently missing
m ffie politically motivated, me-
-induced, regret list.
From the moment that Ameri-
i colonies began to form, the
terican government and people
irdered, raped, robbed, shunned,
[P^titui ionalized, confined and at-
pted to ruin the American Indi
community.
One is inclined to view this as
er hypocritical behavior from
ople searching for a better life or
2aping one form of oppression
another.
Americans are all co-conspira-
r ^s in this great travesty, whether by
|^ect action or by silence.
In short, the buffalo that the Indi-
s used for food, shelter and
|ms were slaughtered by the
■fends in the name of sport and
1 to rot upon the prairie while a civ-
:ation began to face its demise,
j|1 The government made treaties
d deals it never intended to keep,
the while allowing the systematic
^termination of a people.
The land the Indians occupied
I on became flooded with strange
J ople and European disease, for
llffiich the Indians had no immunity.
Over the years, American chil-
en have played “cowboys and In-
ans” in the backyard while the
an responsible for the slaughter
d abuse of thousands of people
a still touted as heroes in schools
ross the country.
Although it is true that no one
ve today had an active role in the
mise of the various Indian tribes,
it is also true that Americans contin
ue to give their consent to actions
long past by their silence.
Americans have been beaten over
the head for years about the woes of
slavery and the evil of the Flolocaust;
yet if silence is the meter, we must be
proud of our predecessor’s behavior
toward the Indian peoples.
Americans today have deter
mined, or forced the media to deter
mine for them, that they must take
responsibility for the institution of
slavery and the people of Germany
and Switzerland must take responsi
bility for the Holocaust; even though
none of them had a part in perpetu
ating either sin, they must also take
responsibility for the destmetion of a
once peaceful and powerful people.
Many use the argument that
American actions were justified be
cause of violent and inhumane raids
by the “savage Indians” on settlers
camps and wagon trains, yet think
of the way diat America would react
to a new people invading our soil by
the millions.
The Indian people never had
the opportunity to try to exist as
one with Americans because
Americans could not tolerate any
difference in beliefs.
From the moment Americans
began interacting with this commu
nity, they attempted to change the
Indians by using the mission system
to acquaint them with “civilization”
and introduce them to Anglo-Saxon
religion. Settlers attempted to teach
them their language and values, but
made no effort to understand or tol
erate the Indian’s customs or form
of religion.
Long ago, America took a pass
on the opportunity to learn and
take example from a peaceful and
content civilization that lived com
munally and took care of its own
people. In today’s cold harsh world
where it seems as if it is every per
son for themselves, maybe Ameri
cans could use the American Indi
an as an example.
It is sad that in a society where
people collectively claim to care for
those who have suffered in the past
and seem to express a desire to make
some sort of reconciliation, society
still neglects to acknowledge the
harm done to these people in the
name of securing an avenue for the
pursuit of the “American Dream.”
Len Callaway is a junior
journalism major.
SGA could help implement Vision 2020
Stewart
Patton
columnist
T exas
A&M
re
cently
formed the
Vision
2020 Com
mittee to
prepare
the Uni
versity for
future glo- columnist
ry as it
strives to
become “world class.”
The first order of business
should be a bold move to give
students power to aid in the
transition to world-class status
by creating a bicameral legisla
ture consisting of the Faculty
Senate and the House of Stu
dent Representatives.
Let’s face it folks. The Student
Government Association is little
more than a social club to which
the members are elected by a
largely ambivalent student body.
Students do not care who repre
sents their side of campus or col
lege, because student govern
ment can only recommend
policies to the unseen hand of
“The Man” who controls the ac
tivities of the University. Since
they do not have any power, the
student representatives them
selves are also lax to respond to
the needs of their constituents.
For example, how many of you
have seen your representative
this semester? Do you even know
who he or she is?
Under this new system, bills
could originate in the Faculty
Senate or the Student House, but
unlike the national government,
the administration, acting as the
executive branch, could also pro
pose bills to Congress.
The legislature would oper
ate under the same rules as the
national legislature: the house
that originates a bill must pass
it, then the bill is sent to the
other house. Once the Faculty
Senate and the Student House
have passed the bill in the same
form, the bill would be sent for
final approval to Bowen and
the Board of Regents. A two-
thirds vote in each house is re
quired to overturn a veto by the
executive branch.
One qualifier for the introduc
tion of bills will make the new
system complete: all bills related
to decreasing tuition or fees must
originate in the executive branch.
Spending issues are too complex
and far-reaching to be fully com
prehended by either the faculty
or students. I do believe the stu
dent leaders are responsible
enough to not let their new pow
er go to their heads, but every
once in a while the House would
inevitably get some yahoo who
would propose the “End the Uni
versity Authorized Tuition Bill.”
The beauty of this system is it
requires virtually no additional
spending by the administration.
All of the pieces are in place. The
administration needs only to al
low them to work together to cre
ate a better Aggieland.
This system is much closer to
how current national and state
governments are run, so it will do
a much better job of training stu
dents to enter the “real world”
beyond the University setting.
The students who serve as repre
sentatives are not the only ones
who will be better prepared.
The student body will actually
pay attention to who they are
voting for, because their repre
sentative will have real power to
affect their lives. Students will
make voting decisions based on
the candidate’s policy stances,
not because she put a Glamour
Shot next to some witty rhyme
on her 6-foot by 6-foot fluores
cent pink sign.
Students would then carry
their voting habits into their lives
after college and help reverse the
trend of fewer Americans show
ing up at the polls.
Instead of getting maroon in
the face ranting and raving about
all the problems with the Univer
sity, students could campaign for
office and make changes for the
better. Our new system would
end much of the complaining
and moaning that is so prevalent
as the academic year draws to a
close. Students would know that
they have the power to change
the situation — or their friends
would tell them to shut up and
run for the Student House.
Texas A&M University would
receive the attention of the world
from this bold statement of trust
form the administration to the
students. No other university in
the nation has allowed their stu
dents and faculty as much influ
ence in policy matters as would
occur under this new system.
Instead of wondering why
A&M should adopt this system, I
wonder why Student Govern
ment has not been given some
real power already. My mother
always told me, “If you are going
to act like a child, then I will treat
you like one.” If the administra
tion desires that A&M produce
responsible citizens, it is time it
started treating students like re
sponsible citizens.
By creating a bicameral legis
lature on equal footing with the
administration, A&M and the
world could witness the awe
some power of a fully-armed and
operational Aggie student body.
Stewart Patton is a junior
sociology major.
MAIL CALL
Character counts for
President Clinton’s job
In response to Frank Stanford’s
Feb. 9 column:
I’m not sure which is more
scary, the fact the President of
the United States may have had
an affair in the White House or
that Frank Stanford, and others
like him, try to justify the presi
dent’s actions.
If Bill Clinton considers his
marriage vows “flexible,” regard
less if Hillary cares or not, then
how strong is his word he gave in
his oath of office. The basis of
anyone’s “word” is character.
Character does matter. With
out good moral character, the
president’s word isn’t worth the
paper Stanford’s article was
printed on.
Keith D. Gatewood
Class of’99
Purpose of yearbook
missed by columnist
In response to Amber Benson’s
Feb. 6 column:
Let me start this letter by say
ing that I agree wholeheartedly
with our First Amendment
rights. They are essential to our
freedom... that’s great.
My problem actually stands
in Benson’s comment that,
“just as it is important for a stu
dent newspaper to report the
news of the year, so is it with
the yearbook.”
Wrong. A yearbook, as I see it,
is something I can glance
through with my kids ten years
from now to reminisce and giggle
at the goofy hairstyles and such.
This is not what most year
books give.
A good example of this,
which Benson even brought up
herself, is the 1995 Aggieland in
which the “controversial open
ing pages explored the problems
of alcohol abuse and racism on
our own campus.”
These are pretty serious issues
concerning our University and
world, but a yearbook is not the
proper forum to place this in. I
rue the day that I’m thumbing
through that tome, turn to my
kids and say, “... hehehe. Yup, that
was OF Army; we was all a bunch
of drunken bigots back then.
Ahhh, the good old days.”
No. That’s wrong.
Some news does belong in the
Aggieland, as well as The Battal
ion. This news is what will be the
historical text of the future; war,
famine, controversy. The stuff
that memories are made of.
If Dr. J. Malon Southerland
were caught in a kinky love-triangle
with David Duke and that friggin’
purple dinosaur, hey, that’s news.
I’ll probably remember that
and have a good story to tell, but
generic issues like the social strata
and entertainment won’t be
worth a dime.
So please, all of you who are in
charge of the Aggieland, give us a
break. Don’t sugar-coat it for the
sake of comfort and political cor
rectness, but don’t give us contro
versy for the sake of controversy. It’s
a waste of my future ‘quality-time.’
Clint Van Horn
Class of’97
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