4A
Tuesday, November 15, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Assisted suicide an option all states should consider
Oregon voters recently passed a measure that every state needs to consider an'
state needs to consider and voters need to pass.
Measure16 makes doctor-assisted suicide legal. It allows a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to patients who have made verbal and written requests to be allowed to die.
A highly emotional issue, euthanasia has been a common practice for many terminally ill patients. Measure16 allows doctors to make sure that the suicide is as painless as possible with the greatest chance for success.
No person should be forced to live through months, or even years, of suffering and financial draining if they want to die. Without a physician's help, many terminally ill people would feel that there was no way to end the suffering, at least not a way that was fool-proof and created the
RIGHT TO DIE Legalize assisted suicide
smallest amount of inconvenience for the patient and the family.
One necessary clause not included in Measure 16 is a gag rule that would prevent doctors and other health professionals from encouraging patients to commit suicide. The gag rule would serve to prevent misuse of the measure and to provide a means for prosecution if the rule were disregarded.
It should be left up to the voters in each state to decide what course they wish to take on the issue. But voters should carefully consider the rights of terminally ill individuals to decide their fates.
Legalizing assisted suicide not only gives people the right to die, but it also gives them the right to live without fearing the pain and suffering that a prolonged terminal illness would inflict upon them.
DONELLA HEARNE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
Military cuts should not pay for morale boosting
Last week, Pentagon leaders declared that they would pump $2.7 billion into military morale-boosting measures and that the money would come from cuts in long-term weapons development programs. They noted that overseas deployment had increased significantly since 1989 and that morale was suffering significantly.
Although our military has been cut severely, it is still a huge force. As it stands, the military is designed to fight a huge superpower that no longer exists. It doesn't matter whether our new role is world policeman or protector of U.S. Interests — everyone agrees that the U.S. military must be pared down in accordance with America's new role.
In these budget-tight times,such a proposal is not a good idea.
Soldiers already receive a
BOOSTING MORALE Money better spent
handsome income in addition to full health care, free housing and travel and a host of other amenities. They are not in dire straits. Although their position is crucial, it is not intended to be easy.
There are so many government programs, military and otherwise, that need money. If the Pentagon deems $2.7 billion dollars worth of programs expendable, it should return the money to the taxpayers. As it stands, U.S. soldiers are not in such a crisis that they should get a pay raise.
Perhaps this $2.7 billion should be earmarked for the thousands of Gulf War veterans who have reported nervous disorders and other sicknesses or Veterans Affairs programs.
JACK LEARNER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
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Democracy has less than 50 years left
From that statement alone, you might think I was very happy with the results of last week's elections. That's partly true, even though I didn't vote all Republican. However, after my initial excitement, I started to feel disappointed.
I am a registered Republican.
My disappointment stems from what I see as a logical conclusion to draw about this election and about politics during the last few years. I have concluded that our nation has less than 50 years to live.
I don't want to bring you down, but I really think it's true. Our grandchildren will be forming a new nation.
Why do I think this?
Because the people of our nation are becoming more and more disillusioned with democracy.
The first indicator of our disillusionment is the low voter turnout we have in elections. Fewer people are taking their opportunities to voice their
Is there anything we can do?
Frankly, I don't think so. It's too late.
Our apathy and frustration at the status quo is too great.
If you look around, you can see this starting to happen even now.
DAVID ZIMMERMAN
opinions in an election. Why is this? Perhaps people feel that their votes are futile. Or perhaps people are completely frustrated with the whole system. Either way, these feelings are inconsistent with a democracy.
So where does this put us?
We have to care and feel that our voices are worth something for a democracy to work. Otherwise, the democracy degrades to an oligarchy where the government is run by the
I think that people also are becoming disillusioned by democracy because we are undergoing radical political changes.
opinions of only a few.
next stage. From this, we can deduce that the current government will degrade to rule by one person.
Two years ago, President Clinton was elected in a strong public backlash against Republicans. A week ago, Congress was overturned with a strong backlash against Democrats. After a couple more radical transitions like this, people will become angry at the system as a whole rather than just at the party in control.
We try to encourage people to become more active in their government, but each time the message falls upon deaf ears.
If the country's disillusionment with the system will lead to its demise, what will replace it?
For the answer to this, I turn to Aristotle's view of politics. Aristotle said that government moved in a circular fashion, from the rule of one, to the rule of a few, to the rule of all and back to rule by one. Within each stage, once the government becomes corrupt, a revolution moves it on to the
I will take advantage of a government that represents most of my own opinions — even though it won't last much longer.
For the time being, I will enjoy the first Republican-controlled Congress in 40 years.
David Zimmerman is a Wichita senior in communications studies.
Matt Hood / KANSAN
Administration should accept GTA decision and communicate
The University of Kansas' administration had two reactions to the recent ruling that KU graduate teaching assistants are state employees with a right to unionize. First, it said that it was too early to say whether an appeal would be filed. Second, it said that it remained committed to addressing the concerns of GTAs in a spirit of collegiality. I want to address both.
First, KU administrators should not appeal this ruling. The 50-page opinion handed down Oct.18 is extremely well-reasoned, well-researched and comprehensive.
The opinion is devoid of factual or legal error and shows what GTAs have claimed all along—that an unbiased look at the facts and law demonstrates that GTAs are state employees with a right to unionize.
The opinion said that administrators offered no credible evidence for their claim that a GTA union would so antagonize University relations that it ought to be disallowed on policy grounds. Given all this, an appeal would constitute bad faith and would be a costly effort to prevent GTAs from voting on unionization for another year or two. It would unnecessarily encourage some GTAs to distrust administrators. An appeal would serve no one's interest.
Second, the claim that administrators remain committed to addressing the concerns of GTAs in a spirit of collegiality rings a bit hollow. Administrators have done little in recent years
GUEST COLUMNIST
DAVID REIDY
They have known about the GTA's concerns about health benefits for years, yet no proposal has been made. They have long known about the GTA's concerns about the number of hours worked each week for a nominal half-time appointment, yet no proposal has been made.
They have neither convened forums nor reached out to those working on the unionization effort. The only concern addressed successfully in recent years, the full tuition waiver, was largely the result of GTAs filing a petition with the Kansas Public Employee Relations Board signed by almost 700 GTAs requesting a vote on unionization.
A University committee last year did attempt to collect some data regarding the GTA experience, but to my knowledge, no report has been issued. I requested a copy of any such report at the time the data was collected but have not received any-
to address GTA's concerns.
In sum, addressing GTA concerns in a spirit of collegiality appears to be a euphemism for simply preserving the status quo, which is not addressing the concerns of an unorganized group of GTAs.
thing.
To be sure, GTAs have been and remain committed to working with administrators in a spirit of collegiality to address GTA concerns. Through every step of the unionization process to date, GTAs have behaved professionally and without animosity. Those involved in the unionization effort have passed along information and articles regarding GTA unionization at other universities to administrators in a spirit of collegiality.
The bottom line is that GTAs want a permanent place at the table to bargain over legitimate issues such as health care, hours worked, grievance procedures and pay scale. Administrators have not invited GTAs to the table and have initiated no dialogue.
And so GTAs seek a union. They seek to secure for themselves the permanent place at the bargaining table that the administration has failed to offer them.
But let us be clear. There is no reason to think that when GTAs win a permanent place at the University bargaining table, they will behave poorly. All the evidence suggests otherwise.
David Reldy is a doctoral candidate in philosophy.
NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES Murdered boys
Many people were still speechless ... when the latest word got around about the well-publicized South Carolina "car jacking" case. Susan Smith, the woman who had deceived a nation for nearly two weeks about her missing toddler sons, had confessed and been charged with their deaths.
How could a mother do this to her sons? How could she stand before a nation and plead shamelessly for their safe return? If she didn't want her sons, why didn't she just give them to her ex-husband or give them up for adoption? Why take their lives?
The Susan Smith case clearly illustrates a problem most Americans are touched by in some fashion. Call it a lack of so-called "family values," but in plain terms, there are too many young parents who are not prepared for parenthood and are not willing to make the enormous commitment required to raise a child.
When you add divorce, dating and remarriages to the equation, the children often become extra baggage. They are passed around among relatives or become helpless pawns in the emotional wars between ex-snouses.
In this case, are we so shocked because of the boys' deaths or because of the convincing charade Susan Smith carried on?
Middletown Journal
Middletown, Ohio
Altered foods
The Food and Drug Administration's approval of a genetically altered tomato — which employed a fish gene to slow the ripening process — may have been successful with a lot of farmers, but it has been greeted with a sense of unease by consumers. Had the FDA really thought through the ramifications of genetically altered foods?
And now the FDA has given approval to seven more genetically altered foods. One of the products recently approved by the FDA is a chemically altered potato that exudes its own pesticide. How comfortable can you be cooking a potato that also sprays for pests?
The concern is justified. The FDA seems to be forging ahead into this brave new world a little too hastily. No one will suffer if that toxic tuber goes back on the shelf a bit longer while the FDA spends more time exploring the long-term implications of putting genetically altered foods on our dinner tables.
The Press-Enterprise Riverside County, Calif.
HUBIE
By Greg Hardin