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-opinioi L-ICUUUII failures i As SG elections a VJWv ci mucin prepdJ service to the univ parent that Student to help the student t made are ineffectua When students ret were burdened w requiring 90 percent Student Governmen Government solici signatures for a petii The policy is still i: Students also co campus parking. Sti needed proof that a they conducted a si were that a majorit; parking problem. The parking situat State government must do something Consequently, USC ficulties and must ba Student Governnu opposing tuition incr than 400 students pa budget cuts on the St; But for all the yell UVV11 UVVVfllipilOtlCU. Student Governme this; there is little affect state-level bi Student Governmen concerns, but eve organization has fall< Students might ha and yelling after th Education degree v portunity to serve s Student Governmeni wisdom" of USC Pre Unless Student 1 ^ 4. * - l- - i* legiumaie opuons budget cuts, both wi good to hold rallies students can vote, t of these actions are f It's hard to namei average student he year's SG actions, merely asked for Government has bee It's not necessaril but this year's Stud been impotent. All blame shoul Government, howe\ of government it el participated in last > This year's SG ; dicate that low vol centive for good gov Go; R Copy Desk Chief ... Ann Appl Asst. Chief James Sokol News Editor Chris H Asst. News Editor . . . Susan G. Asst. News Edit. Rachel Water Ent. Editor John Vai Asst. Ent. Editor . Jim Van At Sports Editor Johnny 1 Asst. Sports Editor. . Dennis S\ Opinion Page Editor. . .. Leslie Newsroom 77' Business Office 7T The Gamecock welcomes letl editorials must be typewritten, letters should be no longer t limited to one newsworthy sub an/l diKtct A^itnrinlc MI JOT k< M??M ftUVOl VVJI V\/l KIIO ITiUOl IV* number, mailing address, cla Pseudonyms are unacceptable, request if the circumstances wa We reserve the right to edit gi Address letters and columns A. USC, Columbia. S C. 29208 n marks jf SG pproach, the 1982-83 Student res to complete its year of ersity. And it is again ap Government has done little K)dy, and the efforts that are 1. urned to school last fall, they ith an attendance policy t class attendance. What did t do? This semester Student ted student and faculty tion against the policy. n effect. mplain about the lack of ident Government, however, parking problem exists, so iirvey. The startling results y of students feel USC has a ion has not improved. faces a budget deficit and to make up the difference, also faces financial diflance its budget. ;nt has made a big show of eases and budget cuts. More rticipated in a rally against ate House lawn. ing and rallies, nothing has int can hardly be blamed for the organization can do to udget decisions. About all it can do is voice student n in this capacity, the en short. ve appreciated some rallies e undergraduate College of vas cut. But when the optudents presented itself, all t did was "stand behind the sident James Holderman. Government can oresent to tuition increases and 11 happen. Although it looks and remind legislators that he actual accomplishments ew. even one tangible benefit the is received because of this And when students have a voice, again Student m inadequate. ty because of lack of trying, ent Government has simply id not rest with Student ii ii* i er; ine puouc gets tne Kind ects. Less than 2,000 voters rear's SG elections. accomplishments might in er turnout is not a good in ernment. nnecoch -i :ditor-in-('hief ichard Meyers ! enate Wire Kditor Leslie Potash uwsKi t-iioio i .uiior Andy Putnam andal Asst. Photo Kdit.. Capers Hammond Hand (Jrad. Asst Wanda M. Hite house (Jeneral Manager Ron Emler iflhan Adviser Mark Ethridge, Jr. sdale Ad Manager Linda S. Haines 3oggs Business Manager .. . Jean Hatchell vitzer Production Mgr Mark McEwan > Katz 7-7181 Advertising 777-4249 I388? Production 777-2833 ters and guest editorials. All letters and guest triple-spaced on a 65-space-line han 300 words and guest editorials should be ject no longer than four typed pages. letters ? signed with the writer's name, telephone ss standing or faculty position and major, but the writer's nnmc mnv h#? u/ifhholrt nnnn rrant. lest editorials and letters to: Opinion Page Kditor, Gamecock, Drawer Omoui^ \ rnrnsM J4r 1PRKMY. )te _letters Capitalism a; By Arthur L. Williams Though I do not approve of President Reagan, I approve less of reactionary liberal responses to his plans. Stuart Bagwell's letter (Feb. 16, 1983) in response to Mark Blalock's letter (Feb. 14, 1983) is a better than normal example of these, and I should point out several weaknesses in his argument. 1. Bagwell's ubiquitous "class conflict" is not as heated in America as he would suggest. If anything, America is the least class-conscious nation I am aware of. In any event, the history of class supporters proves them relatively guiltless. Far more people have suffered at the hands of religious institutions and militaristic nationalism (irrespective of class distinctions), two things of which I know Bagwell disapproves. 2. America, Bagwell claims, is based on scarcity, insecurity and greed. Whatever its faults, scarcity is not one of America's; though "scarcity" is a relative concept, to be sure, and perhaps Bagwell's standard is so unrealisticallv hieh that I wnnHpr if he is not guilty of the greed he sees in so many others. INSECURITY, BY definition, is a product, not a basis. If insecurity exists, something more fundamental about our society causes it. But more, in ignorance of my nature, Bagwell has personally accused me of insecurity, and he implied that capitalism was the source. Nothing could be further from the truth. All insecurities I might have come from society's breach of capitalism; I embrace oanitalism tntallv anH without insecurity. The source of greed is sufficiently broad ? and ambiguous in Bagwell's letter ? to allow for many possibilities. One is the basis for capitalism and is a virtue (being rational); the other is equally opposed by capitalism as well as socialism, though capitalism opposes it with greater cohesion. The basis of the distinction is rationality. If I can Duuytu mure Editor: I found it appalling that the adm university would even suggest a tuition in as well as a housing cost increase. Ju; ministration cannot run this school in a should not mean that the students should the heat. There is still hope that the trustees of take action to stop the increases, but < Deiieve that good ol' boys like Jerry E Dennis will actually dispute the decisioi James Holderman, who seems to have titude of "bossism" to this institution of hi All must realize that we as students dc . in front of the State House but, rather, pi , -. ViUustriovui" president's home. ssures citizen guest editorial rationally prove that, say, private property at all cost is a right of man, then the "greed" of protection of private property at all costs is a virtue. On ihe other hand, capitalism would condemn ? perhaps under the word "greed" ? any abrogation of the private property of one person at the expense of another. And, again, , Bagwell should not confuse the two concepts under one name, proving that he is the consummate sciolist, not Blalock. 3. "The only possible way people can be equal is morally ? that is, deserving equal treatment, not equal opportunity as Blalock would argue." niu - * 11 mere is a noiaDie contusion on Bagwell's part here: He obviously is construing government as economy, which it is not wholly, nor would be at all under capitalism. Blalock is aware of the distinction and so is more justified than Bagwell. The economic equality of opportunity is guaranteed, Blalock claims, by government, so if government were to function correctly there would be equal treatment, as equal guarantee. 4. "EQUAL OPPORTUNITY is meaningless in a society that transforms natural inequalities into socioeconomic inequalities." There is no necessary correlation between the proposed inequality-transform-system and economic opportunity because equal opportunity is not equivalent to equal attainment even in the presence of the greatest natural inequalities. Such is the moral of the fable of the tortoise and the hare. 5. "If our government was founded as a mechanism responsible to the citizens, then certainly it should respond in times of economic woe." In addition to the fact that government regularly causes economic woe, this is quite irrational. I train my dog, or my child, even, to be responsible to ases due to i I), * uuugci cuu> are in inistration of this what the public schc crease of up to $400, cutting their budgets st because the ad- these budget cuts; t n efficient manner tuition. I have to take all of why then must the cut programs of vali this university will kind of reminds me does anyone really and I do not say th? laaclmr ap MopHou needs to take place is ri of USC President jf jjsC will not have a brought the old at- i encourage all sti igher learning. protest. Some of us ai > not need to protest anymore! otest in front of our .... i equality me; that does not mean I expect my dog to respond in times of economic woe. InrfpfH what ic in mioefir?r? io Urn ? TV?B?*V *u in \|LtV*J ViVll 1Q tliv^ expectation of the government, its essence. Blalock claims, and I agree, that its nature is solely defense. Blalock (I gather, and I if not he) would agree government is responsible to the citizens, but it is still wrong for government to respond to economic woe, as that response is 0 contrary to its nature. No doubt Bagwell disagrees with that definition of government, but it is clearly the one closest to the history of American ideals. 6. "Again, a true look at the theoretical basis of our country requires the amelioration of social ills." I agree, and capitalism opposes all social ills, and all social ills are created out of the denial of capitalism ? which our society does in certain 0 respects. 7. IT IS quite clear that both Blalock and Bagwell misinterpret John Locke, who is neither a good capitalist nor good socialist. Certainly Locke's theory of labor as the basis of property (Bagwell fails to note that Locke means extrapersonal private property here) does not imply a proletariat revolution. But that is 0 because Bagwell, like every socialist I Irnivu foilc fn o/Mi ??1--" -c ?T ) lUiia VV OVyV; 111C auppiymg OI capital and the knowledge of its maaiagement not only as part of production, but as the greatest part. How one can supersede the money and managerial intellect that gets the screw and piece of car to the common laborer with the relatively mindless act of screwing is through a chain of argument too irrational for me to # follow. To continue and say that the person who does the relatively mindless act of screwing for, say, $7 an hour is a "victim of wage-slavery" is totally absurd. The author is a philosophy/religious studies sophomore. inefficiency king place all over this state. Look at *)1 administrators have to deal with in . You see, the public schools must take hey do not have the option of raising administration at USC raise tuition and lable importance at the same time? It of President Reagan's administration, it with anv creat enthusiasm All that efficient administration, but it looks as ny part of that. idents to pay any higher tuition under ^ re mad as hell and aren't going to take it Morgan Lea Education sophomore