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Hindsight American policy towards USSR ; could have been cost-efficient ? Those who study international affairs often argue about the ' morality of U.S. foreign policy. Do we have a national agenda? If so, do we have the right to use any method to achieve our foreign policy goals? To use the cliche, do the ends justify the means? In the past 40 years, the United States agenda has been to prevent the expansion of Communism. Period. To achieve this goal, we have supported a rogues' gallery of dictators, from Chile's Augusto Pinochet to Panama's Manuel Noriega to the apartheid regime of South Africa. We lost 50,000 lives to save Korea from Communism; another 58,000 in Vietnam. We spent trillions to create the greatest military machine the world has ever seen. Now, Communism is utterly dead (although the Chinese are late for the funeral). Its death is not because of our support of antiCommunist tyrants, nor to our expenditure in lives and dollars. The Communism system collapsed because of its own fundamental flaws. Some would argue that the USSR collapsed from the expense of the arms race with America, but this race only hastened the inevitable. The collapse of the USSR is a wonderful thing, but it is also a bitter moment when one considers what the U.S. wasted on a foreign policy that is now just as anachronistic as the very word "Communism." It is easy to criticize with 20/20 hindsight, but it is quite ironic that all those Comsymp, pinko, bleeding heart liberal hippies had a point after all. The world is rid of Communism. We've still got global poverty, ! illiteracy, crime and ethnic violence, but so what? We can blow Baghdad to hell and back and the Reds are begging for mercy. j Did the ends justify the means? : > DIVIDE OR DIE 1 Monday on Viewpoint P - Liberals and the new Newspeak 0 t< - Columnist Brian McCarter uses lots of big words v c - Outraged readers write more spiteful letters a ?J is Gripe of the Week g ri USC is paying $200,000 for the installation of an access-card system in the Towers and Barnwell. Is the u dubious increase in safety worth this cost? Students living in these dorms will be locked out if they forget their I.D. N cards or if the cards don't have the right magnetic coding. tl Crime is a big problem, but this seems to be an expensive and inconvenient way to help. u ?????I u 1GAMECOCK 5 r< si News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249 Chris Silvestri Editor in Chief ^ David Bowden Brant long X Managing Editor/Viewpoint Editor Copy Desk Chief | Tige Watts Oct a via Wright i News Editor Carolina Life Editor Aaron Sheinin Teddy Lepp t< Sports Editor Photography Editor pa ga Patrick Villegas Gordon Mantler ^ Asst. News Editor Asst. News Editor 4 Tracey Davis Rich Taylor u Asst. Carolina Life Editor Asst. Sports Editor pa Virginia Marshall Greg Rickabaugh Asst. Copy Desk Chief Asst. Photography Editor SI Wayne Williams eric glenn ui Comics Editor Darkroom Technician tc ^ Renee A. Gibson Laura S. Day jj Asst. Media Director I Advertising Manager Production Manager p Stacie lewis Ray Burgos p Asst. Advertising Manager Asst. Production Manager u Erik Collins Carolyn Griffin Faculty Adviser Business Manager n< Lara Chapman c Asst. Classified Manager C' Letten Poflcy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be. at j! maximum. 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, professional title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any circumstance. pi n< Religious gi There has been a lot in the news lately Toups, mostly religious, trying to tum pinions into public policy. The abortioi jsters in Wichita, Kan. and the censor /ould like certain books removed from urriculums and libraries being the most nd obvious examples. These groups, I think, fail to realize Ai 5 a very diverse country where certair oms must be allowed, whether it be reli ultural, sexual orientation or whatever, b roup has a right to decide for all, especit riigious grounds. This is not meant to bash any religio se it as an example of how some small j y to affect public policy on matters 01 /here they feel they are absolutely in the tony of the people in religious groups ley have the inside track on the God pU /ay in which He/She wants us to behave le/She wants us to read and who He/She s to look for for earthly guideness ? i le group in question. For example, I'd like to paraphrase on ious leader who wanted to rid his * ublic schools of such books as Catcher \ye and Huckleberry Finn. Speaki Catcher, he said something to the effect le liberal argument for the book is that jflection of real life then we (whoever t hould reverse the clock and take Americ; Km JSC garages telp students i the editor: I firmly believe the price for a irking sticker in the new parking fi irage is not unreasonably expen- ! ve at $120 per semester. If you irk in a Columbia parking meter To I hours a day, 5 days a week for A > weeks (one semester), you will wdl ly about $150. sho coui There are very few of us who they lend only 4 hours a day on cam- for I as, so even my example is an ties aderpriced one. What I am trying ders ? say is USC student parking at ling 20 is really cheap and allows stu- Mai jnts (who, like myself, have vir- Wil tally no income) to park on cam- T us. Garage parking is more ex- unli CIIMYC, UUl 10 0L111 1V/00 tsAJA/lldlW WUI lan metered parking. taxp fere Yes, I park in a garage, but I am opti 3t one of the "elite" as Lynette taxe heely would call me. I just appre- Can ate the fact that I can get on aga impus and find parking at ANY crea me without having to park in onlj gypt. but few Also, one must remember that a a re arking garage costs a lot of mo- L ly and will cost a lot to insure. ^ v SC probably will not make any ciai /V o 1 I ; / 'nunc clirmlH m VF kJllVfMtVt JI.Ji.JI about t their S To DENNIS school SHEALY recent ? a % C \ A >- 'D merica i free to a time when its society reflected stroni 'gious, morality. 0 one And when, pray tell, was that? Well-meani 1 y on groups, whether they be religious or moral vi guards or just plain old bigots, seem to thi n' 1 they know exactly what America needs whei fFf U?h personally think America could care less. Mi ai people just want to live their lives without hi ' ing to worry about breaking the law when tli * think, read certain books, or make decisions i m* e out their lives that are private. , what r wants Beliefs or lifestyles of any sort are persoi isually things and should be kept so, you can't ma people live by what you believe. It has alwa e reli- been my opinion that I should live my moi state's social and intellectual life the way I see fit a in the if the supreme being has problems with it, 1 ng of find out about it at said supreme being's leisu that if It's no one's business what I do as long it is a it's OK with me and doesn't harm anyone e hat is) (I and my fellow Satan worshippers will a back ushering in the age of the anti-Christ in 1 ETTERS fof HE EC ney irom mat Duilding until it is county hog trough east 10 years old. vote in the special Matt Burch year. The sales tax Engineering junior the other sales tax, any form of educat: tudents must tfiZtVl&Z I j a you to vote; it only ght new tax to be drafted into tl Voter registration the editor: your county court h dmost all university students *'0,in ^ I be 18 by November, and uld register to vote in the _ nty, state and country where Kr.O-lVlll r are eligible. It is most urgent those in the 13 (unlucky) coun- f*pol QHC of Abbeville, Allendale, An- ^ Cell illld ;on, Berkeley, Bamberg, Dar;ton, Dillon, Edgefield, Lee, To the editor: lboro, Newberry, Saluda and After reading R liamsburg. letter in the August he reason these counties are Gamecock. I co lcky is their respective county whether I should 1 ncils want to waste more of the lief that USC sorrn layers' money on a special re- him to buy those ndum, again, on LOST (local or whether I shoul on sales tax) to increase sales more people on a ;s by 20 percent. SCAT (South believe the same th olina Association of Taxpayers) Mr. Holmes adi in opposes the cruel tax in- of the "more eco ise, which will discriminate not paper cup" over f against the poor and elderly, Styrofoam cup. Hai also against college students, his homework, Mr. of whom own big farms to get realize that papei bate. ecologically-sound et me urge students to register Styrofoam. It can't ote, because the county politi- cause of the wax-c< as think only those at the * V . -. %. ind business coming weeks with the sacrificial virgin tofu, a ncopy of Huckleberry Finn and lots of wine; Beelzebub will be the designated driver of course). It's not my place to make laws abridging ? other people's freedoms, everyone is free to believe or do anything they like as long as it ? doesn't inhibit or hurt me or anyone else. ^er It's beyond me why certain groups think a book or an opposing idea is actually going to ing harm society; it's even farther beyond me how in_ they rant and rave so much that they sometimes [nk get their way. If people raise their children in n j their system of beliefs, then don't they have ost enough faith in their children? Don't people lv_ think their kids will be strong enough not to be iey corrupted by a book or by not pledging allegiance to the flag or not praying before class? If people want others to act a certain way, ial then be an example for them; if they choose not ike to follow your example, then it's their choice. iyS Children should not have to suffer in their edual, cation because of the moral warfare of adults, nd And besides, with the gloom and doom reports I'll on education these days, it seems people would re. be happy their children are reading in the first as place. Ise I'm not saying my theory is necessarily the be best one in the world, but it's a good one for lie living with your neighbor in peace. )ITOR i will bother to degrade in a landfill and it's not referendum this exactly the cleanest product to increase, unlike manufacture, will not go for . Mr. Holmes doesn't want to on- make any of us feel guilty for usjre students that ing a Styrofoam cup; he just wants >es not register to make those "images of a planet ' registers males fun 0f people turning blue" go le armed forces, away. His solution: Make USC is in, or near, stop selling him Styrofoam cups. iouse. I have some advice for Mr. HolHarllee, CPA mes. If you're really concerned SC Class of '55 abour our environment, don't use Styrofoam OR paper. Use an Ecogr\ri|y Mug. Not only are they the most ecologically-sound alternative because they're REUSABLE, but WC1 they're only two bucks and your drinks are cheaper if you use the Eco-Mug instead of the Styrofoam ichard Holmes' or paper cup. 30 issue of The Mr. Holmes needs to realize that uldn't decide the reason USC still sells Styroaugh at his be- foam cups is because people still . ehow is forcing buy them. This past year, just ab- ; Qt\rrnfnam />imc mir pvflrvthino in lh#? Hinina halk UiJIVlV/UIll vupo J -""O " Miv UIII'II^ maau d cry that a lot was disposable. After students impus probably started complaining about this ! ing. waste problem, the Eco-Mug, plas- ' locates the use tic bowls and plastic baskets were ; logically-sound introduced on campus. The only the use of the way to make that image of a planet I i he been doing with people turning blue go away .' Holmes would is to realize we must move towr is hardly an ards REUSABLES rather than ; I alternative to more "ecologically-sound" be recycled be- disposables. jatings, it won't - Dana Caulder ,* Chemistry junior