Qaily Nsbrcskan .
Wodnasday, October 3,
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About a year ago, I bought a
T-shirt with a cartoon pro
file of a female Yuppie
looking up at the sky in distress.
She was crying out: "Nuclear
War!?! Oh, No. There Goes My
Career!!!"
Ellen
L1CX
There was something in that
line that got to me the black
humor, the irony of it. But now
when I see the T-shirt hanging in
my locker, I wonder if it is the
ultimate tag line on this peculiar
election year.
This is a campaign of mysteries.
The voters applaud Ronald- Rea
gan's "leadership," even when they
do not follow his lead on impor-
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V
49.
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tar.t questions. They agree with
Walter Mondale's stand on many
policy matterf . but do not want
him standing the Oval Office,
The most glaring example of
this paradox has to do with war.
With monotonous regularity, the
public rates nuclear war as its
number one concern. A full one
half of Americans surveyed believe
that nuclear war will happen in
their lifetime. At the same time,
most of the polls of this season
have shown that the public is
worried about Reagan's hand on
the nuclear trigger.
By any normal mathematical
equation one plus one equals
two this would add up to a
landslide for Mondale. But it is
not working that way. In the new
math of this election, the number
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one negative fear of war is
less important than the number
one positive an improved
economy.
Is this just proo' of a national
myopia captured by the author
of my T-shirt? After all, 50 percent
of Americans under 30, Reagan's
largest group of supporters, be
lieve that an all-out nuclear war
is likely within 10 years. Have
they simply decided to drive a
better car to the holocaust?
I do not think we are suffering
from madness or that we have
entirely lost the instinct for self
preservation. My sense is that
voters simply cannot grab onto
the great, amorphous, Number
One Worry we call "n jelear war."
There is no concrete solution up
for a vote. What we have at the
moment is a concern in search of
an issue.
For a while, it looked as if the
nuclear freeze would be the way
to translate fear into political
action. It was and is a simple way
of demanding, "No more." But
supporting the freeze has become,
as one advocate admits, "just an
other way of expressing anxiety."
When a majority of delegates to
the Republican National Conven
tion simultaneously back a freeze
j 2a
Religious approach to abortion avoids issue
I disagree with Kema Soder
berg ("Pre-defined religious mor
als . unneeded," Sept. 28 Daily
Nebraskan). Sure, people should
not force their beliefs on others,
but how do we determine if a
moral is religious cr not?
At Bob Jones University people
were forced not to date interra
cially, and blacks were kept out of
some school organizations. If a
religion breaks a lav, it is not dif
ferent from any individual break
ing a law. Some churches do. dis
agree with the government on
issues like abortion, nuclear pro
liferation, etc., but these churches
work within the law. Anyone who
doesn't work with the law -. for
example, someone who bombs an
Student says neu trraVittii
Dear Editor
Kema Soderberg does a won-
derful job of clouding the truemorais unneeded
issue concerning government-
w
and the president who opposes
it, the idea has lost some political
meaning.
When the Public Agenda
Foundation looked into this gap
between our private worries and
our public politics, it found some
consensus and some confusion.
Americans are absolutely clear
on the dangers of nuclear war,
and totally reject the notion that
it could be "limited" or "winnable."
We even reject the notion that
there are winners in the arms
race. In short, we agree on the
worries.
But we are thoroughly con
flicted about the nature of the
Soviet threat, how to negotiate
with the USSR or how to defend
ourselves in the nuclear age. In
short, we do not know what to do.
And "doing" i3 the business of
politics.
As the foundation's president,
Dan Yankelovich, said, "It's an
enormous opportunity for what
political leaders always look for,
those concerns that haven't yet
become an issue. It gives them a
chance to take leadership." Yet,
as he agrees, they have not taken
that leadership.
So far, the discussion about
abortion clinic should be pun
ished according to the law
whether he Is a priest, ditch
diggsr, lawyer cr whatever.
Abortion is m much a religious
moral issue as murder or social
security. A religious person j udges
government laws according to
his faith, cr that person would be
denying his faith. Religion is an
inseparable part of that person.
This idea b the same with abor
tion or Social Security. It doesn't
erase tne issue.
The argument that abortion is
a religious, moral issue is a card
board protest It changes nothing
and b, in fact, skirting the true
issue.
The real issue with abortion is
func d abortions in her Sept. 26
edit- ial, "Pre-defined r
10OUS
One would never guess from
her article that people who abhore
abortion are forced to help pay
for thousands of abortions yearly
through their federal tax doSsxs.
Platitudes like, "It h not the
government's right to rule on this
issue or morality because the cor
rect morals are undefinable on!j
throw an etherising haze over the
entire issue.
The government is, in fact, tak
ing a snorsl stand in fsrera cer
tain pcc;--2 to help certain ether
. people at-cit their fetuses. It just
so happens tSist the moral prd
tian cfths US. government ccin-
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nuclear policy has gone on at two
leveb: the level of anxieties ex
pressed by "The Day. After" or
"Red Dawn," and the level of tech
nological jargon spoken by the
cruise and MX missile experts. In
politics, it goes on from two sides.
Reagan talks tcugh (in the nicest
possible way) and Mondals talks
freeze. Reagan plays . on fear of
the Soviets, and Mondale on fear
of Reagan. Many voters, anxious
and uncertain, turn the dial to
find some easy listening.
As Yankelovich said, "You can't
explain the fact that the arms
race bnt the number one issue
without some reference to the
peculiar kind of national mood.
It's like the pubHc b taking a
holiday from negativity, from
complexity, from the big mind
breaking questions."
If we cant get a grip on the
questions, if we do net see clear
choices and options, we concen
trate on something reassuring
the temporary good news of the
economy. But if thcie Is anyone
who really think3 we can take a
holiday from the arms race, I
have a T-shirt tailored just for
you.
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CoRsponyffashSnstcn Pest
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whether or not we are allowing
murder. Since science cannot
determine when human cells
actually become a person,
shoaldn t we give the unborn the ,
benefit of a douM and let them'
live? Otherwise we may be com
Kiiting murder without realising
it
As to the argument of the right
to chcicei everyone should also
have tht right to live, whether
they depend on someone else, as
with a fetus, or whether they are
jast ordinary .people walking down
the street.
Kyle W. Hollman
freshman
physics
cides with Soderberg's at the mo
ment, but this docs not mean the
government is taking no moral
position whatsoever.
It is a little shameful or at best
naive, for an educated person to
claim moral neutrality in a politi
cal issue. The claim to neutrality
is little more than an attempt to
boost one's morality over the
opposition's.
Mike Lawrence
fccshman
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.Prelaw
Lawrence
Frtshisn, Pre-!aw