UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
LIBRARY
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OQIIU
thursday, September 28, 1972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 96, no. 1 5
FS2v355riiyifr awe-err.-
Groups battle over McGovern
by Chris Harper and Michael (O.J.) Nelson
The two booths in the Nebraska Union stand close
together, but politically, the occupants are worlds
aPThe two groups, Students for McGovern (SM) and
Youth Against McGovern (YAM), grapple for the
attention of UNL students who pass through the
Union lobby between classes.
More than 250 UNL students are SM members,
according to Coordinator Patti Humlicek. The UNL
group, part of a national network that includes all
Nebraska campuses, plans voter registration and
canvassing as its major election tactics, she said.
The YAM is trying to "mobilize youth opposition
to the candidacy of George McGovern," according to
Terry Cannon, YAM state chairman.
"We are non-partisan." "YAM is not working
directly with the Nixon campaign because many of
our members don't want to endorse some of the
President's policies."
He said some YAM members believe the Nixon
administration has not given adequate attention to
research and development of military weapons. Many
of the same members, he said, are "not enthusiastic"
about some of Nixon's welfare proposals, and
consider them too liberal.
YAM is a semi-independent committee of the
Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), he said. The
YAF is a national organization of conservative youth.
Cannon is also YAF state chairman.
More than 140 UNL students have volunteered to
work with YAM, he said. The group will work with
UNL's 100-member YAF against the Democratic
presidential nominee, Cannon said.
Defense spending, domestic affairs, taxation,
foreign affairs and agriculture policy appear to be the
major points of departure between the two groups.
"George McGovern believes in cutting the waste in
government," Humlicek said. "His defense proposal
would not cripple the U.S., but it would cut back on
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Cannon ... no amnesty for draft dodgers.
useless waste and outdated elements in the defense
budget."
"George McGovern's slogan, 'Come home,
America,' is a cop-out," Cannon said. The United
States needs a strong internationalist foreign policy to
protect the country's overseas interests, he
maintained.
Humlicek labeled Nixon's domestic policies as
"inconsistent."
"Nixon has continually vetoed child-care centers,
but at the same time he supports increases in defense
spending," she said.
"Several years ago Nixon was calling young people
'bums . Now that they can vote, he's saying 'I love
you.' "
McGovern's new welfare proposal which she said
provides $3,000 for a family of four and additional
food stamp and health care supplements, is feasible,
she said.
She also cited the Time magazine Board of
Economists contention that the new welfare program
would not create substantial tax increases.
Cannon said McGovern also is inconsistent.
"I doubt his credibility," he said. "He has changed
his stand on welfare as well as on Southeast Asia."
Last spring McGovern had proposed a $1,000
national give-away to every person, Cannon said,
adding that he changed his stand prior to the
California primary.
He also had called for an immediate withdrawal of
all forces from Southeast Asia, according to Cannon,
but later amended his position to include
continuation of a residual force in Thailand.
Cannon branded McGovern's economic policies as
"political opportunism." He said there are no major
economists who agree with McGovern's welfare
increase-tax decrease policy.
"McGovern is the only candidate besides Rep.
Shirley Chisolm who even considers women's rights as
an Issue," Humlicek said.
Cannon did not discuss women's rights.
Loopholes and corporate taxes also prompted
divergent opinions from the two students.
Humlicek said she supports McGovern's proposals
to close tax loopholes and to raise the corporate tax
rate 6 per cent.
"It's unfair that 40 per cent of all U.S.
corporations don't pay taxes," Humlicek added.
"Why shouldn't a certain sector of society pay their
fair share? The money that can be raised from an
increase in the corporation tax and the
discontinuation of the oil depletion allowance will be
substantial."
Cannon said the elimination of tax loopholes
would hurt the middle and upper middle class most.
He said the majority of people using loopholes are
making $10,000 to $25,000 a year.
Elimination of the oil depletion allowance would
also be disadvantagous, he said. If the allowance were
axed, he said, it would make well-drilling unprofitable
and endanger the nation through a possible loss of
one of its major power resources.
Foreign affairs sparked the most controversy
between the two.
Humlicek praised Nixon's policies concerning
Russia and China but slammed his Vietnam policy.
Cannon said he dislikes Nixon's posture toward
Communist countries but added that he supports the
President's Vietnam doctrine.
'There would be no gain for the North
Vietnamese to keep our prisoners after a complete
withdrawal of troops," Humlicek said. "How many
more U.S. soldiers have been killed and how many
more have been taken prisoner in the last four years
because of Nixon's policy? We're merely going in a
circular pattern."
The SM leader also said she endorses McGovern s
stand on amnesty for draft resisters.
"I support general amnesty because the Vietnam
situation has to be considered differently from any
other war. Vietnam is a moral issue," she said. "There
are some people who just left but there are many
more draft resisters that left America for reasons of
conscience and they deserve amnesty."
The United States needs a bargaining tool to use
on the North Vietnamese to secure release of the
prisoners of war, Cannon said. He said the continued
bombing and the presence of ground forces in
Southeast Asia provide such a tool, he said. He said
the United States can pressure the North Vietnamese
to release the prisoners by using military force.
Cannon said he opposed amnesty. To grant
amnesty to draft-dodgers would "undermine the basis
of law," he said.
"We can't have a law if people can break it and
think they will be forgiven the next day. Besides, no
one who would denounce their country deserves
recognition from it," he said.
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Keith Scarborough . . . mans the McGovern
booth.
Cannon said any draft -dodgers who want to return
to this country should serve their jail sentences.
He said he favors eliminating the draft and
organizing an all-volunteer army.
Humlicek also slammed Nixon's agricultural
proposals: "It's obvious that Richard Nixon cares
little about the farmer. He has never applied any
specific proposals to help the plight of the farmer. In
fact, Nixon lowered parity in 1968.
"George McGovern is very sensitive to the needs of
the farmer. He's always been elected by the South
Dakota farmers," she said.
Cannon said he was not well-versed on the
problems of agriculture, but believes the economy
would suffer under a McGovern administration. If the
economy is ruined, he said, farmers would suffer as
much as anyone else.
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