Wednesday, November 7, 1984 Page 4 Daily Nebraskan h d ii ft on al m f'L1 T JJJ.J --M M- , M f - -j n"ii iinri' r - in ii tun T-- ......... .... a. u-.m- n. r.nn mi m&tit-m"' Pu blic opinion polls destroy e campaigns A h! It's over at last. Zj All the media hype, all the weari JL A. some candidates, all the yard signs will shortly be out of sight, out of mind. President Reagan will reign another four years. Exon will serve in the Senate for six and Bereuter may well be on hb way to a life career in the House. Fricke is our regent let's hope he keeps tuition down and quality up. Now we won't be told every day what the polls are saying about the candidates. Oh, well still get our weekly Harris and Gallup polls on the state of the union or the desirability of plastic trash bags, and perhaps another Journal-Star poll on the people's opinion of the Gov. Bob Kerrey Debra Winger romance (more than 80 percent don't care!). The polls are probably the most ir ritating aspect of the campaign season. What a small "scientific" sample has to say at a given moment on a given day becomes that day's top story. There's little doubt the polls are well read we all want to know what others are thinking, but the play they receive in the papers guile Pfflirtar In August 1981, when air-traffic controllers began their illegal strike and the government an nounced that they would be fired if they did not return to work in a few days, a journalist called a White House lawyer to ask, "Why a few days why the delay?" The lawyer laughed: "That's what the president wanted to know." George Will That was a defining moment for per sons curious about the nature of Ronald Reagan's appeal to the electorate. Hamlet he isn't. Reagan's action regarding PATCO flowed from experiences with assistant professors who told their students in the '60s that students could violate laws if they did so sincerely. In a sense, the '60s ended in August 1981, buried by a man whose political career owes much to Ber keley students and their faculty mislead ers. This election comes 20 years almost to the month after the birth of the so-called "free speech movement" at the University of California at Berkeley. If this election produces the first increase since 1960 in the percentage of Ameri- and on the air overemphasizes their impor tance. In some recent letters to the editor, in the DN and other Lincoln papers, several letters have cited polls as reasons the paper should endorse one candidate or another, or cited polls as the reason voters should side with the majority. That is perfectly perverse lope and it's the most scary part about the polls. What the majority wants is not always right. People should stand up for their own beliefs and rights. Being in the minority or majority should have nothing to do with the way one votes. Often the minority is right. (As was the case in this election!) Until the next election, polls will fall to the inside pages of the papers and to the last minutes of news broadcasts prob ably where they belong. So now we turn our eyes to our new elected officials in the earnest but dubi table hope they will lead us down the best path, or perhaps up the best path. It's time to settle in for cooler tempera tures and blustery winds. Get ready for a long winter. to cans voting, that will be a tribute to Rea gan. He has refuted a familiar tenet of American radicalism, the theory that election contests between our temperate parties do not matter. Reagan has not been as radical as his rhetoric sometimes suggests or as Mon dale insists. However, his most important achievement the shift of federal re sources toward the military is so sub stantial that, measured against the achievements of other presidents, it pla ces him among the most consequential presidents. Mondole tried to make much of the "unfairness" of Reagan's consequences, and failed. He seemed to measure the fairness of American society solely in terms of the domestic side of the federal budget, and the incidence of taxation. This strengthened the public's percep tion of him as too fixated on government. Anyway, in 1980 domestic spending mea sured in today's dollars was $523.4 bil lion. This year it is $523 billion. Reason able people can differ about the equity of spending patterns under Reagan. But it's unreasonable to imply, as Mondale did, that since 1980 the domestic budget has become something Charles Dickens might have dreamed up to torment Oliver Twist. Regarding taxation, reasonable persons can differ about the equities of the system v r,J" m li n 7 A ft r-'V UiLL ' .5 pecioLliffiir for emmimrt as modified by Reagan's cuts. But it is unreasonable to suggest that Reagan has seriously undermined the essential pro gressivity of the system. Today the top 10 percent of taxpayers account for 50 per cent of tax revenues and the bottom 50 percent pay just 10 percent. So, part of Mondale's problem was that Reagan has not been radical. But the Democratic Party also has a problem that should be called its peculiarity quotient." Daniel Seligman, who collects evidence of social insanity (for his "Keeping Up" column in Fortune magazine), asks an interesting question. New York's police department has an affirmative-action program to recruit homosexuals because (according to the notice posted in gay bars) police officers must be "representa tive of the community they work to serve." Seligman wonders: How will the com munity know the sexual orientation of the person on the beat? Backward reels the mind to the San Francisco Democratic convention, and its rules committee. Lord, how Demo crats love rules. Professor Grant Gilmore of the Yale Law School writes: "In Heaven there will be no law, and the lion will lie down with the lamb In Hell there will be nothing but law, and due process will be meticulously observed." The Democrats' rules committee en dorsed creation of a Fairness Commis sion to fine tune the party's rules "as they relate to the full participation in the party process of . . . (all) members of the Rainbow Coalition." The rules committee stipulated: "The Commission shall consist of at least 50 members equally divided between men and women, and shall include fair and equitable participation of Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, AsianPa cifies, women and persons of all sexual preference consistent with their propor tional representation in the party." - Now, tiptoeing, as delicacy requires us to do, past the awkward question of what the word "all" encompasses, we come to this question: Who is to decree, and on the basis of what research, what is the homosexual portion of the Democratic Party"? Few voters know that Democrats, in solemn assembly, do things like this. If voters knew, Democratic candidates would suffer even worse electoral re bukes. Nevertheless, the Democratic Party Tuesday lost its fourth of the last five presidential elections. It would be rash for Democrats to assume that this has nothing to do with the fact that the party is, as the work of the rules committee suggests, a bit too peculiar for comfort. 1S84, Washington Post Writers Group 'Rising suns' need to shine for elderly A n 18th-century writer showed wisdom beyond his years when he wrote: "Let others hail the rising sun; I bow to that whose course is run." Since we are a university of supposed rising suns, this may offend a few of you who are still naive enough to think UNL courses will make you wiser than your elders. It's an old truism that a child's first intelligent thought is his realization that no matter how much he knows, his parents are always ahead of him. aasa Mon Koppelma The aged minority can be easily forgotten during this, the height of an election season. For the first time, we have more to worry about than our allowances. We're making judgments on who we want to lead our future: on national, state and local government levels. The people who were important to our past are put off til next month ... or the month after. The elderly are left alone with their accrued wisdom, as well as their stiffen ing joints and failing health. During the next few weeks, election hoopla will draw to a close. Winter will set in and bring with it cold temperatures, ice and snow that make every move a major undertaking for the elderly. So, my fellow rising suns, it's time to "bow to those whose course is run." There is a lot of volunteer work that needs to be done for those who cannot do for themselves. You can work on an individual level, some times for pay, sometimes for credit but most of all, for the pleasure you will give an older person and the good feeling youll get yourself. If you are a member of a group a church group, sorority or fraternity, dance or music class, for example many centers actively recruit young people to teach or entertain senior citizens. The following is a partial list of services who would appreciate volunteers or groups of volunteers: Home Handyman Services, 2137 Clinton, 471-7030. This service hires seniors (who dont want to retire) to help less-able seniors care for their homes. But H.C. Mahaffey, director, said there's an "awful lot of clean-up" that needs to be done this fall. He's looking for able bodied students to rake, trim greenery, sweep and do minor maintenance. He also suggested forming snow shoveling crews in neighborhoods to scoop for those who cant or shouldn't. Home Services far Independent Living, 2415 Sumner, 475-7511. Bob Branchaud, assistant director, said his office hires college students to do ofSce work, as well as to help maintain homes of elderly by doing cleaning, cooking and shopping. "Our goal is to keep people out of nursing homes as long as we can," Branchaud said. "Winter is especially difficult for older people. Those who can normally do their own shopping, for example, have to rely on taxis and vans. We try and help out as much as we can." Continued on Pass 5 EDITOR GENERAL MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER ADVERTISING MANAGER ASSISTANT ADVERTISING MANAGER CIRCULATION MANAGER NEWS EDITOR ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS Chris Welsch, 472-1766 Daniel Shattll Kitty Colicky Tom Byms Kelly Blansan tv Hi ytr ISSchbUi Thum&n Kevin WmSit Stasia Them COPY DESK SUPERVISOR Vlckl Ruivr SPORTS EDITOR Wcrd W. frlp'ttt III ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Christopher Curt ten NIGHT NEWS EDITORS LaurlKdppto Jiil'i Jor&an Juii liygrtn WIRE EDITORS Laurl HeppS PHOTO CHIEF Jcil Ssrtsri ASSISTANT PHOTO CHIEF David Crtsmar PUBLICATIONS BOARD CHAIRPERSONS Niels Foley. 478-C275 Angst NEtiftU 475-4831 PROFESSIONAL ADVISER Don WslSon, 473-7331 The Daily Nebraskan (USPS 144-CS0) is published by the UNL Publications Board Monday through Friday in the fall and spring semesters and Tuesdays and Fridays in the summer sessions, except during vacations. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and com ments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-2588 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The public also has access to the Publications Board. For information, call Nick Foley, 476-0275 or Angela Niatfield. 475-4831. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan. 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.. Lincoln. Neb. 63583-0448. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1C34 n&ll V IgORASKAN