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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 1986)
Wednesday, April 9, 1986 Page 4 Daily Nebraskan Vi ki Kuha, AV7r, 472-1766 Thorn (ialirukit'wirz, M(lU(Hjinl Editor Al Huiiicr, Editorial Paye Editor .lames Kotfm, Editorial Il( Editoi Chris WVIsrh, Co) V.sA' C7?V' Nebmlkan University ol Nebraska-Lincoln Editorial i i i j sif$ jt n . a i it r srsrr iwu h i i REMEMBER MEEIIN6 THE UTTLEeiKL HAW 4y &2t Iff 1 I PLKIA WELL, ViiR VISIT WAS SO SUCCESSFUL 5&nK?Cn if f H I TWAT OTHER COUNTRIES 5C IDD 8 f-CkdM I TO SEND CHILDREN. MR. PRESIDENT, IT GIVES r S fM f j t I I ME GPEAT PLEASURE TO INTRODUCE FEEK 1 J f $ Ml K .1 1 I 1 , i 1 B ji D H B 300 Repeal could A possible repeal of Nebras ka's Initiative 300 has seen its last hurrah at least for another year. The Legislature has thrown the decision back into the hands of Nebraska's voters. Consider ing the state's depressed agri cultural economy, voters should repeal the law, which prohibits corporate ownership of Nebraska farmland. Senators Monday bracketed the law, which means the issue isn't dead, but the public has the chance to get the issue on the November ballot. Sen. John De Camp of Neligh, an opponent of Initiative 300, told the Lincoln Star Monday that he will help organize a petition drive to put the amendment on the November ballot. Senators have long battled over the subject. A committee was formed to investigate the pros and cons of the issue. The media has covered it extensively. A vote by Nebraskans might be the last thing for Initiative 300 because the recent debate has helped educate Nebraskans about the controversial topic. Opponents have several objec tions to repealing 300. Audobon magazine reported recently that there are three types of corpo rate investors in Nebraska ag land: agribusinessmen, wealthy people looking for tax write-offs and businesses looking for ways to invest in property. The latter too often have little Protesters joyfy Nuclear test cancellation a relief The cancellation of Tuesday's nuclear test brought wel come relief to those con cerned about U.S.-Soviet relations and nuclear war. About 200 peace group pro testers claimed the test cancel lation was a major victory, but federal government officials blamed the delay on bad weather conditions. Whatever the reason, the test reprieve was desperately needed. It gives President Reagan more time to look at the facts and call off all future tests. If conducted, the current test, which was scheduled at a site 70 miles west of Las Vegas, would have resounding effects world wide. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorba chev has threatened to resume Soviet blasts if the United States tested weapons after March 31. Gorbachev banned Soviet tests last July and challenged Reagan to do the same. Unfortunately, Reagan didn't. Ignoring pleas from members of Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials represent official policy of the spring 1986 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The Daily Nebraskan's publish ers are the regents, who established the UNL Publications Board to super lift economy interest in the farming opera tions themselves, and the land suffers. The danger of these cor porate owners "raping and run ning" is great. It's doubtful they would worry about fragile soil and erosion, or about the long term effects of pumping nitrates into the soil. But considering the financial situation of the state, it probably would be in Nebraska's best interest to let corporations own some of Nebraska's farmland. We are experiencing a trend from having several farmers to a few. Farming operations have grown more efficient. Nebraskans must acknowledge that the country in general will need fewer farmers in the future and begin planning to restructure our state's econ omy to fit the scheme of things to come. Nebraska has prided itself on its small-farm families their loyalty and good work ethics. It's doubtful this would disappear if Initiative 300 is repealed. Midwesterners' healthy attitudes are deeply ingrained. The key to successfully intro ducing corporate ownership of Nebraska farm land lies in the Legislature. Should Nebraskans vote to repeal 300, senators would have to make precautionary laws that protect the state's farm land. In addition, senators also should look at the possibility of limiting how much of the state's land could be owned by outside cor porate investors. the House and Senate, Reagan approved plans for the contro versial test, which probably would escalate the U.S.-Soviet arms race. Reagan justifies his actions, saying that the Soviets completed all their tests before the ban began. He also claims it would be unwise not to test the wea pons because the United States relies on them for defense. That's true, but the Soviets also rely on their weapons, and they're willing to forego tests. It's also doubtful that Soviet scientists could have completed all nuclear tests last year. Instead of arguing over wea pons tests, Reagan should con centrate on summit talks with Gorbachev and strive to scale down the nuclear arms race. Reagan, 75, probably won't live to see the war his continued nuclear tests could start. But those who would be killed or maimed by nuclear blasts should urge him to ban all tests and work toward peace. vise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the edi torial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student editors. The gubernatorial race is a facade that hides the face of 'melancholy' M alaise (') mal laz n - s 1: a sense of physical ill-being: an indefinite feeling of generalized debility or lack of health often indica tive of or accompanying the onset of an illness 2: a vague sense of mental or moral ill-being or uneasiness. In his 1925 story "Disorder and Early Sorrow," author Thomas Mann pictured the undergirding social uneasiness affecting life in post World War I Ger many. Nebraska today has a similar feel of an ominous, social "out-of-sorted-ness." I call it the Nebraska malaise. In Mann's story, the "big folk" and the "old folk" are concerned with pres enting the appearance of normalcy. All engage in acting upon the social stage. Professor Cornelius wears a "mechani cal smile" in front of guests; the big folk "adore impersonating fictitious characters." But nobody is fooled into believing that actual normalcy exists. At one point the professor reflects upon the contradiction between appear ance and reality while observing a party guest: "His eyes are larger than life, with a deep and melancholy glow. He has put on rouge besides the powder those dull carmine high lights on the cheeks can be nothing but a cosmetic. 'Queer,' thinks the profes sor. 'You would think a man would be one thing or the other not melan cholic and use face paint at the same time. It's a psychological contradic tion. How can a melancholy man rouge?' " Seat belt laws deflate air bag use undertransportation compromise It is Saturday morning all across America cartoon time for a tril lion or so kids. At the moment, they are watching the "Mr. T. Show," which is sort of a cartoon of a cartoon, but never mind. There's the famous Mr. T. in his equally famous van and hold it a second, kids what's that across his chest? It's a sash. It's a bandolier. No, it's a seat belt! Yes, a seat belt. And right ahead of Mr. T's van (or maybe it's behind; I'm not really paying attention) is the car of the bad guys. They are mean-looking with appropriately mean, unshaven faces. They snarl. They growl. But lo! What is that across their snarly and growly chests? Yes! Once again, it's a seat belt. Oh, golly gee kids, do you get the lesson? Do you understand what, almost subliminally and very cleverly, you are being told? Buckle up. At least that's what it seems at first blush. And a good lesson it is, too. It could save your life and protect your face from going through the mean windshield. But wait, kids. The professor concludes that the guest is "a perfect illustration of the abnormality of the artist soul-form." He does not seem to understand that he "paints" on an appearance. The "con tradiction" is shared by all in that society. None are being intentionally disingenuous. Rather, they simply don't know how else to face the amorphous social malaise except to try to pretend that everything is normal. Jim Rogers Germany in the 1920s faced pro found social, economic and political uncertainty. Everything seemed anom alous. Nebraska today shares surpris ingly similar circumstances (although, on the face of it, not quite as extreme). Events have fundamentally shaken the state's collective identity the belief that Nebraska is "the good life." Farm crisis, bank closings, political pettiness in the extreme, bizarre cult murders and fascist farmers, all have cast a pall over the Nebraska polis. The pall becomes a malaise because a short-term prospect for remedy doesn't exist. This year's gubernatorial race is of little aid in diminishing the unease. The candidates react like the professor Maybe you're being told something else as well. Maybe you are being told that, perish the thought, if you go through the mean windshield, it is, as we adults say, your own damned fault. You should have buckled up. Richard Cohen What do you mean by that, you ask? What's so bad about teaching kids to buckle up? The answer, of course, is nothing. It is the smart thing to do. But we all know that no matter how clever the message, there are many kids and "many adults as well who will not buckle up. They will go flying through the mean windshield. But if their cars had air bags, they would not. Air bags would cushion them from hitting the dashboard. It would work in those accidents over 35 with frozen smiles painted on, as it were. All the while, the electorate knows that the appearance of politics as usual does not address the basis anemia of the state. By way of the "con tradiction" between a poorly hidden reality and the facade itself, the malaise only deepens. George Will's rediscovery is the in sight that statecraft is soulcraft. More than ever, Nebraska politicians need to heed this insight. Nebraskans have lost their vision of a commonweal; our commonness has faded into an abstact, barren collectivity. Legislative propos als do not address the deep self-doubt. The vision and creativity required to lead Nebraska through this era are lacking or unexpressed among present candidates. The remedy to our problem is not accommodation. This is what former President Jimmy Carter proposed in the late '70s to counteract the national malaise of that era. He paid the price of conceding defeat. On the other hand, mere attempts to advance an empty "feel goodism" is no solution either: A politician's painted smile does little to hide the state's civil melancholy. Nebraska needs true statesmen and stateswomen able to call the polis to the strength of character needed to face the present adversity. Only true leaders can direct Nebraska out of our current straits. Where are they? Rogers is a graduate economics student, law student and DN editorial page editor. mph where seat belts sometimes do not where, in fact, they seem to cause injuries of their own such as snapped spinal chords. But the auto companies, by and large, oppose installing air bags, they could add $200 or more to the price of the car, although Ford charges $815 for them now. If, though, you are rich enough to afford a Mercedes, you get an air bag as standard equipment. One of the reasons the rich get richer is that they survive. The federal government has seen to that. Under a compromise announced by Department of Transportation Sec retary Elizabeth Dole, auto manufac turers will not be required to install air bags if, by 1990, two-thirds of the U.S. population is covered by mandatory seat-belt laws. One by one, the states have compliantly fallen into line. Just this month Maryland became the 23rd state to sign up for the Liddy Dole Good Shnook award, passing a mandatory seat-belt law just as Dole and the auto industry want. See COHEN on 5
