mew
jeffrey hart
HP
Is welfare well?
mm
The report that "welfare
ref orm"-translation: vastly
increased Federal welfare
funding-is dead in Congress
represents much more than a
crystallization of public
opinion against one particular
proposal.
True enough, public opinion
was nudged here by the
remarkable events this summer
in New York, where 20 per
cent of welfare recipients failed
to pick up their checks, thus
discrediting the claim of the
welfare establishment that only
1 or 2 per cent of the
recipients are inelibible or
fraudulent. Still, particular
abuses can be corrected or
minimized.
At the very least we
have passed beyond the Age of
Innocence where social
legislation is concerned, for
program after program,
undertaken with the best of
intentions, not only fails to
solve the problem but, worse,
goes on to create new
problems.
The conventional apologists
for welfare argue that the vast
increase in the number of
Dear editor
In our efforts never to be
any less open minded than the
most open minded, and to hate
and ostracize bigots with the
best; perhaps we as students
have become more interested
in furthering personal desires
than in actually changing the
scene.
In the early 1960's civil
rights was the issue. People
talked and had "Time Outs",
and argued and in general, a
few did a lot, a lot did nothing
but talk and a little was
accomplished. Today civil
rights are only imperceptably
better than before.
In the late 60's, the popular
indignation was over the war in
Vietnam. And being the aware,
empathetic people we are, we
talked a lot, had some more
"Time Outs" and did nothing
but marvel at our own concern.
But the war rages on,
undisguised by lies and tactical
maneuvers from the
administration.
Last spring the ASUN
candidates all talked of
educational reform. And lo and
behold look about you. Can't
you just see the change?
Our "Time Out" this year is
a topic that really lends itself
to righting social wrongs. You
see, it's more important that a
black person have the right to
be gay than to walk into a
restaurant and order food. Isn't
it better we guarantee
everyman the right "to do it in
the street" than to guarantee
him the right to walk on that
street.
"We can't take "time out"
dependent families is due to
available jobs not paying
enough to support a family,
and therefore husbands were
motivated to desert the family
to qualify it for welfare. And
so, this argument runs, the
thing to do is to provide
"income supplements" for the
"working poor" to keep the
husband in the house.
But now the paradox. New
York has long provided such
income supplements. The
family need not be husbandless
to qualify. And yet it is exactly
here that the increase in the
number of deserted families
has been most spectacular.
In a searching article in the
current issue of Commentary
magazine, Harvard sociologist
Nathan Glazer concludes that
is is the "liberal" and
"humane" character of New
York welfare legislation that
has caused the vast increase in
abandoned families. The
sanctions that formerly kept
more husbands in the home
have been eroded by the
"humane" measures to keep
families together.
But it is not only welfare
to examine how to continue
pressure and end all support to
South Vietnam. We can't take
"time out" even to consider
meaningful educational reform
in Nebraska.
But we can talk about
human sexuality because it's a
nice, vague topic that has been
talked about for years. Besides,
we must show how open
minded we are, especially when
there is a chance to gross out
outstate Nebraska. What fun!
But mainly we must
concern ourselves with
ourselves and damn the world
around us. Damn the blacks,
damn the Vietnamese, damn
the Chinese, damn the starving
and the poor because we just
haven't got time; "we gotta go
do it in the street."
Steven J. Winston
.:r editor:
The youth of this country
ha: :nportant decision to
iu.ike. Will they or will they
not allow oil into the Arctic of
Alaska and the construction of
the trans-Alaska pipeline? What
they decide will determine
whether we continue this
downward spiral of our society
and its environment or whether
we finally turn the country
around toward a better
tomorrow.
We should not be debating
this issue of oil in Alaska.
Instead we should be
demanding a full scale
investigation into why the oil
industry has become so
that is in question. The
evidence is accumulating that
"solutions" generate new
problems.
"If we look at a country
tike Sweden," writes Glazer,
"which presents a much more
moderate range of social
problems that the United
States, we will see how even
the most enlightened, least
conflict-ridden effort to deal
with social problems leads to a
tax budget which takes more
than 40 per cent of the Gross
National Product.
"And new items are already
on Sweden's agenda of social
demands that should raise that
percentage even higher.
Additional demands are being
formulated "that would
require further increases in
taxation- if any society can go
much beyond a taxation rate
of 40 per cent of its Gross
National Product."
Reflect upon these figures,
and upon Glazer's conclusions,
and where social policy is
concerned you will pass out of
the liberal Garden of Eden.
Distribute! by
King Features Syndicate
Brevity in letters is requested and the
Daily Nebraskan reserves the right to
condense letters. All letters must be
accompanied by writer's true name but
may be submitted for publication under
a pen name or initials. However, letters
will be printed under a pen name or
initials at the editor's discretion.
powerful. The petroleum
industry is undermining
national security and
threatening our very survival
by squandering away resources
in its lust for profits.
In less than ten years we put
a man on the moon. But in
nearly 80 years since the
automobile has been on the
streets of this country, we still
get less than 15 miles to a
gallon of gasoline. This is
progress? Where are our
priorities?
Our mass transit system is
on the brink of collapse, yet
the oil industry vigorously
promotes the highway trust
fund. What kind of social
responsibility does the
petroleum industry practice
when it lets our cities strangle
fhemselves just so oil can
satisfy its own selfish aims?
But will the young
generation follow the same
path of apathy that the older
generation did? If it does it will
be sowing the seed for
alienation and a generation gap
far greater than exists today. It
too can expect to feel the sting
of ''hyprocrisy" and
"hypocrite" flung at it by the
next generation and with more
profound vengeance.
More efficient forms of
energy are being suppressed.
Why? Will those concerned
about the future of this
country win out ever greed, or
will greed write the final
chapters to this planet's
history?
Kenneth Quade
Pembine, Wisconsin
Roffler
Avante
Male Shag
' r.
v
Long Hair is in
Good grooming demands custom care. .
Today's long hair fashions demand even more attention to main
tain that well-groomed look. Nebraska Union Barber Shop is
the mod-place where it all happens
Nebraska Union
Barber Shop
Lower Level
Nebraska Union
aihoursaday
7 days a week
here's
(a)
Your choice of
eggs bacon &
pancakes,
bacon or sausage
(we serve breakfast anytime)
here's Johnny's Restaurant 17th
serving breakfast from 7 00 A M.
1229 K
--73 I
(Mill
07i the c&tnxts
Sculpture Kut
Walk in or
appointment,
472 2459
thoi
kfe finest
5121 0" STREET
They Ve making a batch
right now! 488 5118
Donu
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toast
V Ml U j
LJiLr
CLOSE
TO CAMPUS
and M St party room available
open mtes 'till the wee hours.
WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 6, 1971
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
PAGE 5
