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2 Republicans deserve 'extremist' tag Recently, ^ President Clinton has been criticized for overusing the term "extremist" when describing both Republicans in Congress and the noisemakers on the campaign trail. Taking a look at what is going on with Congress and the Republican presidential candidates gives some credence to the description. The recent debate in Iowa might show good reason for continued use of the term. Among the nine guys in dark suits there was a game of one-upmanship that smacked of testosterone and machismo. Each asserted he was more conservative, more steadfast and tougher on cutting the budget than the next. "I won't give in to Bill Clinton!" "I'll cut more out of the federal budget!" 1 am a better conservative than you are!" Or something like that. It sounded like they forgot the polls showing the slowing of the Republican revolution's historical dialectic. That they ignored Americans' overwhelming distaste for budget battles that leave DC empty of workers. That they discounted the evidence that voters want the EPA to continue to fight for the environment. Extreme? How about the response in good ol' SC to Senator Richard Lugafs comment on why he voted for the assault weapons ban: ^o one has the right to spray lead in our cafeteria's and schoolyards." A few folks booed that remark. Lugar has more intellect and a broader grasp of foreign affairs than any other candidate in the Republican field. He is practical and moderate in tane...and he's not fairing too well. Not a surprise. Extremists seem to be taking over the party, making platitudes to the elusive "middle class" to paper over their bids to find the best way to castrate government and let the richest Americans decide policy through the private sector. This middle class is not only shrinking but angry and not always sure why. TT?1 D 1_1.* I'-- il- i ii uLuess ivepuuucans realize mai ineir ties to big business and their infatuation with the successes of cutthroat enterprises and free trade will hurt them, the middle class may stop caring about who blasts President Clinton most fiercely. Americans are most concerned about jobs and their economic future. Plans to give out hush money in the form of tax cuts will only work in the short run. While Wall Street beams and Speaker Newt Gingrich fawns, big business cuts jobs in order to protect their golden calf: the bottom line. There seems to be little concern about creating good jobs or secure ones. No wony about what happens to the intangibles on the balance sheet when a part can be made overseas for pennies less. And this leaves America without the work of middle managers who will only accept cushy office jobs and others struggling in measly "service" jobs at minimum wage. Big business can teach the lessons we need to run America? Surely not. What about other issues? Congressional Republicans don't want to cut the defense budget and instead allocate money to missile defenses that violate treaties with Russia. They whinP flhnilt TTS trnnno corviner 1 in/I or foreign allied officers in UN missions as if this is some disgrace. Ihey characterize foreign aid as an evil waste and a good thing to use to lower the deficit, though it is less than 2% of the budget. And most glaringly, they indulge Senator Alfonse iyAmato in his little windmilltilting operation known as the Whitewater hearings. "Extreme" is not a description of serious debate on fundamental questions of government's role, nor is it appropriate for those standing up for convictions. But watching the Republicans interpret one congressional election's victory as a mandate for every pet concern of their party, members, and rich contributors does lead one to choose "extreme" as a description. Letters to the I Jong and delivered to Russell House room 3-33. 5 ' ^ THE - r i N? ' EVER SINCE XTS AT ON GREENE STREET ,/AYSTERPOS "3L0E LIN TRWN MANY QOESTi< ITS ORIGIN. HERE THEORIES TP1AT THlS"BLO-E LINE at^ilT<TR USC ^J3?""&TOLLOU; AFTEK ^?"RE/EL"RIES AT ! QUOTE, UNQUOTE "I'm starting to t We're coming toge Alcohol al HI bet you know someone who was abused by their mother or father when they were a child. Maybe you know someone who went from being an excellent student in high school to failing in college. Maybe you know DATr?oAna tirkn uroo Una onflFniwl a JoI-a OVU1UUUV/ TT1J.U TV CU liOO OUUUlUi Ck UUIXT rape. Or you might, know someone who has been involved in a serious car accident. If you have friends or relatives who have been in any of these situations, you know someone whose life has been affected by alcohol abuse. The abuse by others affects drinkers and nondrinkers alike. Unfortunately, alcoholic beverages are a major part of American culture. In my view, alcohol use and abuse is the single largest instigator of social problems in the U.S. Unlike illegal drug use, alcohol use affects everyone. There are several reasons alcohol is such a widespread problem in our society. First, a mggority of Americans have permissive attitudes toward alcohol use. Many don't realize, or | refuse to accept, that alcohol is a drug. Secondly, alcohol use is often 1 portrayed as glamorous or cool by < Hollywood. They rarely show the reality of alcohol use. 5 Thirdly, many teens and college 1 students are fooled into believing '< boozing is a rite of passage into 1 adulthood. Many good kids are lost 1 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR A i nn 1 iUVJL LJLWJL1 I would like to respond to Amy Harris' article on abortion. Harris was examining a question (put forth at a a presidential debate) that asked what e would be done with women who disobey t a law prohibiting abortion. Harris said e this question "eliminates men's crucial t role in reproduction." I beg to differ; it s is the Supreme Court that has r eliminated men's legal role in n reproduction; this question merely A reflects that fact. " ti Harris says the fact that women ti must undergo the abortion procedure is incidental. The pro-choice forces d would have you think otherwise. The ti feet that women undergo the procedure fi is fundamental; because women give b birth, only they should be able to choose si whether or not to abort. "My Body, My ri Choice," they chant. Men are excluded e from the choice, and consequently the a responsibility. le Then, Harris makes an odd remark n that a woman who "conceives ff. independently has an abortion fo independently." I have no problem with m this statement. My problem is that, because women do NOT conceive th independently, they should NOT be cl able to abort independently. Yet, I am re flexible; if women want to retain the m choice to abort and to abort freely, then "Is they must concede that men, though gc they play a role in conception, have no ai : tu:?r-n icgai iuic 111 ailJT tiling U1UL 1U11UWS. tO Either one of these options would be of consistent; our current system, however, is not. at Harris then states that "an abortion vi ban functions primarily as a punitive qi measure." But she thinks it punishes a WOMEN. Are you kidding? It punishes T1 men! If women do not have access to w< abortions, the woman's role in pregnancy th is the same as the man's role; in this case, the act of giving uirth really would Til be incidental, because, if their roles are Pt HEWl t ? AFTER N)NT FEASANCE \\?r <*?** T~UP i TUNNING, ART1S r~ 7n^ !'and MORIONE t HAS iisnORF LEAD ^m C /Vl^/\< vT" ? CflrtJ IPFPTTC "T? :-FRoViT>ETS iPXIja^E ? WEEKEND I relieve we can be a prett] ther, we're playing with a Our guys like winning." Eddie Fogler head men's basketball coach )use 'dest every weekend TOMMY to the pressure TOUCHBERRY to drink. I'm sure you have heard the statistics many times. It's a fact that alcohol abuse destroys lives, families and friendships and costs our economy millions of dollars every year. One abuser can ruin an innocent life through drunk driving, rape or date-rape, spousal and child abuse and irrational spurts of violence. Alcohol use is often a gateway to more potent drugs. Alcohol use and abuse knows few boundaries. According to government statistics, only about 40 to 45 percent of the over-21 population abstains from alcohol use. Among USC students, about 60 percent drink regularly and only 25 percent abstain altogether. Abstinence from alcohol is high among conservative religious denominations (e.g. Southern Baptists, Methodists), which account for most non-drinkers. I am a non-drinker. I have never consumed an alcoholic beverage, and 1 never will. My beliefs about alcohol were influenced by my family and my church. My grandmother instilled in me a strong sense that alcohol use is just slain wrong. My dad reinforced that ittitude through his lifestyle. In iddition, my church taught me that ilcohol abuse is morally wrong and ludes men i squal their responsibilities would be squal as well. If there were a ban on ibortions, men could legitimately be ixpected, even coerced, to provide for heir offspring. Sure, even now, we xpect them to be financially responsible, iut the reason why there are so many o-called "deadbeat dads" is because aen know that the Pro-Choice aovement will keep them free from lNY responsibility. And why should hey be held responsible for choices ley did not make? Wait, you say that man made a loice to have sex? He sure did! So, did lie woman! But women are given a irther choice; men are not. Thus, ecause the woman has greater power, ie should bear a greater share of the ssponsibility because men have ffectively no legal power after inception. For this reason, no one can igitimately say that ANY man is sponsible for ANY child's birth since ie case of Roe v. Wade. The Pro-Choice rces are helping to guarantee that en <an have sex without responsibility. For a while, the courts will pretend tat they can hold men responsible for lildren for which they are not sponsible; this will not last. Soon, en will flood the streets chanting, lo Choice, No Check" and either the ivernment will decide to treat men id women equally, or they will have let women bear the entire burden their freedom. This argument, of course, looks at (ortion merely from a legal point of ew; it does not address the moral lestion of parental responsibility and man's obligation to his offspring, lafs okay, the Pro-Choice movement >uld just as soon avoid the moral side e abortion issue altogether. nothy R. Matter lilosophy graduate student JQENT! FAP "REM ME" OF THE \c lVlzA"g"D of o~z. :HKIN? "REsaRrr Tb "?Auv/77A/6 fiL0l^*BAlCK "RoATP "BLUE. 1 darn good team, i lot of enthusiasm. I roys lives' the Christian thing to do is abstain from alcohol use altogether. I am thankful for their guidance. I am living a happier and more successful life because of it. I believe strongly that alcohol use is wrong. I have always taken a firm stand in opposition to alcohol or any drug. I believe it is best to abstain from olnnVinl Iwvsiion if i'n nr\ o/l/li'/ifiirn Atmirr and reformed. Throw in some numbers from The Gamecock survey of 100 people Jan. 18, and a recipe for change is at hand. Who were these 100 types and do they statistically represent the group they are portrayed to represent? Don't forget the most important possible casualty: the music. Did someone say it's not varied enough? At WUSC I have heard acoustic, alternative, bluegrass, blues, country, classical, jazz, local, metal, rap, reggae, rock 'n' roll, thrash, and world beat. Herein lies die strength of WUSC. For me, the attraction is the variety of music I can hear. No other radio station on my dial can match this. Sure, not all of the music appeals to me, but hey, nothing novel about that, nothing that needs to be corrected. Here's another non-novelty: don't fix it less if s broken. Michael Brantley Computer Services librarian Coleman Karesh Law Library uivA/xxv/i iA/Vhxuov/ AO ao ail auuiuurc VAX ug and alters a person's mind. Also, I find it to be quite hypocritical for people to say it is wrong to use other drugs, but it is okay to use alcohol. Fm not advocating alcohol being made illegal. I think this is something society needs to improve without government intervention. I hope my article will influence some of your attitudes toward alcohol; the more people who lead an alcohol-free lifestyle, the better our society will be. I hope youll think about the abused children, the battered wives and the troubled teens before you have another drink of alcohol. Think of the influence you have on those younger than you and your peers. I don't believe there is a more passionate position than one in opposition to alcohol and drug use. There are some things Medicare can't fix, but a little common sense and a lot of compassion can! Tom choice Music is 'casualty' in WUSC controversy Having been a member of the "Carolina Family" since 1987 when I began as an undergraduate, I feel I need to voice my support for WUSC. To an outside listener like myself, the current problems seem due to internal bickering rather than external forces like the FCC. Every report we read about WUSC, including the one in Sunday's Metre/Region section in The State, only refers to alleged/possible FCC violations. Couple this with the appointment of an alleged Task Force to outline the alleged future of WUSC, and it seems more likely someone or some group in an administrative slot has decided WUSC needs to he rattled s I "ISa Serving Wendy Hudson, Editor in Ch Tina Morgan, Brent i Edit. Chris Dixon, Martha Hotop, Karen Lay Ryan Sims, Stephanie Sonnenfeld, Cece mi I O P I Candidates: on issues nc Student government debates in the future might sound something yp like this. r q Candidate A: "Security concerns just aren't being BflTTl addressed! Since nobody wants to pay for it, let's Electu do it ourselves!" cei Candidate B: "What qualifii does he know about ide security? My colleague has mud never worked in security!" Candidate A: "With all due respect I don't believe experience is necessary in this case..." Candidate B: "Wuss." Candidate A: "I suggest we create a fund to..." Candidate B: "Once again my colleague is attempting to waste your hard-earned dollars, folks. Vote for me and tuition is free!" Candidate A: "How do you propose to do that?" Candidate B: "I'll get to it in a Generation better than In the year of our Lord nineteen hundred ninety-six, the XYZ-generation stumbles into the next century - the sons and daughters of hippies gone yuppies, the children who grew up on the Smurfe and Scooby Doo, a generation that saw the fall of the Iron Curtain and economic battles replacing the arms race. No generational challenge or war has united us to purpose, patriotism or productivity. Instead, we look on with bewilderment; this is not the world it used to be. A college education is not enough. We learn the subject in our major of study for four, five, even six years. When and if we are hired by a company, they train us to do the work for which we are hired. The United States has no evil empire to base its policy but has a multipolar system where our role is defined. Geraldo and Oprah rule TV. The Royal family has been dashed into tabloid trash by scandal after scandal Our idols have fallen from their pedestals. O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson and the Clintons have littered our airways with their dirty laundry. We are jaded by the continuous barrage of scandals and failure. Sex is a deadly risk and condoms are not only cool but necessary. Most of us don't know where Idaho is on the map but could tell you where to find the Persian Gulf. The XYZgeneration is so dubbed because we are the last in this century. 2000 and beyond belong to us. I think we will find that, beyond the doom saying, there is cause for hope. The yuppie 1980s affected the socialization of today's student. While this is not the "me" decade as the '80s were, it has somehow metamorphosized into the "me" socially and environmentally conscious decade. It is no longer trendy to simply be a yuppie, you need to drive a Volvo with an environmental sticker. Yes, inner cities are a war zone, the -?atari? Si Student Media Russell House-USO Ct Wendy Hudson Robbie Meek Editor in Chief Matt Pruitt Ryan Wilson Sports Editors Managing Editor Allison Tina Morgan Williams Brent Seeliger Special Projects Viewpoints Editors Ethan Myerson Martha Hotop Graphics Editor Cece von Kolnitz Karen Layne News Editors n?anna Chris Dixon McLendon Stephanie Copy Desk Sonnenfeld Ryan Sims Features Editor Online Editor The Gamecock is the student newspaper of the University of South Carolina and is published Tuesday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters, with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or uuthor and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is its parent organization. Friday, January 26, 1996 tod! : USC Since 1908 ief Ryan Wilson, Managing Editor, Seeliger, Viewpoints Editors ?rial Board ne, Robbie Meek, Tyson Pettigrew, Matt Pruitt ! von Kolnitz, Robert Walton, Allison Williams NION | should focus it insults VTTTTiHl] moment. Did I mention MmSIH that my colleague is a coming philosophy major? filprtinn * Philosophers don't believe in absolute truth. So everything he says is a lie. I am the family values ons should candidate, you ran trust nter on me." cations and OK, so that's a as, not little extreme. But every slinging. year the character assassins strike deadlier , blows. Can't we avoid the political r meandering and blame-shifting? Lefs put the slander guns away and deal with some real hard issues, or heaven ! forbid, truth. If the prospect daunts you, DONT RUN! This is USC, not the federal government. Unlike Congress, a loss here doesn't signal the end of a bright career. Unlike Congress, here an individual can make a real difference. Let's not follow their lead; let's run a clean, issue-oriented campaign. X may fare expected [ julie national debt i UBBEY gives us ulcers and the i presidential election is a joke. There are a million things stacked against the success of this generation. That does not matter. What matters is whether we do anything about it. Are we to grow complacent and let dreams drift as we settle into our daily routines? There has never been and never will be any greater danger than our own complacency. Whether left or right, pro choice or anti-choice, the greatness of our country is the American spirit of revolution. The reason we are a great power is the spirit and vitality of the people. It is a unique pioneer spirit, that is unique to we Yanks. It is wonderful that success is important to our generation, but monetary wealth is not enough. We saw that during the Reagan years. The need to exercise our beliefs and press for change is what will be the saving grace in the future. I believe people are sick of the trash on television and the current performance in Washington. Between the government shutdown and the scandals rocking the administration, the confidence in government must be very low. MTV has not clouded our minds to the fact that change is necessary, if anything, it exposes us to diversity. The defining point of our generation is that there is no one defining point. An incredible diversity exists in the XYZ-generation. No single event molded us. We have been molded by a thousand different influences, and that gives us a multitude of resources to draw from. We are more aware of the world than the previous generation. Our parents had Vietnam and the communist scare. We have had nothing of that magnitude. We are an unknown. Will we fall into the patterns our parents set? 5: 777-7726 irtising: 777-4249 : 777-6482 Chris Carr0? )lumbia, SC 29208 Director cf Student Medra Laura Day Tyson Pettigrew Creative Director Robert Walton Jeff A. Breaux Photo Editors An Director Adam Snyder Sue McDonald Jennifer Stanley JimSpeelmon Asst. News Graduate Assistant Lucy Arnold Marilyn Edwards Dipka Bhambhani Taylor Asst. Features Marketing Director Achim Hunt Erik Collins Asst. Sports Faculty Advisor Kri'h Boudreaux Jason JefTers Circulation Editor Cartoonist Letters Policy I The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be 200-230 words and must include full name, professional title or year and major if a student Letters must be personally delivered by the author to The Gamecock newsroom in Russell House room 321. * The Gamecock reservC i the right to edit all letters for style, possible libel or space limitations. Names will not be withheld under any circumstances.