Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote, Unquote ‘We see the need [to feed needy children]. Unfortunately business is booming.’ Dianne Hillyer, spokeswoman for Harvest Hope Food Bank Zhe (Bmecock Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board ' Brock Vergakis • Editor in Chief Kevin Langston • Viewpoints Editor Nathan White • Asst Viewpoints Editor Patrick Rathbun • Editorial Contributor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor Fines against Maurice challenge free speech In West Columbia, agiant Confederate flag is now flying over Maurice Bessinger’s Piggy Park restaurant. It is an eye-catcher to anyone driving past the restaurant, and it has inflamed discussions over freedom of expression. The West Columbia Town Council has asked that Bessinger remove the flag or pay the $20 permit fee required by the city. This isn’t the South Carolina State House. This is his own private establishment and, as such, he should be feel free to fly whatever flag he pleases. The West Columbia Town Council, however, disagrees. They state that if the flag is not the United States or South Carolina flag, a fee payment is required. Bessinger has decided to fight this fee, and has already been fined $1,000 so far. Good for him. While the town council has put a hold on fining him further, they should retract his fines all together. • speech of any form, including symbolic, it places the First Amendment in grave dan ger. Bessinger is the only one that the town has chosen to enforce this ordinance on, making it a clear case of content-based discrimination. Bessinger might not be helping the process of foigetting the chaos surrounding the Confederate flag, but he still has a right to fly the flag on his property. There’s no doubt Bessinger can afford to pay the fee, but that’s not the issue. The issue is he’s standing up for his beliefs and the beliefs of many others. And while controversial, he is doing the right thing. Though we might not support his opinion, we support his right to ex press it without having to pay a fee first. Nobody who’s flying a Gamecock flag or a religious flag is being prosecuted, and neither should he. The sole reason he has been fined is because of the viewpoint he is expressing. While the aigument over flying the Confederate flag is still present in the minds of South Carolinians, Bessinger shouldn’t be singled out for his decision to fly the flag. Shame on the town council. This type of selective enforcement is what places our First Amendment guaran tees in danger. The town encourages pro-govemment speech by allowing its resi dents to fly U.S. and S.C. flags, but reserves the right to punish anyone who chooses to fly something that expresses any other sentiments. The government is supposed to uphold the constitution, and encourage free speech and debate, not punish it. Unfortunately, when it comes to the First Amendment, the town of West Columbia has failed at its duty miserably. New shuttle system adds needed security Last Thursday, USC’s Parking Services began its evening shuttle service. This service extends the Shuttlecock System’s operating hours to 12:30 a.m. This is good news here at Carolina. Not only are the later hours a convenience for students, but it also increases the overall safety of students on campus. The extended hours were one of Student Body President Jotaka Eaddy’s goals in her “Contract with Carolina.” President Eaddy deserves much credit for getting this service underway in such a quick manner. These buses will improve the overall quality of life here at USC by improv ing safety conditions, and making transportation quicker and more convenient. Students with evening classes or who are involved with extracurricular activities on campus should find this service very useful. The service might even generate more interest in evening events for students who may have been deterred from walking at night. Hopefully, this new evening shuttle service is only the beginning. Parking Services may even want to consider a shuttle service to facilitate the needs of off-campus students, especially in Shandon and west of the river. With the ad ministration removing much of the centrally located parking on campus for green space, more and more students may have to turn to the shuttle service for transportation. This would definitely include off-campus students who normally commuted and parked near Greene street. If Parking Services does plan to extend services in the future to areas such as Five Points or the Commons, it should consider the transportation needs of peo ple living in these locations getting to and from campus as opposed to on-cam pus students seeking access to those areas and a free and safe ride home. About Us The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author 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 the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part ty student activities fees. Adoress The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia. SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Media Area code 803 Advertising 777-3888 1 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803-777-7726 Editor in Chief gamecockeditorQhotmail.com University Desk gamecocudeskQhotmail.com City/State Desk gamecockcitydeskQhotmail.com 1 Viewpoints gamecockviewpointsQhotmail.com Spotl ight gamecockspotl ightQhotmai I .com Sports gamecocksportsQhotmail.com Online www.gamecock.sc.edu Submission Policy Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from all members of the Carolina community. Letters should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be an opinion piece of about 600 words. Both must include name, phone number, profes sional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten submissions must be personally delivered to Russell House room 333. E-mail submissions must include telephone number for confirmation and should be sent to gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be pub lished. Photos are required for guest columnist and can be provided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information^ r« Gamecock frock Vergakis MacKenzieCraven iditor in Chief Meredith Davis Asst. Spotlight Editors frandonLarrabee Jniversity Editor Amy Goulding Photo Editor ohn Huiett 'ity/State Editor Sean Rayford Sports Photo Editor (evin Langston Viewpoints Editor Miranda LaLonde Ann Marie Miani a son Harmon Brad Walters trad Walters Design Editors Martha Wright :opy Editors Wil1 Gil,asPSV Online Editor ohn Bailey test. City/State Editor X* Charles Prashaw imanda Silva Senior Reporters test. University Editor , , _ . Jacquelyn Poston Jathan White Writing Coach test. Viewpoints Editor Studcmt Meow Ellen Parsons Robyn Gombar Director Melissa Millen Brantley Roper >usan King Nicole Russell creative Director Advertising Staff jean Oe Luna Carolyn Griffin . , H™ Business Manager Melanie Hutto Emilie Moca Sherry Holmes Martin Salisbury Classified Manager Creative Services Erik Collins <enton Watt Faculty Adviser \dvertising Manager College Press Exchange P;€*»T.N£*— WSSlMS-WETbRCH Election Issues Campaign 2000: Harvard or Yale? Welcome If back re turning :f: Gamecocks, and j welcome (for the t, first time) to the if newest additions of the Carolina community. Q“k5““- Nathan White tionfor all of you: what did you do ^ a senior pohtr your entire sum- ca* sc*ence anc* mer? That’s right, history major and You devoted your writes every entire summer to Monday. He can following the be reached via electrifying 2000 The Gamecock at; presidential cam- gamecockview P^- points@hotmail.co For most of m ^ us, this will be tire first presidential campaign that we J, will be able to vote in. So, because all of us are the fu ture of America and we want to make sure we inherit it in one piece, we have self lessly sacrificed our summers to become the newest and most informed part of the electorate, haven’t we? Okay, I’m sure most of you don’t re ally care about who wins in November, and you probably didn’t watch one sec ond of either of the two major party con ventions. Before I continue, I must confess that I am a political junkie. I love politics and yes, I even watch C-SPAN (even worse, I know what C-SPAN stands for). But even I am pretty turned off by the 2000 elec tion. Many pundits, journalists, academics, etc. might have asked many questions in previous elections, but in this one, I my self can think of only two. First, should everyone vote? Before I answer, I must apologize for not being able to provide a compelling, mind-blow ing answer. The best I can come up with is that voting is a privilege, not a right, and that for the sake of good democracy it is incumbent that the citizenry votes (prefer ably an intelligent, informed citizenry, but any will do). My second question is which of the two candidates that have a chance of win ning (sorry, Ralph and Pat) are you going to vote for? Maybe I should clarify the question. Which Ivy League School do you like more-Harvard or Yale? Most, if not all, of you are probably wondering why I ask that question. It is really quite simple. I ask that question be cause I am really not sure if there is any difference between Texas Governor George (W.) Bush and Vice President A1 Gore oth er than their alma maters. Let’s take a look at their striking sim ilarities: They’re both white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants from wealthy, political-mind ed families educated at exclusive, presti gious New England universities. Neither have real roots in the places they hail from. Bush is “from” Texas even though the family is from New England, and Gore is “from” Tennessee even though he never really lived there. Both ruthlessly put down insurgen cies from within their respective parties. Gore with the feisty liberal Bill Bradley and Bush with the wily maverick John McCain. Both were well groomed for political office. If Bush wins, he’ll be the younger half of the second father-son presidential combo since no, not Ted and Frank, but John and John Quincy. Gore has been groomed, literally, to become President since his birth. If elect ed, he will be succeeding where his father came just short and will complete Gore Sr.’s dream. Gore and Bush are seeming a lot alike. Maybe prior to their elected service we will find some contrast. Seeing that they both came of nge during the sixties, let’s check their military careers. Both served their country dutifully during the Vietnam conflict. Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard, avoiding any remote possibility of seeing actual combat, and Gore, who proudly admits to being one of the two Harvard classmates who enlisted in the military, enlisted so as to avoid any chance of seeing actual com bat while polishing up the resume just in case a high-profile elected office ever opened up in the future. Have you ever seen the picture of him in Vietnam with the M-16 slung over the shoulder? That comes in real handy when writing a human-interest side bar for Stars and Stripes. The campaigning for this election be gan almost two years before the election itself. We’re nearing the last stretch as the general campaign gets under way. Un fortunately, it seems that the public has lost interest in what’s going on and what differences there are to be discovered be tween the two candidates. So once again I ask you, do like the Crimson Candidate or the Bulldog Bush? As for me, I have always been a Brad ford fan. Go Fighting Squirrels! , a 1 stiil miss me bap olp p/vs mu me CONVENTION PElEOATESAOmiLYCHOSd THE CAMP/PATFS” Election Issues A wasted vote is one not cast Whenever I an nounce my plans to vote third party, the re actions tend to be uniform. Listeners mut ter about “wasted” votes, causing me to wonder what in sidious force, intent on stripping voters of autonomy, has warped everyone but me. In my moral economy, I would only be wasting my vote if I cast it for the bloodthirsty Texas executioner Bush, or Gore, the king of financial impropriety. I know I could never support the prin ciples of either of the mainstream candi dates, so I do the same as I would if I went into a restaurant that served only boiled potatoes-I shop around for other op tions. Both the Republicans and Democrats offered me pro-death penalty, anti-cam paign finance reform, pro-NAFTA lapdogs to corporate America. In my search for an alternative, I found Ralph Nader, longtime activist and Green Party candidate. At this writing, 7% of Gallup poll respondents plan on voting for Nader. It may seem futile to vote for someone who will undoubtedly lose, but consider the “wasted vote” rhetoric. It assumes that the individual doesn’t matter. That is the same logic that allows for a two-party system in which the parties seem too ho mogenous. Predominantly white, male, and wealthy, they have chosen from among their own, and always from among the rul ing classes. This is the moral equivalent of apartheid. Gore half-heartedly conceded to diversi ty by choosing a Jewish VP. In 1964, Har ry Golden said of Barry Goldwater, who converted from Judaism to Anglicanism, “I always knew our first Jewish president would be an Episcopalian.” Translated to the year 2000,1 always knew our first minority VP would be the most conserva tive of Democrats. Of course, this is not to say that Ralph Nader isn’t a member of a few elite groups himself. But as his running mate, he has chosen Winona LaDuke, a Native Ameri can woman who is committed to universal health care, and what politicians erroneously call “women’s issues,” though they affect all people equally. TT,___ T1__1 ■_• .1.... .L~ * OU^^JUV/ll 1 III IllUIUllg 1J UIUI main party candidates are not willing to take a chance because they, like the con stituency, are concerned with “electabili ty.” So even the fascist-leaning Pat Buchanan (the Reform Party candidate) was more willing to take a seemingly liberal chance, by choosing an African-American woman for his nmning mate. Yet, there were no women and few mi norities on the VP “short lists” of either the Democrats or Republicans. Despite our limited options, Americans don’t vote “outside the box,” and this fact allows the two parties to continue without a strong moral imperative (or a represen tative span of various races and genders) from their constituencies. Some of us, most ly young people, never vote at all. In our disenfranchisement, 18-24 year olds are in the company of convicted crim inals. I wager ex-convicts are legally pro hibited from voting because, having been inside the system, they know too much about its corruption. The rest of us, though legally able, don’t vote because we incessantly hear the mantra that, in this democracy, our votes do not count. ff)