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Fear Alabama s student government machine frightening sign of things to come? Student politics at its best. A student presidential candidate at the University of Alabama was violently attacked earlier this week, prompting a temporary shutdown of the school's student government. The attacker was allegedly a thug of the machine which has run Alabama's student government with an iron fist for decades. Very few candidates who have not been machine-backed have won, including former Alabama Governor and national presidential candidate George Wallace. Probably the most famous political machine was the Tammany Hall machine of New York City, run by a man named Boss Tweed. This machine ran the city for years through kickbacks, favors, dirty politicking and overall unethical and illegal behavior. Ironically, one of the people most responsible for Tammany mil s conapse was tne editorial cartoonist 1 nomas i\ast. Through his satirical cartoons, the public slowly became aware of who actually ran the city. It wasn't the people; it was the machine boss. Machines are one way a few select people can monopolize political power and, subsequently, policy under the facade of democracy. They are dangerous to the democratic ideals of equal justice and opportunity and, unfortunately, are usually subtle enough to stay in power for years. It took a candidate to be slashed and beaten before the Alabama administration finally stepped in to stop the machine's terror. But most machines are not stupid enough to intimidate through blatant violence. Veiled threats, either physical or emotional, of candidates and their campaign staff are a commonly used tactic. Election fraud, frame-ups, spying and other illegal behavior have also been widely used by machines in the past. Another sign might be if one group or a collection of linked organizations, such as Alabama's fraternities and sororities, monopolize or "pack" the government. This type of campaigning and government should not be tolerated, period. This goes for any level of government: national, state, local or campus. As far as we can tell, a machine does not seem to run USC's student government. But the building of a machine is a slow, methodical process. Signs can be so subtle that they don't show up for years. So students, keep your eyes open. Look for the signs. You never know. ' Gay bashing must end I know that most of the people here on this campus aren't aware of this issue or don't think much & _ i . r. 1 _ 1 1 .1 1 I auoui u. i aisu kuuw uiai i>cvciai people on campus are aware of it jJk ^ wt and wonder what they can do. I'm J im talking about an issue that contains K m one of the ugliest words in the English language. It's the DIS- 1 ^ "%lL CRIMINATION against gays, lesbians and bisexuals at USC. C H P I S As a gay student, I feel this issue is current, important and needs to DUNCAN be seriously discussed here on L???-??? campus. While many of the organi- Pardon my French, but not a zations on campus have added a damn thing. As long as they are "sexual orientation" clause to their doing their job and doing it well, anti-discrimination policy, USC as who cares whom they love? And yet does not have such a clause. furthermore, what business is it of This means that organizations yours? If the student president was can turn down or Fire members or gay, lesbian or bisexual, but was officers simply because of whom doing a good job, would you care? they love. It also means that "gay I know I wouldn't. I'm open-mindbashing" can continue at anytime, ed enough, to accept people for by anyone. I'm not saying people whom and what they are. don't have a right to voice their As long as they are qualified, opinion. I just don't think it's right give them a shot. Boot them out if to force it on someone without let- they make a mess of things, but not ting*them hear both sides of the because you don't like what they issue. stand for or what they present. I really get ticked off when As far as budget cuts go ? if someone says "Oh my God, there's you didn't like what AAAS prea fag!" So what? I hate to inform sents during Black History Month, you. but if you have 10 friends, you would not cut their funds. If more often than not, you know you didn't like the way SAGE pre w iiw id 5 ay y it^uiau ui ?jviho c*?i vii v ii uiuiiciuai jjiugiaiu, bisexual. You may or may not you would not cut their funds. But know whom they are, but they're you're willing to do that to CPU. there, under the guise of ordinary USC has made some headway in people. recognizing gays, lesbians and We are the one group that it is bisexuals as people, but it's very okay to discriminate against. Case small when you compare it to the in point ? a certain unidentified total spectrum. There is so much candidate for an SGA office that needs to be done, and with the allegedly made some incendiary new administration here at USC, it remarks regarding CPU's can happen. "Mistresses Of Illusion" show, President Clinton has set a stanbilling it as a "drag show" and pre- dard with his lifting the military senting the group he was speaking ban on gays. Why shouldn't USC to with erroneous information. follow this and add "sexual orientaThe chief purpose of the pro- tion" to their anti-discrimination gram was to raise money for policy? It's only two words, but Palmetto AIDS Life Support they can make a world of differServices. If the candidate had been ence. present, he would have received an It's not a black thing, it's not a information sheet at the door stat- white thing, it's not even a gay ing the performers were gay but thing. It's a people thing, and the that in no way were they or CPU sooner we realize this, the better promoting a stereotype in any off we'll all be. Stop the hatred, the sense. homophobia, and the discriminaAlso, what does the sexual orien- tion. It's hurting all of us, whether tation of a chair in any organization you realize it or not. have to do with his/her ability to perform the job and uphold the Chris Duncan is secretary of responsibility of their leadership BGLA. position? PRO Imagine having brown eyes ; Even though you may have tent enough to fly a plane, yoi ent. That's what a pack of asinir when they refuse to allow gays Some people will say that ; forces. They are also the sam white schools with black studei Sen. Strom Thurmond, the gays should not be allowed ii that's the case, look up the de definition. According to We straight or gay, is guilty of sod Not allowing gays in the i "Those" people are not going i ing soldiers in their sleep. Th the showers just to get an exi won't break down in the field would. There would be no ext tary if you allow gays in the m This issue really shouldn't t it is shocking to most Ameri homophobia. Homosexuality is a state of tied to do a job. It means you left-handed. "Those" people are actually bring America back together ai You cannot sit in a room an als. It is not like "we" have dif So why should there be sue and "them." There should not puting it, and the courts believi Instead of military people fi hands and fight together as on< Cooperation a mu in race relations To the editor: I feel the following paragra applicable to the Crossfire co from Jan. 29: "In 1948, one in eight black dren was bom out of wedloc our major cities today, it is c to five in eight. The black ft that survived segregation, de sion and war collapsed unde Great Society. The greatest cc the welfare state is not to be sured in dollars, and it has not paid by taxpayers. Begun good intentions, the Great So ended up with the worst of re While hundreds of billions been piled upon the national we have created in America's < a permanent, sullen, reset underclass, utterly dependent nun oi uiatu) IV/I iwuu, diiwiivi medical care with little hof escape" (Buchanan, 1988, p. 3^ Believe it or not, Patrick J Buchanan, brother of Angela " Buchanan, wrote this in "F From the Beginning." Even NEWSROOM 777-7726 P.O. BOX 8513 Editor in Chief Associate Editors Viewpoint Editor Copy Desk Chief News Editors Asst. News Editors C" PHifr\r Asst. Carolina! Editor Sports Editors Asst. Sports Editor Photo Editor Asst. Photo Editor Graphics Editor Asst. Graphics Editor Cartoonist Copy Editors Student Media CoordinatorProduction Manager Asst. Production Manager Advertising Manager Faculty Adviser Graduate Assistant Darkroom Technicians >,CRO? W Should the mil and being told you can't fly an airplane. 20/20 vision and may be perfectly compe1 are not allowed to because you are differle senators and Pentagon officials are doing lesbians and bisexuals in the military, allowing "those" people in will disrupt the e people who would have said integrating nts would disrupt the educational system, same man who was a segregationist, said n because "sodomy is against the law." If ifinition of 'sodomy,' especially the second bster, everybody who has had oral sex, omy. military is nothing more than pure bigotry, to disrupt the forces by attacking unsuspectlose" people are not going to stay longer in tra look at their comrades. "Those" people of combat any more than a straight person ra threat to order and discipline in the milililitary. >e as shocking as it has been, but the reason cans is pure ignorance or, in some cases, being. It does not mean vou're less quali "re different, just like being black, short or / just a part of "us." Clinton promised to nd get rid of the lines of "us" and "them." d pick out all the gays, lesbians and bisexu"ferent marks identifying "us." h a dichotomy in the military between "us" be because there is no sound argument dise it too. ghting against one another, they should join i unit called "us." Tige Watts is a columnist for The Gamecock St his right-wing babble, this radical conservative shows compassion and concern for those who are not Jim McKellar Jim Green ( Renee Gibson ( Erik Collins ( Brian McGuire Erin Galloway, Rika Hashimoto White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. This is because racism and poverty ph is are not simple political issues that lumn can be labeled solely as "liberal" or "conservative" concerns ? they chil- are human concerns. As a nation, k; in we must subscribe to a greater loser degree of understanding and jniily patience with those from other idepres_ ological backgrounds. The respecr the live races must stop polarizing (St 0f themselves along political boundmea aries and, instead, work towards been achieving some sort of common with ground. eiety If African-Americans identify suits, solely with the liberal movement, have and whites close their minds to debt, everything non-conservative, then cities our country may one day find itself itful 'n a situation analogous to that of upon former Yugoslavia, where r and neighbors slaughter each other over >e of ill-defined and increasingly mean3g) ingless religious/political beliefs, ames Bay" J'm White tight Education graduate student amid *tl5anl 1 UNIVERSITY OF SOU Patrick Villegas Lee Clontz, J.T. Wagenheim Gordon Mantler c Brian Garland ^ Jack Dunn, Melissa Tennen Lea Clayton, Rochelle Killingbeck ^ Jennifer Fuller ^ Melinda Waldrop Nancy Salomonsky, Tim Thorsen ( Rob Rodusky Stephanie Nevvlin Kelly Johnson | Gregory Perez { Chris Muldrow Paul Jon r"Kfie Hcivic Thnm Hnrmnn SSFHFH itary ban on gays CON HD The LJ.S. military's ban on homosexuals help maintain order in the military. The ar equal opportunity employer. It discriminat of reasons; however, the one thing all th< that, in some way, they make the military v The fact that gays have served in the it irrelevant because it would not have been about their sexual preferences. If their pee would have brought about disorder, disser of the military. To require heterosexuals to live in clost shower with homosexuals is a violation imagine if the military integrated male an< women would be upset by this action. Their rationale would not be based on would be because of the mere possibilii forced to shower with one whose sexual gender constitutes a lack of privacy. Bei would be considered a natural feeling, but claim it is "homophobia." Even if one ignores mainstream Americ; uals, and die problems lifting the ban wi issue of privacy. Privacy was the driving Court's abortion decision in Roe vs. Wade. I realize liberals will accept or reject coi ty based on how they serve their politica pend rational judgment for the sake of p President Clinton can pay back a campaigi considered or even cares to consider these People must understand that the "right" sional. The potential effects of allowing c tary could serve to dissolve cohesion am most likely fail to bond with gays in the i tiveness of military action. For these reas ban. Ryan Atkinson is Candidate apologizes ^ga ly b To the editor: not 1 I regret that several letters I take mailed to student organizations was were delivered early. These letters delo were intended to reach student groups on Monday, Feb. 1. The letters provided two contact phone 'r numbers, so student groups could reach me it they wanted to hear my views and expectations as an SGA Re presidential candidate. Despite this error, I made no To< The Gamecock will try to print ^ all letters received. Letters in| should be 200-250 words maxi- oay mum. Full name and profes- ?les sional title or year and major, if maS( a student, must be included Sout along with an address and wee] I T?L . O |iiiv/iic nuinoer. ine uamecocK reau reserves the right to edit lor of s style, possible libel or space the limitations. The Gamecock will Garr not withhold names under any circumstances. Icock TH CAROLINA COLUM The Gamecock is the student newsp >outh Carolina and is published three tii Wednesdays and Fridays during the fall veekly during both summer sessions, u /ersity holidays and examination periods /?\ l . m y-, upinions expressed in the L.amecoc )r author and not those of the University The Board of Student Publications ar Publisher of The Gamecock. The Student ?arent organization of The Gamecock. Change of address forms, subscripl :orrespondence should be sent to The G rhe University of South Carolina, Columl Subscription rates are $46 a year. F lolumbia, SC. The Gamecock is a registi )f the University of South Carolina and i ient activity fees. Z] : ; be lifted? ; is a necessary action taken to med forces have never been an es against people for a variety 2se people have in common is veaker. lilitary honorably in the past is possible if they had been open rs had known they were gay, it ision and an overall weakening * quarters, undress around, and of privacy. For clarification, i female units. Particularly, the anatomical differences, but it ty of sexual attraction. To be nature is geared towards your tween males and females, this : when applied to gays, liberals a's inability to accept homosex11 cause, we cannot ignore the principle behind the Supreme istituiional amendments' validi1 purposes, but should we susolitical correctness? Or so that i debt? I doubt that Clinton has arguments. to serve in the military is provi>pen homosexuality in the mililong troops. Heterosexuals will manner necessary for the effecons, I oppose the lifting of the a columnist for The Gamecock ngements with any student nizations before Feb. 1. I firmelieve the election process has been compromised by this mis and that no unfair advantage gained by the letters' early /ery. Zac Moore iternational studies/economics senior ader praises wspaper he editor: didn't think that I would ever this, but The Gamecock :rves to be congratulated on ting the article concerning the ROTC student. Amid the artithat have appeared in what querades as the free press in h Carolina during the past few ks, it was quite refreshing to something from the viewpoint omeone who was actually in front lines. Kudos to The lecock! Amy Loeffler International studies senior ADVERTISING 777-4249 B I A , SC 29208 aper of the University of mes a week on Mondays, and spring semesters and /ith the exception of unik are those of the editors of South Carolina, id Communications is the Media Department is the :ions, requests and other amecock, P.O. Box 85131, bia. SC 29208. irst class postage paid at ?red student organization s partially funded by stu