Power
to
women
Many terms were pedagogically thrown around
during Kate Millett's speech in the Nebraska Union
Tuesday. Some were from the lexicon of
psychology, others from sociology.
But beneath the terms with which laymen and
laywomen may not be familiar, easily
understandable messages emerge.
Women are oppressed; they are discriminated
against. And the more intelligent a woman, the less
likely she is to find a job that is not mentally
demeaning.
Look at the lack of opportunities for women in
the professions. It still takes a lot of courage for
women to enter either the legal or the medical
professions. And many other areas of job
discrimination exist. As Millett observed, there is
discrimination in industry, in technology, in
science and most unfortunately, in the military.
To date, women have been rebuffed in these
areas. The so-called progress is more definitively
"tokenism."
For the most part, women are relegated to
menial positions: secretaries, waitresses, teachers.
Outside of these areas, opportunities are slim.
Without dynamic perseverance and twice as much
determination as her male counterpart, a woman
must settle for second best or nothing.
Worse than these inequities is women's
conditioning (Millett said inculcation) by the
American system to be subordinate. And for the
most part, many women do not reject the
conditioning which is at the very roots of their
oppression. . .
Finally however, women are organizing. They
are starting to feel the power of sexual politics and
to do something about their unequal status.
This does not mean that women are only
beginning to do something about their sexual
quandary. That battle has been going on for
centuries. But in a more political sense, women's
liberation is just starting to move. But it is moving.
As Millett observed, the movement will not
achieve success through violence, but it can be
successful. Perhaps it is the electronic media
through which the women's movement will arrest
traditional sexism.
But first the women's liberation movement
must be understood for what it is and what it
wants.
A major obstacle to achieving that
understanding is the American system itself, the
system which perpetuates sexist conditioning.
When women and men in this country understand
their prejudices, a new voice in American life and
politics will be born.
It's going to happen. Women will organizcand
increasingly demand more. They will demand what
is theirs: equality.
Depending on their speed, women may be an
important force in the 1972 presidential election.
If so, power to the women.
William F. Buckley, Jr .
JnJixoii and the conservatives
It is much written about
that American conservatives
have lost their sense of
discrimination by backing
Richard Nixon so roundly. One
critic observes scornfully that
we defend Nixon "so long as
he is anything but (on
ideological' premises)
downright indefensible."
Concerning this criticism, a few
observations:
Welfarism
1 . On the matter of
welfarism, the American
people, as Whittaker Chambers
wrote many years ago, have,
like the Russian peasants in
1917, written the peace with
their feet. They will have social
security, in all 57 varieties, and
the function of the
conservative becomes not to
quarrel with the man who is
elected by the rightist-majority
to do their will, but to criticize
specific proposals, so as to
leech the worst factor out of
the proposed new welfare
plans. The weaknesses of
centralized welfarism in any
event become palpable. What
has all but killed the so-called
war on poverty is not the
conservative critique of it, but
its collision with reality.
Post-mortems are very much
in order, such as for instance
was so brilliantly provided by
Professor Martin Anderson in
his book, The Federal
Bulldozer, aimed at examining
the wreckage of urban renewal
programs. But except insofar as
Richard Nixon is thought to be
a teacher rather than a chief
executive, it is difficult to fault
him for any failure to help in
the task of demonstrating
realities to a people still
stoned, for the most part, on
the hallucinations of the New
Deal. Barry Goldwater was the
last such to have tried the
double role of politician and
philosopher. I do not doubt
that he will be honored in the
future for his endeavors, and
do not doubt at ail that he lost
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
the election.
Foreign Policy
2. In the judgment of this
conservative, Richard Nixon's
greatest test in foreign policy
lies ahead of him, maybe just
ahead of him. All other matters
are subject to compromise: but
not the independence of the
United States and the
maintenance of the power
necessary to ensure its
independence. Mr. Nixon has
handled competently the
gradual disengagement of U. S.
military forces from Southeast
Asia, and he has stood
resolutely against the
hysterical, whose performance
after Cambodia can only be
compared to the housewives'
reaction to the report by Orson
Welles in the 30's that the
Martians had landed.
But Indochina is not where
the action is. The action is the
attrition of our strategic
deterrent. The enemy
continues to build up his
power, such that the day looms
when it will have achieved a
convincing first-strike
capability. It is almost
impossible to believe that
Richard Nixon could be
President of the United States
when that day dawns, but
apart from his successful stand
on ABM a year ago, is he
preparing us for what is
happening? Or docs he have
reason to suppose that at just
the right moment, say at
Helsinki, he can pull the plug,
and drain Soviet power?
Unfortunately, to believe
such a thing requires
confidence that the United
States is developing a new
weapons system, which in fact
is nowhere in sight. Unlike
atom bombs, the kind of stuff
you need to tip the balance of
power is about as easy to
conceal as the pollution of
Lake Erie. I know a man who
should know (if he doesn't,
forget it), who believes that we
have about one year to go, at
this rate, before our strategic
deterrent is effectively
undermined. After that, a few
years of crystallization: and
then, Soviet preeminence. I
must believe that Richard
Nixon, before 1972, will need
to present the alternatives to
the American public, and to
make his own
recommendations. This is the
moment of crisis, not merely
quadrennial, but historic, for
American conservatives.
Stability Through Authority
3. In the iast two or three
years, America has faced a
crisis of stability. During such
crises, conservatives do and
should, look kindly on the
preservation of authority: the
authority of the chief
executive, of the laws, of the
lords spiritual, yes even of
college deans. For that reason
Richard Nixon, as president,
and as the outspoken critic of
the greening of America via the
convulsing of America, was
naturally attractive to
American conservatives. It may
be that, having apparently won
at least a precarious victory
over the revolutionists, Mr.
Nixon will now need to do
more to appeal to the
conservatives.
-PfApnw
MICK MORIARTY
editor
CONNIE WINKLER
managing editor
JOHN DVORAK
news editor
GENE HILLMAN
advertising manager
JAMES HORNER
chairman, publications committee
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PAGE 4
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 1971
