' uany iNeDrasKan Page 5
Headers discuss abortion, government issues
r ohtical column
confuses issues
“Communism succeeds because
unlike Western industrial economies,’
it makes full use of its manpower
Dust-covered political rhetoric of
Ceausescu, Zhivkov, Modrow or Gus
Hall? No, but rather a laughably seri
ous statement from his eminence
Harvard Professor John Kenneth
Galbraith, a thoroughly discredited,
although persistently influential,
charlatan of the American left. The
fact that, unlike most Eastern bloc
communists, Galbraith remains hap
pily employed propagating his wis
dom to America’s academia, serves
as a curiously ironic departure into a
discussion of Jim Rogers’ provoking
piece “Can the right survive today?”
(DN, Jan. 30).
Rogers’ initial proposition that the
various camps of post-WWII era
conservatism (essentially Burkean
traditionalism, libertarianism and
ncoconservatism) were bound by a
unifying commitment to vigorous anti
communist policy is entirely valid.
Further, his assertion that the im
pending “death of communism” (a
questionable observation at that) fore
bodes the inability of the conserva
tive movement to remain unchanged,
is most likely accurate as well. Ro
gers’ later implication, however, that
the movement will consequently
diminish asa relevant voice in Ameri
can politics, is flawed in a number of
Rogers goes to great lengths illus
trating the numerous ideological vari
ances within the conservative move
ment, intimating that, given the ideo
logical vacuum formed by tljp dimin
ishing viability of Communist doc
trine, these variances will split the
movement into political impotcncy.
Such an assertion ignores the fact that
reasonable and intelligent individu
als differ in their understanding not
only of what a given political ideol
ogy is, but of what arc its historical,
political, social and philosophical
origins. Intellectual inexactitude docs
not imply comprehensive illegitimacy
or weakness within the movement,
but rather the richness and diversity
of its ideological heritage.
Moreover, Rogers confuses ends
with means. The post-WWII conser
vative movement’s overriding goal
was the building of a conservative
Republican majority. Such was deemed
necessary to conserve what the move
ment presupposed as worth conserv
ing, viz., the American tradition it
self, as set forth in the Declaration of
Independence, United Slates
Constitution and the vision of Lin
coln’s “central idea” of all men being
created equal. To the extent that the
communist phenomena was widely
(although to differing degrees) viewed
by conservati ves as the primary inter
nal crisis of this tradition and that of
the West, it was vigorously opposed.
Its recent demise, however, does not
portend the dissolution of the conser
vative movement, but rather the shift
ing of its efforts to those remaining
issues essential in the protection and
preservation of the American tradi
tion.
The unshackled Soviet satellite
nations of Eastern Europe will cer
tainly not be looking for experienced
economic and political guidance from
the likes of Carter, Dukakis, Mondale
or Galbraith as they begin conversion
to frec-markct democracy. It is not
surprising, although thoroughly dis
heartening, that more members of the
Polish government arc reading Mil
ton Friedman than arc our visionaries
in Congress. Nor is it strange that
conservative organizations such as
the Hudson Institute, Washington’s
Heritage Foundation and the Center
lor Strategic and International Stud
ies recently have visited Hungary,
Estonia and even Moscow itself in an
effort to take a decisive leadership
role in Eastern Europe’s burgeoning
democratization process. Such is not
the talk of conservatives “speaking
softly for fear of unhappy prescience’’
as Rogers confidently contends.
Finally, the threat to the American
tradition within our own borders is,
unfortunately, sufficiently active so
as to ensure the presence of the con
^prvalivp m m n n t fr»r enmo
time. So long as the ideological prog
eny of such liberal icons as Galbraith,
Abzug and Bond persist in bastardiz
ing the Founding Fathers’ concep
tions of “rights,” “equality” and
“liberty” the conservative movement
will remain a vibrant and energetic
political force. Far from an intellec
tually-starved movement of the ar
chaic past, conservatism continues to
bolster its ranks with such innovative
thinkers as Thomas Sowell, Charles
Murray, Joseph Sebran and Charles
Kcslcr, influential conservatives ready
to address the challenges that remain
as the Berlin Wall crumbles. As
American conservatism redirects its
efforts toward the likes of the Ken
nedys, Kerreys, Dodds, Jacksons,
Bidens, Naders, Yards, Tribes and
Brennans, its relevant voice in Ameri
can politics will, if anything, increase.
To the extent that the events in East
ern Europe permit this redirection of
conservatism’s energies toward our
friends on the left currently engaged
in debasing our American tradition,
the revolutions of 1989 will for con
servatives be doubly sweet.
Colin Croft
senior
integrated studies
Nation's budget
needs revamping
Did anyone listen to the State of
the Union address a couple of weeks
ago? I anticipated all the rhetoric and
blather that presidents of the 1980s
have been well-versed in, so I watched
the Celtics game instead. I did hap
pen to catch the “highlights” of Bush’s
first state address later on CNN and
read about the speech in the paper,
and, like I suspected, it was chock
full of rhetoric and cliches -- espe
cially the part about education. As
everyone by now knows, Bush called
for all sorts of grand goals for educa
tion in the 1990s. Unfortunately, it’s
just a bunch of hot air. Big George’s
budget calls for a whopping two per
cent increase in spending on educa
tion. State and local government need
to pick up the slack, according to the
powers that be. How docs George
intend for American schools to catch
up with the rest of the world (tests
show American kids regularly finish
last or near last in science, math and
geography) if he won’t put his money
where his mouth is? Consider a few
things:
The budget cal Is for a 2 percent cut
in defense after inflation. In other
words, the actual number of dollars
will increase some. This is in the
wake of reports that the Pentagon has
stockpiled $30 million in excess sup
plies. Also, with democracy bursting
out all over Eastern Europe, why do
we need to pour more money into the
highly questionable Strategic Defense
Initiative and the dubious Stealth
bomber, which each carry a nifty price
tag of $600 million? Why do we
continue to spend billions “protect
ing” Europe from a Soviet invasion?
The odds of a Soviet invasion of
Western Europe rank up there with
the chance of a Canadian invasion of
Greenland.
Bush likes to call himself “the
education president,” but so far he
has done nothing at all to resemble
that title. All of you paying your tui
tion now might be interested to know
that before the Reagan regime, a Pell
Grant paid, on the average, 29 per
cent of your tuition. With all this talk
about the “failures” of communism
gracing our newspapers and airwaves,
the failures of capitalism are rearing
their ugly head. Homelessness, a
crumbling education system, and
declining morals could all be tackled
by an ambitious leader. But unfortu
nately Bush, and the entire country
for that matter, likes to wait until a
problem becomes an all-out crises.
The best medicine for our culture
right now is a total revamping of our
budget, placing the emphasis on edu
cation and the nation’s infrastructure,
and de-emphasizing our wasteful
spending on guns, bombs, missiles
and other assorted crap.
Reynolds Towns
freshman
education
Pregnancy could
threaten mentality
Even the most extreme proponent
of the so-called “pro-life” position
will ordinarily relent somewhat when
presented with a scenario in which a
pregnant woman’s physical health is
threatened by carrying her fetus to
term.
My question is: What about when
a pregnant woman’s mental health is
threatened by a continued pregnancy?
What do 1 mean by this? It’s quite
simple. Whether we as individual
Americans know it or not, the pleas
ant and relatively easy reality in which
we pass most of our days is actually
nothing more than a thin membrane
supporting us above an infinite abyss
of emotional suffering. Some of us
may tread upon this brittle surface all
the days of our lives, walking from
birth to death without ever knowing
the darkness that lies beneath. Others
of us, through the circumstances of
our lives, may plunge through the
membrane and into that darkness.
One way to find one’s self among
these latter unfortunates, almost cer
tainly, is to be pregnant under circum
stances which make bringing a fetus
to term emotionally unbearable.
It doesn’t matter why continuing
the pregnancy might be unbearable;
the fact that it is should be sufficient
to prevent the law from interfering
with a woman’s right to remove her
self from the circumstances of such
suffering. Period. There arc some things
that the law should force no one to
endure.
It is inconceivable to me that a
human being could live upon this
earth and still fail to see this. To
think that another member of a spe
cies could support a public policy
which might cast a person into the
aforementioned abyss makes me
shudder.
I don’t believe in divine justice,
but I do believe in statistics. The
universe will inevitably strike down
into that abyss some percentage of
those who falsely imagine themselves
to be standing upon bedrock and who
proclaim so fervently the rights of a
piece of tissue which can know noth
ing of emotional suffering. And when
these sclf-rightcously callous souls
are struck down, I hope that they can
find peace and relief in the world that
they themselves have helped to make.
But they better not count on it. Their
ignorant and heartless fellow-travel
ers probably will be trying to pass a
law to enforce their pain.
Rebecca de la Moue
graduate student
biochemistry
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