Wednesday, October 15, 1980
page 4
daily nebraskan
sXLU
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SRED deserves
praise for efforts
A student organization formed last semester,
Students for Responsible Energy Decisions, de
serves a round of applause for its members
efforts to present information to students con
cerning one of the most important issues of the
next 50 years.
This semester, the group will bring at least
eight speakers to campus, show a film on Three
Mile Island and work to expand its activities with
the aim of further energy education.
Representatives from the Lincoln Electric
System and the Nebraska Legislature have
volunteered to speak to the group, and speakers
on solar energy and energy alternatives on the
state's small farms also have appeared.
Scheduled are speakers on city and state energy
planning and civil defense, as it relates to evacua
tion in the event of a nuclear reactor emergency.
As a group, SRED does not favor use of nu
clear reactors and is in favor of promoting avail
able alternatives. Whether students agree or dis
agree with the group's positions, it is rare that a
student organization receiving no student fees is
so active.
SRED's activity is encouraging on a couple of
counts.
First, it shows that students do care about
relevant issues and the future. Secondly, it is
impressive that an ad hoc student group has been
able to achieve what this group has. That fact
demonstrates the ability of concerned students to
organize and manage their own affairs-a skill
seemingly overlooked too often at UNL.
Most importantly, while everybody in the
country has an opinion on energy and realizes our
present situation demands knowledgeable action,
SRED is making an effort to educate students and
voice its opinions, an act that must be taken up
at a grass-roots level if policy makers are to move
toward a resolution of our problems.
Citizens (that includes students) must educate
themselves about energy alternatives, about
present world energy reserves and must yell loud
enough in enough numbers until they are heard in
state capitols and in Washington.
Efforts like that being made by SRED are the
beginning of such a movement, and it is hoped
others, whatever their views, would make a
similar effort to become educated and active.
n
to the edlota
Milton and Rose Friedman, in their book Free To
Choose, have proposed that the Sixteenth Amendment
which now reads:
"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes
on incomes, from whatever source derived, without
apportionment among the several States, and without re
gard to any census or enumeration," should be repealed
and replaced with a new amendment that would read
something like:
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes
on incomes of persons, from whatever sources derived,
without apportionment among the several States, and
without regard to any census or enumeration, provided
that the same tax rate is applied to all income in excess of
occupational and business expenses and a personal allow-
Continued on Page 5
Conservatives are out of touch
Conservative doctrine and the candidates who profess
it are enjoying renewed popularity in American politics.
This is so despite the obsolescence of their world-view and
the misdirection of their foreign policy prescriptions.
America's right wing continues to embrace the ethno
centric myths of Cold War propaganda, and to address in
their policies the world of 30 years ago.
It is a long-standing tenet of conservative dogma that
the Soviet Union is, by its very nature, an aggressive re
volutionary state and an enemy of the United States. This
notion has its roots in the mythology of the Cold War
years, when America had a global leadership role thrust
upon her by a violent redistribution of international
power. Two world wars had bled the traditional European
power white, and produced a biopolar distribution of
power in the world system.
The bipolar balance was perceived on both sides as
highly delicate; incremental gains in the power of one
state were viewed as losses for its rival. Change in the
status quo was invariably interpreted as threatening to the
global position, and ultimatly the national security , of one
of the superpowers. Thus the very structure of the inter
national system that emerged after World War II produced
competition and tension between the two great powers.
America had to adopt an active foreign policy if the global
balance was to be maintained.
Yet, the American people had just endured the trauma
of a great war and were anxious for a return to more
peaceful domestic pursuits. Having destroyed the evils of
GermanJapanese militarism, Americans could see no
reason to retain a global role. They fully expected the
superpowers, former wartime allies, to exist together in a
peaceful world.
President Truman faced a dilemma: the new world
order mandated an active U.S. role, while a resurgence of
popular isolationism constrained U.S. foreign policy. To
mobilize public support for American involvement in
world affairs, the myth of the monolithic communist
threat was propagated. Truman presented the public with
a foreign devil in order to morally justify our participation
in global power politics. Given the bipolar world order,
and its propensity for confrontation and crisis, the
U.S.S.R. was easily portrayed as inherently hostile and
aggressive.
This myth, born of the Cold War, attributes Soviet
behavior to ideological motivations. It is assumed without
question that the primary goal of Soviet foreign policy is
the promotion of world Marxist revolution. This
assumption is in 'error, as are the conservative positions
based upon it.
The Soviet state is motivated, as are all other states, by
considerations of national interest. These interests are
indeed perceived in Marxist-Leninist terms, but do not
necessarily reflect revolutionary goals. The U.S.S.R. views
itself as the homeland of world communism; its national
survival of the Marxist world vision. Thus, the cause of
world communism is best served by policies which protect
and enhance the sovereign powers of the Soviet Union.
Marxist revolutions are not seen as universally desirable,
but are welcomed only when perceived as beneficial to
Soviet national interests.
Historically, foreign communist parties have been
exploited, abandoned, and betrayed by Moscow whenever
it served Russian goals. The Soviets have not hesitated to
collaborate with "class enemies" if the U.S.S.R. could
benefit thereby. For example, the Soviets have for many
years maintained friendly relations with Iraq, despite the
brutal suppression of the Iraqui Communist Party by their
government. There are many such cases in Soviet diplo
matic history. In sum, world revolution will not be pur
chased at the expense of Soviet national interests.
The tenet of the "revolutionary state" may thus be
seen as fallacious. Although this myth may have served a
purpose in the bipolar epoch, it is increasingly irrelevant
in today's world order. China, Japan, Europe (the EEC)
and the resource states of the Third World have emerged
as independent centers of power. The international system
is now multipolar, and the intensity of superpower
competition has therefore diminished. Imbalances in the
global distribution of power can now be corrected
through shifting relationships among the great powers.
Soviet foreign policy is not necessarily threatening to
American security; there is room for compromise, in spite
of the protestations of conservatives.
American conservatism is out of touch with the
realities of the modern international system. Its pre
occupation with the "Soviet threat," its reluctance to
recognize Peking and its neglect of the terrible problems
of Third World poverty all demonstrate the backwardness
of American conservative leaders.
Sexual harassment is hard to distinguish
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WASHBSfGTON-I've got a problem with sexual harass
ment. No, not that problem. No female superior has taken
indecent liberties with me; no female subordinate has
accused me of sexist treatment (quite possibly because I
have no subordinate, female or otherwise).
& -
jMy problem with sexual harrassment is that I don't
kr)w what it is Not entirely, anyway.
Suppose a male supervisor tells his female subordinate,
by words plainly spoken or by attitudes clearly conveyed,
that her prospects for career mobility depend a good deal
on her willingness to sleep with him.
Is that SH? Clearly it is if the woman, after spurning
her supervisor's advance, is passed over for a promotion
she deserves. But suppose the "retaliation" consists only
of her not being given a promotion she never deserved but
might have gotten anyway had she been more cooperative
Is that SH?
I suppose it's SH (or at least simple assault) when the
boss starts pawing his secretary after she has made it clear
that his advances are not appreciated. But is it (I know
women who swear it is) when he only ogles and leers or
uses pet names without authorization? '
It is SH if the boss asks an attractive subordinate for a
date? Or does it become SH only if he is turned down and
asks a second and third time, perhaps with a tingle of
impatience starting to creep into his voice?
Continued on Page 5
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