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Daily Nebraskan
Thursday, March 22, 1G84
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This Sunday, voters in El Salvador
will get to choose between Roberto
D'Aubuisson, who former U.S. ambas
sador to El Salvador Robert White
called "a pathological killer," incum-
Eric
Peterson
A female vice president
would not be progress
Before the 1984 presidential cam
paign even began, President Ronald
Reagan fought claims that a "gender
gap" exists in his administration. But
some of the candidates for the Democ
ratic nomination have picked up on
that claim, however subtly.
This campaign has changed the way
all other campaigns will run. The Rev.
Jesse Jackson has done most of the
changing; he has won the battle for
black candidates' credibility, has sur
vived longer than any black candidate
and has had more influence on a cam
paign than any other black candidate.
Sen. Gary Hart is in with Jackson on
another change, that of seriously con
sidering a woman for a vice presiden
tial running mate. Hart, who opposes
anti-abortion measures and supports
the Equal Rights Amendment, has
hired women in key positions on his
Senate staff, according to Wednesday's
Omaha World-Herald. Although the
article says Hart has not committed
himself to choosing a woman for his .
running mate, obviously he is consider
ing it.
Jackson, pro women's rights, has
said he would choose a woman as a
running mate if she had good creden
tials. The whole idea is politics, another
way of picking up on one of the groups
that Reagan has offended. Although
I'm registered as a Democrat, I can't
believe the candidates mean what they
say.
Why should a woman be vice presi
dent? Would she get the same pay? Or
would she get paid about 59 cents to
every dollar a male vice president
would earn, like most of the other
American women? Would she be able
to influence congressional and presi
dential policy towards women's issues,
like ERA and abortion? Or would she
be a figurehead, like most other U.S.
vice presidents?
Having a woman vice president
would not signal progress in women's
rights. It would be hypocritical. It
would be a token not of belief in sexual
equality, but of political opportunism.
Get real. Starting at the top won't
bring women equality. Let's work at
the basics and then consider a woman
for vice president. Or president.
Lauri Hopple
bent Christian Democrat Jose Napo
leon Duarte, who has proved unable to
offer any resistance to the army offic
ers who really rule El Salvador, and a
potential-contender, Francisco Jose
"Chachi" Guerrero, a leftover from a
regime as corrupt and murderous, but
even more inefficient, than the present
one.
It is against the law not to vote in El
Salvador. An unpunched I.D. card could
possibly mean a death sentence from
the right-wing death squads which
have terrorized the country for several
years. So it's likely that election turn
out will be as high as it was last time.
The left and center of El Salvador,
who have been driven into guerrilla
warfare, will not be represented. The
Democratic Revolutionary Front (FDR)
tried to work within the political sys
tem in the past. At a press conference
on Thanksgiving Day 1980, the crowd
was surrounded by the army, and six
leaders were tortured and killed.
The FDR and Farabundo Marti Front
for National Liberation guerrilla coali
tion earlier said the coming elections
would not be disrupted; at least some
groups of leftists have since announc
ed a new offensive. "We are going to
step-up the war before, during and
after the elections," the guerrillas' clan
destine Radio Venceremos declared in
a recent broadcast reported by The
Associated Press. The elections were
called "a cover-up for a plan for direct
intervention by American troops."
And that after all, is the real point of
these elections to justify increased
American pressure on the country.
The Reagan Administration has asked,
for $93 million in further military aid
to the government of El Salvador, and
elections could give the government
the pretense of a facade of an attempt
at the democratic process. The New
Republic, which ordinarily is pretty
fond of stroking the big stick of U.S.'
intervention, expressed doubts about
the coming elections in its April 2
issue. "There is the distinct possibility
that these elections will have the effect
of building only a facade behind which
the more odious in the military and
oligarchy of El Salvador can operate."
As Radio Venceremos charged, the
actual process of the elections maybe
used as an excuse to push an Ameri
can military presence in the country.
The April Progressive reported the fol
lowing short news item with amusing
sarcasm under the title, "Unfettered
Democracy in Action:" The United
States is planning to put a tight secur
ity shield around war-torn El Salvador
as a guard against any rebel attempt to
disrupt the March 25 presidential elect
ions, Administration officials and Cong
ressional aides said...the plans involv
ed navel maneuvers, air reconnais
sance support, and at least $80 million
in emergency military aid. "We want
them to be seen as an example of
unfettered democracy,' one official said
of the elections..."
I imagine that people down in El
Salvador will understand the example
clearly.
pUSA
Lg Letter
Sacrifice perfect
In response to Ruth Stephens'
letter concerning Lent (Daily Neb
raskan, March 20): The Bible never
instructs us to participate in this
form of "self-denial." In fact, pas
sages such as 2 Timothy 4:4 and
Colossians 2:21-23 speak against
such practices.
We are told in Hebrews 10:12
that "He (Jesus) having offered
one sacrifice for sins for all time,
sat down at the right hand of
God." His death was an act of
grace, and the only thing that we
need to "bind ourselves back to
the source of our life," as Ruth
puts it, is to believe that Christ's
death alone paid the penalty for
our own sins,
Teresa Crouch
sophomore
elementary education
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3 U
Should video lotteries be banned in Nebraska?
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Elake Mason -
senior
cricnltnnil economics
"No. I don't see any
thing wrong wth them. I
think the people should
be able to make cp their
Cvm minds vh ether or
not they wast to gam
i Isry Scfcropfer
junior
business education
Tm not in favor of
them. Ignessfeere'sjust
better things to spend
yonr rjoney on."
Jy Jessie
senior
animal science
"No. I ' think people
sliossld have the option
if they want to."
Joel SarloreDalfy Nebraikan
Kat!;y Ts.d;
graduate student
liSEtstn Rutriticn
"No. I fi-ure if the
people etc dumb enough
to spend their money on
it, go ahead End let 'cm."
