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Viewpoint I Wednesday, January 27, 1988 THE GAMECOCK 3 pg V oting Americans should not forget importance of casting ballots In recent months, we've seen elections in the Philippines and Haiti marred by violence, allegations of fraud, low voter tur nout and other problems that suggest the voting process in those countries, like many struggling toward democracy, is sadly Hawed. Fortunately, in the United States, the only thing interfering with our right to vote is ourselves. South Carolina and four other Southern states will hold presidential primaries March 5 as an important prelude to the all-important primaries of Super Tuesday, March 8. From there, it's off to the conventions with the delegates, to the general election and then the White House. Things will move quickly this year, but as college students, we must make sure it is not quicker than we can handle and not quick enough to pass us by. ^ In a country where current statistics suggest that 20 percent of American adults ? the voting-age population ? are illiterate, we owe it to our fellow citizens and ourselves to put our vast intelligence to work in selecting a candidate. If this sounds like a bunch of patriotic mumbo-jumbo, maybe that's because in this country it's easy to scoff at our privileges. It's easy to find excuses to avoid the challenge of learning what the candidates represent and what their election rhetoric means. How pathetic we are if we let this happen. It's never hard to find excuses to avoid anything we don't want to do. But there is power in confronting this challenge. We have access to more information about the candidates than those in other countries can hardly imagine. We can apply our education, our ability to read, to think from an informed perspective, and we can listen to the candidates take positions ? or not take them ? so we can cut through the cloud of doublesoeak. misinformation and technical iareon and make a ^ wise choice. And if you find it difficult to understand Third World politics, nuclear arms, Soviet-American relations and the federal deficit, how much more difficult is it for those who can't read or don't have the advantages of a college education, professors around the corner and a massive library? We are the future intellectuals who must put politicians on their guard. Do you know who your candidates are? Do you know why you are going to vote for them? Do you like their names, or are you just going to follow a friend's advice? How mindless it is to vote for that reason, more mindless than you should be if you're attending this school. We must appreciate our own intelligence and our advantages. Otherwise, to cast a blind vote or no vote at all is to take the blame for what can then only become another botched election. ? ClOSEP-CAPTION TRANSLATION ??????????????????? H ^ l^ISI PC))^ OCTT THAT \ I c I |) II YOU ARE C0MPLGTEIY J t ? I! /S* jf? ^ ^ I i-iMsS* a\\ these months frying my tail off ffljtfW-* fudging aroiLnd this godforsaken '(j&y^wU ! ?|X(jJ state just to see you. send my campaign into the ^umpsber... ?. The Gamecock Pifrri I I I : Editor in Chief Photography Editor JEFF SHREWSBURY BRIAN SAULS Managing Editor Assistant Photography Editor QTPPI4CM mm cnvi i: KEITH JONES Copy Desk Chief Senior Reporter ANDY BECHTEL MARY PEARSON Assistant Copy Desk Chief Datebook Editor pii pfn ROSS JENNY SHARPE 4K News Editor Graphics Editor ^ TODD HINES TROY TAGUE Assistant News Editors Comics Editor TONY MORENO TRACY MIXSON TOROD NEPTUNE Adviser Viewpoint Kditor BILL ROGERS PETE MACKEY Graduate Assistant [ Features Editor KAREN ADDY PATRICK JEAN Acting Director of Sti<d Assistant Features Editor Media/Advertising Manager KELLY MARSHALL MARGARET MICHELS Sports Editor Production WAYNE WASHINGTON CHUCK NORRIS Assistant Sports Editor SON HA JIM STUCKEY Assistant Advertising Manager ^ MELISSA HENDERSON letters Policy: Th* (?vru<o<k wHI iry to prim kllert rrcehrd I tiUrt should b*. m ma tin urn, 230 10 300 word* long. <?u*?l ?dHortal? iIimM rirted 306 ?ord? We re?*r?f life rigfcl edil klltrt for ?f)k or po**lfck IIKel. Iht (*m4?xk <*111 noi *ttklioM i , BOMII ui4(f My 'Gamecock' ii There are many different worlds we run across in life. There's The World According to Garp, Pizza World, West World, The Wide World of Sports and Disney World. And there's even a USC world. No matter what you may think, we are living in our own little haven. As with any world, there are certain distinctions. Everyone goes to classes, eats, sleeps and acts merry. Venturing out on a limb, I'd say we listen to the same kinds of music, have our own campus fads and peeves, things we love and hate about USC. We live in a cornucopia of youth. We even have our own newspaper. It's a paper that some love and some don t love so much, but it's designed to focus on our world and our concerns. Being so designed to reflect the news and views of our people, it's here to keep us up on our world. But sometimes those of us who have to put jt together do not meet the needs of everyone in our world. We are of this world, but do not catch everything that happens. We're trying, though. All kinds of things are going on around campus we don't know about, but that's because we're just like everybody else. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of facts and figures within this curious inGo see Stude The Student Senate is the funniest show on earth. At one point, Wednesday's Student Senate meeting was very much like the $100,000 Pyramid. At one point during the first roll-call vote, when the senators were asked to vote "yes" or "no" or to abstain. Two said, "Pass." And after the first roll-call vote, a female senator got up and said her name had not been called. When asked what her vote was, she said, "I abstain." She stood up for her right to not take a stand. Way to go. One senator pointed out that the S.G. elections commissioner was going to run a campaign for one of the people running for S.G. president. But another pointed out that the commissioner was a former commissioner, having resigned so he could run that campaign. What a relief. The only place your're allowed to run on t r\ ?a t r*r\mmiccinn /in// a PQmnaion IC i tin (ill viv,vrl IV/U3 v-uiiiiinjjiwi. uriu w vuiiifui^ii *>' Chicago. The Senate did manage to pass an elections bill before some immature brats stormed out during debate on another issue. But the elections bill took a while to be passed as well. The elections will be held March 23, only five weeks before finals. Filing began Monday, the same filing date as the original bill, which S.G. President Michael Hogue vetoed. General students would have enough warn. Reagan's spe There he goes again. After a promising beginning, President Ronald | Reagan stumbled Monday night in his State of th< j Union speech and ended up repeating himself. Tin speech neatly summed up the entire Reagan era the inability to see wasteful programs in all areas not just in social areas. | The early part of the address was nearly flawles: as Reagan scolded Congress for its budget making which has been overdue and confused. Tc demonstrate the monstrosity of the federa machine, Reagan held up a few budget reports h< had received from Congress, and he said altogethe the paperwork weighed more than 40 pounds. "Congress should not send another one o these," the president said, spurring a mixture o applause and laughter from the members of Con gress. A vital ingredient of humor is truth, and th iiuiuoi ill iiwb lUMctnic wci5 an iuu appi upi imc. ; He went on to call for reforms in the welfar system, a part of government that desperatel needs to change from a permanent fixture in th lives of some recipients to a brief pick-me-up unti they can find work. Reagan was also correct in his criticisms o ; stupid, wasteful programs that dispense millions o dollars in taxpayers' money every year. In hi Jspeecn, me prcsiucm cucu icuciui pm^i <mi> ' cranberry and crawfish research, things the govern ment has no business spending money on. He als i nvaluable to w a i | i ????., terplay that evade us and the rest of the campus every day. But why? It's for two reasons. Firstly, those who know about the stuff don't realize there are only about 50 people on a good day trying to cover the beat of a campus of more than 20,000 people. That's a pretty tearful ratio. It's not that we don't want to know, but how is it possible to be all-encompassing without the right sources? We want to publish for our world, but we need a little help. Club leaders and general up-on-the-scoop students, let us know nt Senate for c 1 T mmm ? Guilfoyle r V ing, but the senators decided that was OK. This is basically how the debate went. Since there would only be three days after Spring Break to campaign if the election were March 16, the senators decided they should make the election March 23, which is only five weeks before finals. Not enough time, even though one of the people running has already started to fill the classified ads with promises he can't fulfill. But they decided to leave filing at this past Monday, because those who are planning to run already know they're going to run. So those who will eventually file don't have enough time to campaign, even though the election is months away; but everybody has enough time to file, even though general students not in S.G. ech fizzles aftc I ? f u ' ~~J f implored Congress to work toward a balanced e budget, adding that eliminating these programs is a small step in that direction. e But Reagan forgot some other stupid, wasteful y programs ? namely, the Strategic Defense Ine itiative and Contra aid ? two increasingly expenil sive projects that need to be eliminated, if only because they contribute to the staggering deficit, 'f Reagan said SDI will only account for about 2 >f percent of the defense budget for next year. Unforis tunately, that's just the beginning, and even by the n most conservative estimates, a space-based i- weapons system would cost in the hundreds of o billions of dollars. The United States simply i yr it IWIOHEAR^ 1 KAMPLEMAN I EXPLAIN THIS I ONE MOiOMLJ I l A vlA f TTClP I VilU UI UkJV/ so we can get it out. The second handicap we have is obviously our small (but mighty) staff. The USC journalism program is top-notch, and we've got more than 1,000 journalism majors out there roaming around going to classes and unconcerned about their futures. The Gamecock isn't The New York Times, baby, but at least it's a way to get there. This little publication is a knock on the door that most have chosen to ignore. Let me tell you guys, when ole' man internship rolls into town, a hefty grade point average and a barren clip file aren't going to bring many smiles. /Aim wildi 5 wunt, anci yuu itavc una wunu w enter the rat race, the books aren't going to carry |l the weight a little experience in pressure would. p Without a taste, you'll be eaten alive. We dare you || to do something for yourselves and find out what p you're really made of. M Well, the bossman says I have to get off of my t| soapbox now and back to work combing the cam- p pus. But in closing I'd like to quote a song by the r irrepressible Village People, "We want you; we ! want you; we want you as a new recruit." If It's only a question of what you want to read and p what you want for your future. v heap laughs didn't have enough advance warning. Hypocrisy. See what happens when the Elections Commission doesn't have a commissioner because he left to manage someone's campaign? Three cheers to Sen. Tabitha Chavis for telling the Senate she thought the elections bill was hypocritical. e Hogue gave his state of the university or whatever speech to the Senate Wednesday. And in it, he outlined his plan to use postcards to lobby the state legislature for full-formula funding to keep tuition from going up. It's a cute little postcard, but what I want to know is why the Senate and Hogue's government did nothing to prevent the increase in housing fees. I wasn't informed of any postcards I can send in / protest to Housing Services. ' > And it's too late now, because the Board of v Trustees has already approved the increase. So now, many USC students are already facing an increase in fees. Thanks, guys. 1 tell you all this today because I hope you might get interested. And, if you get interested, you might go and watch your Student Senate in action ? or, as is usually the case, in inaction. The Senate meets at 5 p.m. today in Calcott auditorium. It someone besides their tlunkies and the press are there watching them, they might actually do something. :r decent start doesn't have the resources to make such a system a reality, not to mention the fact that many experts say it can't be done. (By the way, SDI shouldn't be referred to as "Star Wars." It has nothing to do with Luke Skywalker or Chewbacca.) The Nicaraeuan Contras represent another stupid, wasteful program. In the six years since their inception by the CIA, the Contras have failed to gain much support within Nicaragua. To compare their war to the American Revolution bends logic to ridiculous extremes; no intelligence agency created and funded the colonists in their fight for independence. Furthermore, other Central American countries, which would seem to lose if the Contras were to lose, oppose Reagan's quest for funding. From that point, the president lost all momentum. meandering down to an anecdote about the inspirational lights of Washington, D.C. Reagan delivered the story with great style, hut it had little substance. Overall, Reagan delivered the same speech he's been giving all along. Reagan, as a former actor, should know better and provide some sort ot climactic rhetoric in his final State of the Union address. If Monday night was the climax of the Reagan years, it's hard to imagine what the denouement will be like. It seems the president will be going out with a whimper, not a bang. 1