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-opinionBudget amendment rhetorical gesture */r 1 i ' wii Muiiuay, jrresiaeni ueagan urged a group of spectators on the Captiol steps to support a constitutional amendment balancing the budget. The crowd, estimated at 25,000, was enthusiastic about the idea of a balanced budget. It should have been, since according to news reports, the rally was organized by the White House and admission was controlled. "I have said before, balancing the budget is a i:ir/> *-? i-A ... utuc nivc piuiecmig your virtue: you just nave to learn to say 4no;'' Reagan said. Evidently, Reagan also needs to learn to say no. He has found himself responsible for budgets with record deficits. But will a constitutional amendment to balance the budget help this president or future ones say 'no? ' Not according to news reports, which said Congress could decide to have a deficit if it felt one was needed. Also, a great deal of doubt exists about whether such an amendment can be passed by the required number of states for it to become part of the Constitution. Added to this are dire predictions of the consequences a balanced budget could have on the economy. . Reagan's call for a balanced budget amendment amounts to little more than election-year propaganda. The mood of the country is one of restraint so, as he has done in the past, Reagan is merely playing to his audience in calling for the amendment. Concrete actions are needed to help the economy, not symbolic gestures. Oil conservatinn still a necessity It wasn't so long ago that America was suffering from the effects of the Arab oil embargo. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' control of oil prices and supply threatened the freedom of the western world. Today, OPEC is in disarray. At a recent meeting of OPEC, the oil ministers squabbled over production limits. They reached no agreement. Poor economic conditions and calls for conservation in the western world have resulted in declining gasoline consumption. The gasoline supply is up, and fuel prices are not as painful as in the past. . OPEC feels the pinch now, not the United r?..i i i otatca. out jusi as me situation turned against OPEC, it could reverse again, putting the United States in a bind. Unfortunately, one of the byproducts of the oil glut is the decision by many oil companies to discontinue work on alternative fuel projects. Both consumers and oil companies must realize research and conservation are still necessarv.or the United States could find itself a slave to OPEC. ?Gamecock ?i Editor-in-Chief Richard Meyers Copy Desk Chief News Editor Entertainment Editor J David DeWitt Forrest Brown Sally McGill Opinion Page Kditor Pholo Kdilot' Advertising Manager Chris Handal Capers Hammond Linda S Haines Business Manager General Manage Production Manager Jean Hatchell Jerry Brewer Mark Mcfwun Adviser Mark EthridRC Jr. Newsroom 717-7181 Advertising 7 77-4249 Business Office 777-3888 Production 777 2833 The Gamecock welcomes letters and gue.sf editorials. All letters and nuest editorials must be typewritten, triple-spaced on a 65-space line. I.otters should be no longer than 300 words and nuest editorials should be limited to one newsworthy subject no longer than four typed panes. I.etters and nuest editorials MUST be sinned with the writer's name, telephone number, mailing address, class standing or faculty position and major. Pseudonyms are unacceptable, but tiie writer's name may be withheld upon request. IWf reserve the ri^hl to edit guest editorials and letters. Address letter, and guest editorials to: Opinion J'age F.ditor, Gamecock, I Drawer A. UHC, Columbia, S C. 29208. ammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmammammmmammamK ft HOWMJI ^ WORTH o f -letters?? Administrati Editor: So many events yet so little comment. This dilemma is of critical importance to each of us, yet there is no input. Even when there are 15,000plus students blissfully herding their way through the system like so many sheep, the voice of a few don't begin to touch the issues?major or minor. So much for the free flow of ideas in the free world. Let me takp this nnnnrhinit?r ? m mm??w mm W V\4?H VJ W enlighten the sheep. Something very dangerous is breeding in the nation's capita), and that something is labeled "teamwork" by the press and administration alike. Every day the corporate elite of the Republican Party strikes another blow against your freedom and mine. Your freedom is your concern. I voice mine, NOW! Not long ago a very fine man resigned from government service because he was sharp enough to see that the illness that is labeled "teamwork" is so powerful and so malignant that he had to pack his trash and get out of Dodge before it ate what self-respect he had left. This man, one that packs the grit of a Student obse By Liz Chandler help in tl The war in the Falklands and news of the Queen's |Lintrv intruding vistor have * heightened America's in- . terest in events in Great vmin{J<^ Britain. A natural reporter's J ? instinct overtook me when I Hrinirna met a young British student voc ai a receni social event. I cornered her in a booth ^a>'in6 for a while and started 1 ine^ asking questions. women Linda Newman, a Briton ?*PJ.a!n? attending USC, is young, not ^KA in l one of an older British se*es ha generation, which she said tota still thinks Americans are w?rrian c rwvlfv has to b y< ONE 1 THE POST-World War II surprisej generation in England still ^ngianc influences the country's ob?^sl? opinion of America and after # ?V all these years, many of arouna them hold a grudge because 0 .a Americans went Kussiai there" with the attitude that Par|jno^ "you were there to save the rea % . world," she said. count "The older generation(in rea ze England) also hasn't suP^rP?N forgiven you for taking our nothing women while you were there afr.ou ff either," she said, admitting otlcroff that her country did need our "Well, 3US MjOOP CON( m JL p gSS ask gL on ion's teamworl cowboy and the savvy of an Indian fighter is known to the world as A1 Haig. The current regime had no greater savant despite the manicured , appearance of its corporate puppets. i When A1 split, the wind left the sail of the ship of state. 1 Let me give you a big nickel's worth j of advice concerning (Jen. Haig. He was the glue that held together J American foreign policy. His years as * a military man were spent protecting the Constitution. j You see, a military man has no real politics of which to speak. He works ( for the npnnlp anH ctonrlc oc o i , ? I untiiuu U? U uuiwal l\ ? against those politicos or miscreants * that conspire to negate your freedom. 1 HAIG IS all the "right stuff." His 3 knowledge of global matters makes him an invaluable American asset. * His ability to soothe the nerves of our c shakey North Atlantic Treaty ! Organization allies and his staunch anti-communist attitude confounded ^ the Soviets. f Haig worked for the Republicans ? because they have a sense for the global. The Democrats can only see as far as our sandy shores. If there was irves British op le war. 7 miACt mc yuunger CUIIUI ons in the mother T . . take little heed of an>7'ay,?.111 as^fd' W1 Jiers' attitudes and P"de a little ruffled. ' ways parallel the . 1 saw dollar, s>Zn* " generations in her eyes, and I could t. . Yes, they do start hadca"^h"!ie f?vf' before age 18, and , YOU GET what yot sy do smoke pot. orhere, "she said, ? , . i that she planned to s - she was amazed at America to make her f, luality of men and studying at USC in America, Linda t. innri d that there'was no ** ' d ? continued ancM smirl at an r the o{ wha >f 22 fo sav that she val'ious etlual riehts t *liev ?it would have t0 say abou HINO she said that "Americans have s all generations in sfc,al Patriot.c qi 1 is America's always '"V,8' t0.. n with Russia. government, shesa.d (the Americans) sit a^al" , ,slrl!r^^ ,? and work yourself j H? , e panic over the draft -"esisters an is You're so ^etnam vets who s. ! " but bitterlv hat* and i if ii ' the government for thi ad for the smaller ^ i , ~ them into that ridi ;s because they hat you two are the ' ? vers, and they have , 1 ?uef >"lu re Pa jetter to do but wait K'causc America was for you to kill each fr?m(. lh,f .sP,r' ,, J patriotism, she said. always been a way of 1 why are you here you here. Right aRESSMAH 1 Du have to bowmuch I i carifc afford! Bin wB?ammammmmmmm?ammmmmmmmmmmmmmmam i kdangerous an in-between where a strong American (domestically) could help a shattered alliance (abroad), then I am sure Haig would be sailing on that ship. He is an American who has the welfare of his country as his primary concern. Anyone that follows the lethargic elephant or the mindless jackass will never see above the dung :hat each defecates. INDIVIDUALISM IS the American keystone. Didn't your daddy ever say 'Stand up and be counted as an inlividual?" Do you feel slighted when you're not part of the team? Is it all hat important to conform to group lorms even when it comes down to four opinions? You can always tell the company nan by the brown on his nose and the lung on his shoes. It doesn't put noney in the bank to ride alone and ivf* with vnnr Hppicirtn . . - .. -?- j vtwitJivu, UUt Ul iCdSL ou won't fall into disgrace like the layers of the infamous Nixon, et al., quad. That was some team. Have we >een fooled again? Mark B. Ellis Journalism Student inion of U.S. | England is the most patriotic rial it has been in a long time," th she added, "because of the in my Jri ?? TTwi ? ? mv x' amiaiiua. ash in Observing that America's all she are basically sound, she said that one reason 1 work many countries have a iddinc negative view of capitalists ^ .jj is because they don't hear ^ about the welfare programs "It's Provide for the unfnnitv derprivileged. And again I ' she ^ac* to a sn*c^er? cpH at thinkin& of the budget cuts it tjie that are filtering down, groups manV aimed at welfare. that ONE BIG REASON Linda ,it said she liked America is the fS weather. and "It's always gray and t the overcast *n Britain, sort of etnam ominous?" she said, as our ^ conversation wound down. >rvpH "What do thtt F.nfflish T O- ,V"" resent think about the revolution?" owing 1 asked, grimacing at the niilnuc trite ^ut rebellious sound of the question. triotic "Well, frankly," she said, ? born don't think about it that t much any more." "It's The author is a senior in ife for USC's College of Journow, nalism.