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Freedom Supreme Court decision victory for all U.S. citizens The U.S. Supreme Court, with its new "conservative" membership, has surprised a lot of people in the past few weeks , with some very controversial decisions. One such ruling that caused an outcry said it was a violation of "the separation of church and state" clause in the Constitu tion to have prayer at public athletic events such as high school football games. But that was just the beginning of the controversial stances the court would take. Last Wednesday, the court voted 5-4 that no laws could prohibit political protestors from burning the American flag in peaceful demonstrations because such forms of expression are . protected by the Constitution. The decision nullified flag desecration laws in 48 states, including South Carolina's law, as well as a similar federal statute. The ruling was a victory for all American citizens, including the veterans who protested the loudest. With their ruling, the judges in effect said that the freedom of expression and speech which the flag symbolizes is more important than the symbol itself. This is what the United States is all about ?freedom and the pluralism of ideas that grows because of that freedom. Symbols should not be more important than that freedom. If they were, the necessary reforms needed in a democratic country could not take place. People can speak out peacefully against injustice and corruption in the U.S. government and demand change, and this right must never be taken away. It should not be taken away even if not everyone agrees with the way groups may express their desire for change ?such as the burning of the American flag in a peaceful demonstration where no private property or other citizens are hurt. It is that right that separates us from China, where thousands have died when they dared to criticize the government and to demand reform. Justice William J. Brennan summed it up beautifully when he wrote for the majority, "We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents." The Gamecock does not attack any veteran for their outrage against the Supreme Court ruling. They have a special place in history, but we must also remember the brave soldiers who died in battle lost their lives not for the symbol of freedom but for the cause of freedom itself. They also have the Constitutional right to express their outrage. Instead, we believe in the famous quote by Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." * , Or, in this case, to express peacefully your criticism of|the government by the poignant'message represented in the burning of the American flag. M&far" (fMjjSffl cheapshots supi^^o^^s ^ The Gamecock I 1 Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region Society of Professional Journalists, 1987-88 Kditor in Chief MARY PEARSON Copy Desk Chief TODD CHRISTENSEN Assistant Copy Desk Chief k ? PAMME EADES News Kditor 11/ J J RON BAKER Features Kditor CAREN CAMPBELL Sports Editors DEBBIE. JORDAN Assistant Production Manager D R. HAYNES RAY BUROOS Photography Kditor Advertising Personnel EES ALVERSON Advertising Manager Gamecock Advisor MARGARET MICHELS ERIK COLLINS Campus Representive Director of Student Media TERENCE GREEN ED BONZA Account Executives Production Manager ILRRENCL MANIGUALT , AURA DAY l.ORRIE YONAS IXtItffS Polio !(tumentch will in Id print all Idlers received. I dlers should he, al a maximum, 250 lo 300 words long. I he writer should include lull name, professional liile if an employee wilh CSC or Columbia resident, or year and major il a studcnl. An address and phone number are required wilh any Idlers sent. Cities! editorials should no I exceed 500 words. We reserve Ihe ri^hl lo edil tellers for style or possible libel. The (lumevtuk will not withhold names under an> circumstance. ! j'/7 % iJ J3III I'M FAIR TO E AT LfAST UJMAT PEOPLE , U.S. has a lot What have we here? Our noble representatives in the federal government want to create a new amendment to the Constitution which would ban the burning of the Stars and Stripes. 1 work the night shift in a store in downtown Columbia. It's very interesting work, and 1 meet a lot of new and different people. For example, the elderly former prostitute who sits outside bv the broken-down fountain a block away wondering where the safest place to sleep would be tonight. And then there's the homeless couple (dubbed "street people" as some sort of bizarre euphemism to make us all feel better) who come in for genericcigarettes daily, f have never seen "the woman's face free of bruises and cuts. Her husband drinks a lot, and he doesn't seem too happy most of the time. He spends a lot of time telling everyone what a lousy b?- his wife is. i And there's a man named Sam who comes in t regularly waiting for someone to offer to buy him a | Coke and a pack of crackers. He has been looking < for work for months. But it seems that Columbia businesses are | generally unwilling to hire a man with only one set > of clothes and no address. I'm told that the Constitution has already done | everything possible to take care of such problems. i Fair's daughtei I Fair concedes thai he is objecting to overnight visitation because his daughter, Meridith, will attend USC next fall. "Yeah, I'm thinking like a dad, " he said. The State March 21, 1989 "My fight for visitation never concerned my daughter. I was simply responding to the concerns of my const it u tents. " The Gamecock June 28, 1989 My, what a tangled web we weave. Meridith Fair, daughter of trustee and state Rep. \ i: i . r r> :n~ .. .:n ~~~ ^ i icr *u iviikc ran, i\-cjiccnviiic, win nui ancnu un.> fall. After her father's unpopular fight to restrict overnight visitation, she has decided that the pressure of verbal and potential physical abuse is too much for her to handle. I don't doubt it. While I don't condone or encourage the threats Miss Fair has allegedly received, it seemed obvious to me from the start that she would be subject to endless verbal abuse by students upset about our new visitation policies ? most of the students on campus. It is unfortunate Miss Fair won't attend USC. She is really the loser in this most recent episode in the drama that has been the visitation policy issue. She wants to major in nursing. Miss Fair has a B + Letters to the ec Columnist's stand on issue unclear S leaving an ug To the editor: What's yo The combination of having not one side or th read The Gamecock in a while and opinion, or ji having been a summer staff member try to take a in the past made the June 21 issue the issue? Th interesting. , newspaper. Since you don't get many letters To paraphi during the summer, 1 thought you all to get a sen< could use some feedback. Here goes: found it had Mr. Baker needs to understand the tax system better if he wants to publish opinions on taxation. How can increased taxes not help local governments? You said yourself local governments don't intend to break i/poHf even with the local option sales tax. As for having property taxes go t'lfQ'VPT' back up after a year, it's merely pro- ^ bable they'd go up, not definite. Besides, would you rather your pro- Last Wedr perty taxes go up (maybe) one year heard the nt and down one year, or go up both student were years? tieipation in l You admit local governments need whelmed wit more money. Isn't local taxation the numbness, best way to target local needs? Since Somehow many people including you and I Somehow 1 1 don't own our own homes, but still to impose so need police and fire protection, isn't the Chinese a sales tax fairer? we American Your potshot at conservatives in over recent a state government is pointless. Your But as 1 circular logic trying to tie it into your was reminder argument wastes space. behind theev But wait. Suddenly you extoll His name is ! some positive aspects of the sales tax. opposes the j^yA^v^>/SSs/^^ \ SIR...IT'S V CKfJOkJ UJHO FRC \ 5AID HE HEAR "T7>5\^IIJ <WA\/IH6 TCOUBl < SOME STUD 0U" THAT^ [ CALL NAE. ft more to be coi Ron Baker Now we need to look after something far more pressing. We must protect our flag. 1 will not concern myself in this space with maters of freedom of expression. 1 prefer to exercise hat freedom and say that the government of the United States has a hell of a lot more to be concerned with than the "desecration" of a symbol. As a young and naive student, 1 have come to believe that the government's dutv to the citizens it serves is simply to do just that ?serve them. I am not at all sure that battling over a Constitu;ional Amendment to ban flag-torching is the best A'ay the American public can be served right now. r real victim o v-0 * ______ m M average and was voted most outstanding leader in her high school. She, like the thousands of on-campus students, has been victimized by the controversial stance taken by her father. And Rep. Fair did her no favors by bringing her into the issue. Father doesn't always know best, it would seem. Don't get me wrong. When you talk to Fair, he doesn't foam at the mouth or anything like that. He is very calm and confident in his beliefs. He knows what he is doing is right. You have to give him credit for taking a very unpopular position, rather than in<U onina alnnp with the norm In thk. he takes pride. But what he has done is unfair, no pun intended. litor u take a shot at the follower of the Lord Je inistration, then hint realized I need to: sale tax is inevitable. pray more ler thought is derailing and Thessalonians 3:1,2) ly mess. remember the peo| ur point? Are you on as though I was being b le other? Are you of no and murdered. (Romans jst not sure? Or do you be quick to respon< USC student angle on fering that Chinese peop is is, after all, a student be facing because of tr loved ones back home rase John Land: I tried 3:27) >e of your article, and While we as U.S. cit none. do anything about the it Richard J. Breen murders, we as Christian Broadcast technician, heaven) are told by Jesu( USC Class of '88 overcome evil with love. that our governmei decisions concerning < >r 11 rOPC with China; i ui # that the Chinese ? pf~|i* r^hillQ stopped by God so tha H-** love, joy, and peace will China; tesday morning when I that the people in :ws that three Chinese strength and peace in . excuted for their nar- under China's rule until he protests, I was over- changed (Romans 16 h grief to the point of 4:37). 1 wanted to retaliate. wanted my government ? uri me type of force to let government know that POlll s are outraged and hurt tUUI thought these things, 1 guilty of ci 1 that there is an enemy il government of China. To the editor: Satan, the evil one who I wish to add somethi Creator God. So, as a Kraft's letter in th< 'OU > 'iw chiua. \ D you UJA5 / _E FROM / rs AUD- ..J Ld&Ahl ? nt>?) ncerned about Leftist pontifications aside, there is really a lot wrong with this country. An Equal Rights Amendment seems less of a possibility each year, the AIDS epidemic is growing to ghastly proportions, our society has created a class of working poor which grows daily, and there are people wandering the streets who own nothing and have little or no prospect of ever improving their situation. And did you hear the one about the drug problem in our fine nation's capital? We'll get to that later, they tell me. Because, you see, there is a piece of cloth stapled to a stick for sale at Wal-Mart which must be protected at all costs to our society. They tell me it is the pride of the United States, that it died more than 50,000 times in Vietnam protecting the ideals it stands for, that it is more important than all of the aforementioned human lives which apparently are contributing nothing to the American way of life. Excuse me. Could you please define "way of life" for me again. 1 think I missed something. Mr. Bush's "1,000 points of light" seem as inept in dealing with all of the problems we have in the U.S. as are the "50 points of light" on the American Flag. I'll venture to euess that the U.S. government would fare far better in solving our troubles if they really knew what the "American way of life" is really like out here. f controversy This former USC student, who never got a degree, has single-handedly decided what 6,500 students can do in the privacy of their dorm rooms. Although Fair does not see this as a bridging the gap between church and state, he uses the names "Sodom" and "Jerusalem" for visitation policies at USC and the ideal school, respectively. Fair does have his supporters, however. My mother, for one: If you had a daughter away at college, you would do the same thing. 1 doubt it. First of all, 1 resent the implication that, if I had a daughter ? or son, for that matter ? 1 would be a narrow-minded, suffocating, self-righteous zealot. I like to think that 1 will give my children the power to decide for themselves in situations of a personal nature. 1 would object to someone who had the audacity to make those decisions for them, decisions that are an important part of the maturation process. By the way, Fair requested his position on the Board of Trustees. One member of the House Committee on Education is an ex officio member of the board. There are close to 25,000 registered voters at USC, some of whom live in Greenville. Let your voices b? heard. Don't allow Fair to victimize you any longer. His daughter should stand as an example. I'm sorry, Meridith. I really am. sus Christ, 1 Gamecock expressing outrage about China. I agree with two of her vantly (2 remarks: "How can we maintain 'normal relations' witn a government ?le of China that murders its own people in cold eaten, jailed blood!", and "We should never have 13:3) armed them (China) in the first 1 to any suf- place." le here might In addition, we should never have agedies with provided military support in the first :. (Proverbs place to such repressive, right-wing groups as, among other, the governizens cannot ments of Guatemala, El Salvador, ljustices and Chile and the Nicaraguan Contras, is (citizens of all of which have murdered civilians > that we can in cold blood while hiding behind a Let us pray: veil of anti-communism, it make wise In her letter, Ms. Kraft leads us to 3ur policies believe that dictorial atrocity around the world is only a communist leaders be phenomenon. We must not forget t His causes that tens of thousands of students be exalted in laborers, farm workers, union members, peasants, health workers, China find nuns, and priests have been gunned Jesus to live down, simply for peaceful expression things can be of political views by forces supported :20, Daniel by the United States in its blind and fanatical crusade against communism. ina. Peterson ^/e neecj tQ rea|jze that just ribia resident because a government is "anticommunist," it is not necessarily itHPS democratic. The U.S. must start ac^ ting consistently, sanctioning all repressive governments, communist I11I1CS and anti-communist, which abuse human rights. ng to Janice Michael Yoder * June 21 Geography graduate student