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Monday, October 26, 1992
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
IN OUR OPINION Clinton for president
George Bush says that given four more years, he can deliver on his campaign promises. He will also deliver the United States from its current economic problems, which he claims have been grossly exaggerated.
The truth is, in the last 12 years of Republican presidencies, the deficit has quadrupled. Furthermore, throughout the campaign, Bush has spent more time attacking Bill Clinton than advocating his own programs. Meanwhile, the Arkansas governor's actions of 20 years ago have been scrutinized and Bush's involvement in the Iran-Contra affair of just six years ago are still largely uncertain.
For the record, the differences between the two candidates are fairly obvious.
Clinton is pro-choice and has pledged to appoint Supreme Court justices who follow the same philosophy. Bush's record is pro-life and has included the appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices.
The Republicans have painted Clinton as soft on crime, yet it was Bush that stalled an anti-crime bill in the Senate — a bill that was favored by police groups and attacked by the National Rifle Association. As a governor, Clinton has signed death warrants and supports the death penalty. He also advocates a waiting period on hand gun purchases.
Both candidates have promised to get tough with welfare reform. But Bush has done little in the last four years to show that it is a high priority. Clinton's plan calls for recipients to receive education and training, after which they would either go to work or the checks would stop.
Clinton also advocates vocational training for high school students who are not planning to go to college. He also advocates revamping the system of student loans. Bush vowed to be the education president four years ago, and high goals were set for education. However, little has been done to meet those goals.
In environmental issues, Bush advocates incentives for oil and gas companies and opposes new fuel efficiency standards. Clinton supports the higher standard and has also called for higher restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions. Bush also said he wanted to be the environmental president. It has not happened.
Health care has become a growing concern as 35 million U.S. citizens are without insurance.Bush opposes national health insurance. Clinton hopes to establish a national health care budget.
One of the Republicans' biggest weapons has been the family values mantra. Yet, it was Bush who vetoed the family leave bill. Clinton, whose values have been attacked, supports the legislation.
The biggest issues in this campaign have been monetary. Clinton wants to cut the deficit in half over four years through deep military cuts and higher taxes on the wealthy. Bush has proposed letting taxpayers decide how much of their tax money should go to paying the deficit. He has not explained on how else he might solve the problem.
Furthermore, Bush has pledged to cut taxes, but he has broken tax promises before. Clinton has called for tax cuts on the middle class and raising taxes on single incomes of more than $150,000 and couples that earn $200,000 or more.
George Bush has asked us for four more years, and he has assured us that the shortcomings of his presidency have been the fault of the Democratic Congress.
The fact is that the Bush Administration has been a dismal failure in domestic affairs. It is time for a change because 12 years of Republican rule have not solved the problems of this nation. In some cases, they have only gotten worse.'
For the best interests of the nation, Bill Clinton should be elected president of the United States.
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Election process harmed by mass media's influence
Modern media, like modern advertisement, weave a web around the object they desire with the aim to manipulate.
In this marvelous year, as we exercise our democratic muscle and the power to choose our own destinies, I question whether the domination of our sensory organs by the electronic news media allows us to be free agents. Of course, we all have enough integrity to make our own judgments. And nobody would admit that they didn't think their own thoughts.
But I argue that every time we seek to be entertained by watching TV (which is always) or satisfy our insatiable curiosity in newsprint and glossy magazines manipulation occurs. Through the window of our eye a carefully chosen image enters and changes us. The power of image and representation to incite love, hate, and submission to the manipulator's will is incredible.
In history the manipulation of images and imagination for a desired effect was called Renaissance magic. The vital belief in astrology and the divinity of nature was supposedly suppressed in the 17th century by the victory of natural science, that is, a natural world that was spiritless, lifeless, silent inanimate.
For the modern to participate in the practice of magic, he especially does not need to be conscious of it. Through the careful study of our psychology the modern image manipulator can gain our faith and excite our desires without asking our consent.
GUEST COLUMNIST
I believe that the agency that controls the symbols and representations
of our culture powerfully influences our desires, prejudices and views.
MARK RENDINA
who might get mad and not give you their dollars. If you have a melting pot of a civilization, as we do, you can't say anything serious without stepping on somebody's toes.
But if you believe, as I do, that the media has a disproportionate influence on how we think and what we think, you come to the conclusion that the fourth estate, the technology of modern news media, has negated the operation of democratic process.
What does it matter whether a Republican or a Democrat is in the White House if it can't democratically influence the images entering my own living room? Some will tell me to exercise my unsolicited veto by turning off the TV. But even if I did this, I live and work with people who are saturated with media images. Each morning the nation gets a potent dose of liberal spins on the issues.
I don't see the news media as part of some form of demonic conspiracy. There can't be a conspiracy if nobody is in control. And one person or group can't control the Western news media — not in the way a Goebbels or a Stalin manipulated their respective societies with the media. No, if I was to characterize our media in a few words, I would say it was a bumbling vehicle for the liberal agenda.
And really, the liberal thing is nobody's fault either. Like advertisers, the news media has to sell soap before it can sell adsolos. So long as dollars are the focus, the first priority is not to offend any part of the market
In this election year I question the very assumptions by which the current world order is held together. I question whether democracy is the appropriate solution to the problems that face us. I question whether the marginal power of the common man's vote can contribute to the best of all possible civilizations, or whether a government so formed can build on any consensus at all. The gridlock in Washington speaks volumes. Our culture is so fragmented that only an appeal to the lowest denominator has credibility. Least of all do I buy the latest spin that "Our strength is our diversity."
I question whether soldiers like me are going to continue to risk their lives in combat in foreign deserts to maintain a fragmented, ineffective political and cultural body, and a society which has nothing but contempt for the warrior ethic and the conservative root of our willing sacrifice.
Yes, there are lots of things I would like to vote on. Yet the vital forces of this society do not yield to the vote of the common man.
Mark Rendina is a Kansas City, Mo., grad
mate student maturing in history
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"We would lose a great deal by not having Bob Dole in there. I think now might be the wrong time to come in with a freshman senator."
IS RUNNING AGAINST DOLE.
CHRISTINA CAMBELL-CLINE WHO
"People call up and say, 'Did you know you're the last name in the phone book?'
HUTCHINSON SENIOR MICHAEL ZYSOWSKI
"We didn't plan on George dribbling the ball twice before he shot the ball. We wanted to take it right up. We had Roy (Williams) working on that with him this week, but he didn't do a very good job."
—KANSAS FOOTBALLCOACH GLEN MASON ON THE HAND OFF THAT TAIL-
KANSAN STAFF
"I just don't want them on my
BACK GEORGE WHITE DROPPED
TWICE BEFORE COMPLETING a 24-
YARD PASS TO RECEIVE MATT GAY.
"I just don't want them on my property, that's all."
—JOHN WOODEN, a NEIGHBOR OF LAWRENCE PHYSICIAN DALE CLINTON. WOODEN TURNED HIS SPRINKLEERS ON IN THE PATH OF ANTI-ABORTION PROTESTERS WHO WERE DEMONSTRATING BECAUSE CLINTON PERFORMS ABDORTIONS.
Assst. Managing  Alimee Brainard
News  Alexander Bloemhoft
Editorial  Stephen Martino
Campus  Gayle Osterberg
Sports  Shelly Solon
Photo  Justin Knapp
Features  Cody Holt
Graphics  Sean Teens
SCOTT HANNA
Business manager
BILL LEIBENGOOD
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
COMPILED FROM KANSAN STAFF REPORTS THE WEEK OF 10/19/92.
MARK COATNEY Politicians can't blame the system for mistakes
Ross Perot says that the problem with the federal government is not that the people are bad but that the corrupt system forces them to do bad things.
This view, one that is gaining currency not only in political discourse but also in our everyday social discourse, says that there are no bad people, that people aren't really responsible for their actions but are merely victims of society and circumstance. Amore wrong-headed perspective on humanity and responsibility would be hard to find. This view says that Charles Keating isn't a thief but merely someone who was driven by a too materialistic society to do unscrupulous things, that the rioters in Los Angeles are victims of a repressive, racist society who aren't responsible for the death and destruction they caused, that Mike Tyson is a victim of child abuse and this therefore explains and excuses his behavior.
There is a word missing from our societal discourse, and that word is responsibility. Somehow we have bought into the myth that nothing we do is really our fault, that it is the fault of our parents, or of society, or of the political system. Government corruption, rioting, rap—all are caused by 'the system,' a river in which we as individuals are but twigs sweep along by forces we cannot control.
BILL SKEET, Technology coordinator
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr ... Angela Greening
Regional Sales mgr ... Melissa Tolipi
National sales mgr ... Brian Wiltles
Co-op sales mgr ... Amy Stumbo
Production mgrs ... Brad Bron
Kim Claxton
Marketing director ... Ashley Langford
Creative director ... David Classified mgr
Judith Standley
The fallacy of this view is that it denies that we as individuals can have any sort of control over our actions, that we have no free will and no choice. This is wrong. We always have a choice. It may not be attractive and it may not be what we want, but we can choose. The government official can accept or reject a bribe. Mike Tyson can rape the girl or just have dinner with her. Sinead O'Connor can rip up a picture of the Pope or sing "Ave Maria." And with this ability to make choices comes the responsibility to make the correct choices, and to face the consequences of our bad choices.
Business Staff
When we blame society, our parents, our education or our political system for our shortcomings and failures, we evade this responsibility and we undervalue our worth as thinking human beings. If we truly believe that the individual is not to blame for bad actions, the individual is not to be praised for good actions either.
Certainly our governmental and societal systems can help or hinder the individual's making good decisions. Just as certainly, though, the ultimate responsibility for any person's actions resides in the person.
There are, as the detectives used to say, a million stories in the naked city. Stories of transcendence, of people rising from the most horrible and deprived environments to become beautiful, wise and strong. But there are also stories of people who despite the best of circumstances end up ugly, petty and bitter. Even in garbage heaps flowers sometimes grow.
My basketball coach used to proach that the only thing any of us can have control over is our own performance. As a nation, we need to stop blaming society and government for our woes and take responsibility for our own actions.
Mark Coatney is a Linwood graduate student majoring in political science.
ERIC NELSON
Editor
GREG FARMER
Managing editor
TOM EILEN
General manager, news adviser
BILL SHEEK, T. Ed.
STAFF COLUMNIST
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501 Bluez
By Moses Smith