Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 1990)
Editorial i NelSaskan Editorial Board U'"’ Jana Pedersen, Editor, 472;]766 Matt Herek, NewsEditor Brandon Loomis, Columnist John Payne, Entertainment Editor Darran Fowler, Sports Editor Brian Shcllito, Art Director Michelle Paulm&n, Photo Chief LB1059 can work Repeal of bill only will hurt schools Starting July 10, Nebraskans wiil have less money in their paychecks and will hand out more money in sales tax. Sounds like a bad deal, right? Wrong. The tax changes initiated by LB 1059, effective July 105 are positive steps toward a more equitable state wide education system. I^urrenuy iNeDrasxa ranics secona in rne nation ror local property taxes used to support schools and second to last in state support of schools. With LB 1059, those figures will change, shifting more support to the state level. By moving some of the burden of paying for elemen tary and secondary education off of local property taxes and onto state sales and income taxes, local troubles, such as lowered values for agricultural land, won’t have as devastating an impact on local educational systems. Plus, a lawsuit pending against the current Nebraska i system of educational financing charges that the system f doesn’t equalize educational financing across the state. LB 1059 helps solve that problem. And according to a pamphlet provided by the Progress > for Nebraska with LB 1059 Committee, allegations that | LB 1059 actually will increase taxes are false. Nebraskans J will pay an estimated $13 million less in taxes after LB 1059, and Nebraska will rank 27th of the 50 states in t overall burden for state and local taxes with or without LB 1059, according to the pamphlet. Two petitions that seek to place LB 1059 on the No '% vember ballot for a vote to repeal are due tomorrow. If the bill is repealed, Nebraska school systems will have to i scramble to cover for lost revenue, and local schools will suffer. There are no guarantees that LB 1059 will accomplish all it has set out to do. But nothing will be accomplished I if Nebraskans repeal the law before giving it a chance. ~ Jana Pedersen for the Daily Nebraskan I The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others. Readers also arc welcome to sub mit material as guest opinions. Whether material should run as a let ter or guest opinion, or not to run, is left to the editor’s discretion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Letters should be typewrit ten. .Submit material to the Daily Ne braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. editorial- —— ■ — Editorials do not necessarily re flect the views of the university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author. The Daily Nebraskan’s publishers arc the regents, who established the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the re gents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student editors. ^ T , > • * ^ SHe/ii| | i_.r 1S2*Z-s3t+ Meaning of July Fourth changes U .S. freedom worth celebrating, but remember rest of world When i was young, before col lege and rock V roll started putting all kinds of anar chistic views in my noggin, I was an All-American boy. I played baseball, and actually wasn’t too bad. I was a good fielder, though my hitting was sporadic. When I was 12, my dad suggested that I use a wooden bat, which didn’t help much, but swinging that stick with Mickey Mantle’s signature on it sort of made me feel a part of the great American tradition, which I guess I was. 1 played football, and although I was super scrawny, I was an all-star fullback. The defenders, who usually were twice my size, just couldn’t catch me as I squirmed through the line. In junior high, I was one of those wrestlers who couldn’t gel over the 100-lb. mark no matter how many sandwiches I ate. I went to practice every day and was taught to kill. So were my opponents, who were half my height and twice my bulk. I lost every match until I finally met up with another scrawny guy. I think that was the greatest moment of my lifc thc moment when one secs persis tence overcome adversity and pay off in masculinity dividends. Fora brief moment on that mat, I lived the American dream. I achieved the great ness that my forefathers instilled in me. I sprawled on my back for three periods until my opponent was too drained to avoid being flipped over and pinned. When I was a little league all-star ballplayer, my teammates and I got decked out in our uniforms on the Fourth and went to the logging show one of the more popular events in lown-and sold pop to get money to travel to the stale tournament. 1 remember how “from sea to shining sea” used to just make my heart pound, how the president was the closest thing to God on earth, and how America fought only noble wars and Vietnam never really happened until college. I remember a time when America was amber waves of grain forming a home of the brave in a sweet land of liberty. Man, I loved Gerald Ford. What was the Fourth of July to me? Many a flag-waving grade school teacher asked me to write about that. And 1 wrote. I wrote about men laying down their lives to protect me and my culture. I wrote about Betsy Ross and Paul Revere, about bald eagles and George Washington. I was a proud Brandon Loomis What is the Fourth of July to me now? It’s a day off, fried chicken (or maybe a hot dog) and Pabsl Blue Ribbon beer. Thai’s the problem with America, right? People lake everything for granted. After all, if no one had stood up to stop Hitler, I wouldn’t have the right to drink bad beer. Have I ever seen combat? What gives me the right to brush off all the symbols that made America and the Fourth of July great? Simple. I have come to figure out that the Fourth of July, the Pledge of Allegiance and “My Country Tis of Thee’’ arc all the things that my fore fathers and relatives fought against. Nationalism has been the driving lorce behind nearly every war, if not every one. Hitler thought Germans were the best, so he tried to buy a little extra room for them to live in. World War I was partly the result of colonial pride. And the American Revolutionary War, the event thatcrcatcd Pabst Blue Ribbon Day, was a revolt against a power which fancied itself superior and thus had no problem justifying economic repression. Don’t misread this. I’m glad the Revolutionary War was fought. There was no other way around the oppres sion. I like living in America (though I also think Canadians have it pretty good). But consider why you celebrate the Fourth of July. If you do it be cause we kicked some butt a couple of centuries ago, then you’re missing the point. I wouldn’t tell anyone not to celebrate their freedom. Freedom is a good thing to celebrate, so long as you also think of the rest of the world’s freedom. Next Fourth of July, wave a Mexican flag. Offer your sincere apologies to a Japanese American for the concentration camps of World War II (which also didn’t really hap pen until college, or maybe in a pass ing reference in high school). I have respect for veterans. My father is one. I just don’t think that America is so morally righteous that I should sit around and get all teary eycd over wars which may or may not have been justified. If I have children (thus perpetuat ing the American institution of the family), I want them to learn the truth about Vietnam, about the Bay of Pigs, about Japanese internment, about slavery and about America-a melt ing pot of human nature and a good place for some to live where it is possible for bad things to happen. 1 want them to learn those things be fore they are loo old to change their minds or accept them. They will be educated enough to know the problems this country faces and to do someth ing about those prob lems. They will play baseball, if they want, not because it is America’s game, but because it is fun and chal lenging. They will drink Pabst Blue Ribbon on the Fourth of July. Loomis is a senior news-editorial major and the Summer Daily Nebraskan editorial columnist.