Opinion
Biting back
Term limits for officeholders good option
Nebraska’s constituent advocate has come up with a new
plan.
Omaha’s Ed Jaksha, made famous by an unsuccessful
drive last year to place a 2 percent limit on state spending, now
heads a committee that is seeking to limit the terms of Ne
braska officeholders.
The group may propose a Nebraska constitutional amend
ment that would limit Nebraska’s U.S. senators to two six-year
terms and U.S. representatives to four two-year terms. It also
would limit state senators and the Nebraska attorney general,
state auditor and secretary of state to two four-year terms.
The goal of enforcing limits on terms is to prevent incum
bent officeholders from »using their positions to retain power.
In a perfect democracy, term limits would be unnecessary.
Voters would use their own power to get rid of power-abusive
incumbents.
But democracy in the United States is far from perfect. In
this world of political action committees and mudslinging
campaigns, the stereotypical politician who dupes the constitu
ency with promises, promises, promises and flashy advertising
is too often a real-life character.
Too often, politicians lose touch with the voters who elected
thf*m
Proposals better than term limits have been advanced to aid
the dismissal of such politicians. Some have suggested limits
on campaign spending. Others want to place political action
committees under some form of federal control.
But no other option has drawn as much grass-roots support
as term limitation has.
Three other states — Colorado, California and Oklahoma —
already have term limits similar to the constitutional amend
ment possible for Nebraska. At least a dozen other states are
considering such a plan.
i At a time when skepticism of politics is high, term limits are
a popular way constituents can bite back.
Limits would not only force corrupt officials out of office,
they also would encourage successful incumbents to strive for
i positions higher up on the political ladder. .. - ;
/ That's not to say that such plans don’t have drawbacks.
Many good officeholders would be forced out early by term
limits. Constant turnover of officeholders would necessitate
more frequent retraining and cause government to run less
efficiently. Freshman members of Congress may be more likely
to be influenced by special interests. Term limits also remain
questionable for legal reasons.
Despite the drawbacks, term limits are preferable to allowing
the present state to continue. Until better options develop more
support, term limitation would serve as an imperfect solution
for an imperfect system.
Until a better plan gains support, Jaksha’s constitutional
amendment deserves serious consideration.
—J.P.
-LETTERSEe editor
Football not to blame
for UNL’s budget woes
Let s stop using football as a scape
goat for all of the academic and finan
cial woes at this university.
Reaction to the proposed budget
cuts, especially the elimination of the
speech and classics departments, has
run the gamut from insipid to elo
quent. Yet, regardless of the general
merit of each letter and regardless of
the stature of each author, it seems
that the general conclusion takes the
form of a self-righteous diatribe against
the athletic department in general and
the football program in particular.
We can hardly envision, as Prof.
R.D. Stock (DN, Sept. 19) indicates,
that cutting the speech and classics
departments will make the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln’s primary
role and mission “football manage
ment.” If, however, this does become
UNL’s primary {ecus, the fault cer
tainly will not lie with the athletic
department. The academic quality of
any university depends first and fore
most on the quality of its faculty
second on the skills and vision of its
administrators and finally, on the
enthusiasm of its students.
The Nebraska football program
indeed, the athletic program as a whole
has been a source of collective pride
for the people of the state. A success
ful football program, volleyball pro
gram or any other athletic program is
not antithetical to successful acade
mia. Nor can academics be enhanced
by the dismantling of the athletic
department.
Lisa Valladao
graduate student
undeclared
Julia Darlington
senior
history
-LETTER POLICY
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WALTER GHOLSON
Rap industry promotes violence
There’s a war going on and a lot
of people are dancing around it
because they don’t want to
admit they're being hurt.
What I’m talking about is the
musical battle between the gangster
rappers and the positive tip rappers.
A few weeks ago I watched in
disbelief as LX. Cool J beat Jafczy
Jeff & the Fresh Prince and Heavy D
& The Boyz for MTV’s rap video of
the year award.
Maybe it’s because I’m thirtysom
ething, but that just didn’t click. I
have nothing against L.L. But I just
don’t understand how his “Mama Said
Knock You Out” qualified as a major
accomplishment in rap.
I thought Fresh Prince and Jazzy
were going to win. Their video had all
the elements: kids, family, friends
and good, clean fun.
' Instead, the wise MTV types picked
a prancing, tough-talking mack daddy,
rapping as though he was a heavy
weight contender for a hip-hop box
ing title.
Ice Cube, Chuck D, KRS-Onc,
Harmony and Queen Latifah didn’t
even get a nomination. Why? There’s
a conspiracy going on in the business,
and if you don’t own a radio or TV
station or a record company, there
ain’t a damn thing you can do about
it.
It wasn’t always like this. Back in
the early days, old-school rappers
weren’t concerned about air play and
MTV awards. Back then, there were
no big-time recording contracts be
cause outside of New York City, very
few people had heard of hip-hop.
During those days, you had to go
to an inner-city club, house party or
street dance to hear disc jockeys such
as Afrika Bambaaiaa, Jazzy Jay, Kool
Here, The Cold Crush Brothers or
Grand Master Flash, and if you wanted
to lake the music home, you had to
buy the cassettes from the DJs.
Then, the recording industry be
gan to realize that disco music record
sales were slumping. U sent out spies
to find out what was happening. Lo
and behold, they “discovered” a new
sound that they couldn’t duplicate.
That was the beginning of an ex
ploitation that continues today. The
record companies started spreading
their money around the South Bronx
and Harlem, looking for something to
; package.
Probably the first such package
was The Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s
Delight,” with lyrics such as “hotel
motel, Holid%.Inn, if your girl starts
acting up, then you take her friend.”
I have nothing
against L.L. But /
iust don’t undmltmd
how his. “Mama Said
Knsi£k You Quill
qualified as q major
accomplishment in
rap.
Recently, Heavy D compared the
behavior of the artist representatives,
commonly called A&R people, to
pimps looking to break in a new pros
titute. He said A&R types constantly
sneak around inner-city neighborhoods
looking for any rap artist they can
exploit for a few dollars.
The problem, Heavy said, is that
many of these rappers don’t have the
business sense to negotiate long-term
contracts. Often, he said, the artists
have a limited repertoire and if their
first release doesn’t hit gold, they arc
out of the business as fast as they got
in.
Now the major soldiers in the rap
war arc crews with hard-core videos
that idolize street-gang fashions and
show gangsters in expensive cars with
big bankrolls, gangsters who seem to
live large in a city full of poor people.
And, of course, videos flash an
image of young minority men who
swagger down city streets wearing
sunglasses with Oakland Raiders caps
on backward.
Or, they’re rapping about pulling 2
9-mill i me ter on somebody, while well
developed females in various slates
of undress undulate in the background.
Don’t forget the recent proliferation
of groups who label themselves
“Niggaz,” “Bytchcs,” “Hoes” and
“Dogs.”
This doesn’t apply to all rappers,
and even though I’m thirty something,
I enjoy rap m usic and find it one of the
most creative forms of entertainment
to come onto the music scene in dec
ades.
But I cannot ignore that the rap
warring seems to spill over into the
streets, where “dissin”’ turns into drive
by shootings and physical assaults on
women.
In the September issue of The
Source, the magazine of hip-hop music, J
politics and culture, Tom Dog, a New j
York rapper, explains his new re-1
lease, “Fuck Compton.” J
Dog lays he chose the title
cause “the stupid A&R people think 1
Compton, Calif., is the hardest neigh
borhood, so they’re always looking to
sign any group saying they’re from
Compton.”
The article was full of profanities
criticizing Compton groups such as
N.W.A., Most Wanted, DJ Quik and
Dr. Die, whom Dog described as “not
a real man” because of his alleged
assault of Dee Barnes, host of the rap
video show “Pump It Up.”
While such incidents seem to be
isolated, these tough rappers repre
sent the image record companies seek
when they’re looking for “new tal
ent”: the hard-core gang banger with
a rap group.
I wonder why the industry wants
to present this image for consumption
by a mostly minority public, and why
they refuse to look for performers
such as Latifah, Harmony, Moc Dee,
KRS, Yo-Yo, MC Lyle, Brand Nu
bian or Blackwatch, which project
positive messages.
But why ask why when we already
know the answer. It’s just another
indication of a conspiracy to deliver
negative messages and visual images
to American minorities and those non
minorities who watch and listen.
All you have to do is count the
number of Top 10 videos featuring
gangsters, automatic weapons, women
as sex objects, black people in jail or
rappers saying “F this” and “F that.”
At the same time, the “Stop The
Violence” and "We’re All in the Same
Gang” projects and the recent “Human
Education Against Lies” video and
similar videos get less and less air
time.
We should ask why these record
companies don’t sign rappers to make
products showing the realities of drug
and alcohol addiction. We should
demand rap videos about the impor
tance of getting a good education and
taking care of family.
The violence in the streets is di
rected at us and it seems to increase
along with the video war for control
of our thought.
As Harmony says, “We’ve got to
heal ourselves.”
Gholson is a senior news-editorial Jour
nalism mqjor and a Daily Nebraskan colum
nist
