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The rolling Thone
Competition for Nebraska's First
Congressional District seat can properly at. this point
be considered less than vicious. The. freshman
Congressman serving in that seat for the last two
years will probably not be unseated by anything less
than political dynamite. There are no such fuses to be
lit.
During his past two year term in the U.S. House of
Representatives, Congressman Charles Thone of
Lincoln has scored well in a number of ways. This is
most interesting because he didn't even seek the seat
until after the primary election was over last year.
Congressman James Denney, after winning the
Republican nomination for the first district slot, was
appointed to a federal judgeship, leaving the general
election ballot position wide open.
Thone was approached by state Republicans, and
became their choice. Thone says that at that time in
history he thought of the race as a "new mountain to
climb". Prior to running, he was involved in a private
law practice in Lincoln.
When asked just what highlights there have been
during his first term, he replied, "there really aren t
too many exhilirating highlights-a new person m
Washington must get grounded first." Thone went on
to say that, "Some of the little things in service work
are gratifying; that is, being able to turn around some
aspect of the federal government in the favor of a
constituent." Thone spends a good deal of time
talking with his constituents and responding to each
and every piece of correspondence that reaches his
office.
His voting record in the House is one evidencing
individuality. Several times he has opposed the Nixon
administration's efforts concerning major legislation.
Congressman Thone voted against the SST funding
bill, against the Lockheed loan measure, and opposed
the Higher Education Act of 1972, all contrary to the
wishes of the Republican administration.
Involvement in the Republican party's selection of
senior committee members has been an event in
Thone's Congressional life. He was involved in
effecting rules saying that the senior members of a
Congressional committee need not be the politician
with the most years in office.
A good deal of Charles Thone's time is spent
traveling back and forth between Washington and
Lincoln. He is back here in Nebraska this week for
two days of meetings and engagements.
Most recently, Thone helped to introduce a
measure known as the Omnibus Safety Act of 1972.
It is a twelve-point program to reduce highway
injuries and fatalities. He co-introduced the bill with
Congressman William H. Harsha, senior Republican
on the House Public Works Committee.
Congressman Charles Thone certainly ranks now as
one of the top freshmen now serving in the House of
Representatives. If only one member of Nebraska's
five-man Congressional delegation was ever deserving
of re-election, Thone most easily qualifies.
Barry PHger
After going S87 billion in the red in his first three budgets,
President Richard M. Nixon came under heavy fire in 1972 for
proposing a hefty increase in defense spending the fourth time
around.
"The country will go bankrupt and to the bow-wows,"
muttered Democrats and other tightwads everywhere.
But the President remained firm. "Only by increasing
defense spending," he said, "can we insure our safety from
enemy attack."
And in the end he proved absolutely right.
For at the time, of course, the Russians and the Chinese,
while pretending to be enemies, actually had a secret plan to
capture America and despoil it of its wealth.
The Communist Blueprint, drawn up m Nov. 3, 1971, at
Pigg-Zye in far Outer Mongolia, called for Russia to saw off
the U.S. Eastern Se. .board, while the Chinese would unscrew
all the nuts in Southern California, thus loosening the West.
The amber waves of grain were to go to the Russians and the
fruited plains to the Chinese, with the purple mountains'
majesty left up in the air.
"All we have to do," said the sinister Chinese negotiator,
Fu Man, rubbing his hands, "is wait until the U.S. defense
budget drops below $75 billion a year. Then well have them
at our mercy!"
Bu; thanks to Nixon, it was not to be. Instead of cutting
the defense budget, he upped the requested authorization to
$83.4 billion.
"Oh, we'll never take them over now," prophetically said
the Russian negotiator, Justa Poppova, sadly tearing up the
Communist Blueprint. And he was right.
For Congress, not wishing to offend anyone in uniform,
routinely approved the extra half billion (give or take a billion
or two) the President requested.
And with that money, the Pentagon was able, after much
haggling, to purchase 16 new tanks with white sidewall treads,
a gun that could shoot backward as well as forward and a giant
cargo plane capable of landing on one ski.
Unfortunately, the extra half a dozen billion or so, what
with cost overruns, pushed the national debt to exactly half a
trillion dollars. And this unnerved Herman R. Opple of
Broome, Wise.
"Half a trillion's a lot of dough to be in debt," he said
thoughtfully to his wife, Ima green. And he went right down
and cashed in his U.S. Defense Bonds, all $243. 1 2 worth.
Well, you know how these panics spread. In 24 hours,
everyone was cashing in Defense Bonds. The financiers were
cashing in their Treasury Bonds. And nobody was buying any
government notes, long-term or short-term. In a word, the
government was bankrupt.
So the government went into receivership, sold off what
assets it had (mostly real estate), and settled with its millions
of creditors for ten cents on the dollar.
But the country was broke. Riots and fires spread through
the long-neglected cities. The long- overburdened
transportation system broke down. Without money, the
schools dosed, welfare agencies shut their doors, and the
unpaid Army mutinied and went home. The nation lay
defenseless.
But just as Nixon predicted it was now safe from enemy
attack. For as Poppova said to Fu Man after a brief inspection
tour of the strife-torn, hunger-ridden, poverty-stricken land:
"Who'd want a country like that?"
Copyright Chronicle Publishing Co. 1972
J
PAGE 4
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 1972