Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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EDITORIAL Budget Clinton plan puts burden on middle-class America -TS T) resident Clinton's budget has passed U tKa X-I /-\ii n A /A 1* D rtnrn p nuuit ui i\t|H titiitatives and the Senate to the cries of: "A new day I for America," or "This is the end of civilization as we know it!" Although it is amazing that an American president is in power who did not garner a majority of electoral support, it is more amazing that such a president considers such a narrow vote a "major victory" when his party controls Congress. A 218-216 vote in the House and a 50-50 vote in the Senate, with Vice President Gore giving the final nod, is not a win. The budget survived; nothing more. The plan is a package of spending cuts and taxes which proposes to cut the deficit by $496 billion. This doesn't come close to reigning in the tremendous expense year to year, not to mention the overall debt we've incurred over the last fifteen years. The plan also calls for a gasoline tax of 4.3 cents to the gallon. An exemption should be made for businesses who depend on fuel costs, and the average citizen should bear the brunt of these taxes. Otherwise, the extra costs will be absorbed by businesses, which would then trickle down to the middle-class worker, who could lose his job as a result. Putting the tax on the individual for personal consumption lets the consumer decide how much he will be taxed by how much he consumes. When middle America begins to feel the burrlpn thic nlon \i/i11 rtnl r\n th^m fhpv mqv finrl UV11 UllO I'lUII VT 111 put V/ll UX*Will) UIVJ lliuj IIIIU themselves siding with the disgruntled Republicans. Though they don't offer much of an alternative, they may help shiYt the focus of deficit control onto the spending rather than the taxing side of the equation. An added tax burden without more spending cuts is not going to sit well with people who are already struggling. For victims of the Mississippi flood and the Southern drought, added taxes will certainly not help them rebuild. What Congress and the president need to do is turn away from the tax-and-spend status quo that has been in existence in both Democrat and Republican administrations. Both parties have had their hands in pork-barrel projects. For the Democrats, it has been social welfare programs or special interests; for the Republicans it has been defense or propping up big business. Americans will accept any tax burden necessary, even increased gas taxes, as long as they feel the government is efficient in spending only the money necessary to perform its duties. We all know that government spends too much on unnecessary projects. The fat needs to be cut before the American people can foot the bill. > A midsumme It is often important to make the best out of life's bad situations. Let's face it. Summer in Columbia IS a bad situation. It's humid. It's hot. Hot enough to fry an egg. Hot enough to fry a dog's brain. This is why I have resorted to comedy, which typically takes place indoors with the air conditioning on, to help me through the summer months. For example, I recently attended Pauly Shore's new movie, "Son-in-Law." In ' this film, a Midwestern farm family sends their wholesome teen-age daughter to college in California. She returns home during a break dressed like a member of the Bangles, sporting a new tattoo and Pauly Shore, whom she introduces to the folks as her fiance. For the truly unhip among you, Pauly is a long-haired, surfer-dude MTV VJ and comedian whose act is carefully crafted to frighten the parents of wholesome teen-age girls. "Son-in-Law" is "Father of the Bride" meets "Beavis and Butt-head." At this point, the father pulls his wife into the hallway and announces, "You distract him, and I'll hit him over the head with a shovel." It took me almost an hour to discover aon-in-Law was an actual movie. 1 thought it was a clever advertisement for the National Rifle Association. I kept expecting Wayne Lapierre to pop out from behind a haystack and say, "Join the NRA now. "Remember, if your daughter brings home a sex-crazed MTV VJ nicknamed 'The Weasel,' you can call our special toll-free hotline, and our NRA Task s J- WL ^ ? ^ ?" r's nightmare a Patrick McNeill Columnist Force will be at your home within th hour." However, the best humor this summe is coming from Washington, D.C., nc Hollywood. Dr. Joycelyn hlders, tn president's nominee for Surgeon General is under fire from Republican Senator and conservative activist groups. But President Clinton has declared tha he is "100 percent committed to Mrs Elders' nomination." We know ho\ much weight Clinton's promises carr> Right, Professor Guinier? Many of my politically unawar friends have asked me to explain th Elders' controversy, so I'll take a stab z it. Imagine a president nominating a clos friend to an important government pos Now imagine this close friend is incom petent and/or unqualified for the jot Better yet, imagine Ed Meese. No\ imagine Meese passing out condoms t your kids. OK, maybe I oversimplified the situa tion a bit. But let's look at Elders' trac record. She has run the Arkansas Healt Department for the past five years. In thz time, Arkansas has dropped to 49th amon <&&& -rwtr iw&rriovi -r * s x N " V \ * \ * : \ "WAT "I A in wasnington states in preventing teen pregnancy. The number of Arkansas teen-agers who contract AIDS has increased at a yearly rate of about 50 percent. Syphilis cases in the state have more than doubled since 1989. But wait, there's more! There have been reports that Elders failed to warn Arkansas teen-agers that some of the con doms handed out in public schools were defective. She justified her silence by e saying that disclosure would have destroyed student confidence in the con:r dom program. 11 When some of these children use e defective condoms and contract AIDS or I. syphilis, won't that destroy their confis dence in the program, too? Fortunately for Elders, it looks as it though she will be confirmed. She has > sailed through her Senate hearings. It v appears that the Republicans will be unable to prevent her from becoming the latest F.O.B. with a government J.O.B. e However, let's suppose for a moment e that Elders isn't confirmed. Let's suppose it that she is voted down. Or maybe the president will retract her nomination to e avoid controversy. t. Then the country will need a Surgeon i- General who can talk frankly with chil>. dren about condoms. And AIDS. And v oral sex. Someone with a proven track o record of having done so. Someone American teen-agers can relate to. t- I have found the next nominee, k Pauly Shore, come on down, h it Patrick McNeill is a columnist g for The Gamecock