In an effort to inform students at UNL about
what is happening in out nation’s capital, I am
writing this week to access the impact of Ross
Perot and his withdrawal from the race for the
Presidency while I am interning in the White
House.
Ross Perot accomplished something only
few have done in our history — he has forced
the two dominant political partisan our system
tochange their attitudes and beliefs towards the
American voter. What a system! Americans
complain against the rich politicians who are
elected to run our country, and then rally around
a billionaire who promises to bring change by
spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get
elected. The people demand honest public ser
vants who are not connected to government,
and then the people Till petitions for a man who
got rich on the government. But, is it their fault
-LETTERS^ EDITOR
ASUN president reports from Washington
they want change — certainly not.'
Who would not want change? We sit and
watch our federal government officials fight
and argue amongst themselves while the coun
try swims in federal debt and rots inside its
cities. The President puts forth proposals and
the Congress rejects those proposals or holds
them up in the never-ending committee struc
ture that ex ists to get elected offc ials re-elected.
Ross Perot said if we did not address these
problems, we would parish into the depths of a
third-world country. Well, that is doubtful, but
although Ross dropped-out, he expects us to
thank him for opening our eyes. Fortunately for
our country, when we did open our eyes, Ross
had disappeared, taking his money with him.
America needs to stand-up and look around.
We cannot expect government to work if we
elect a President from the opposite party of
Congress. We cannot expect government to
function effectively if we allow our elected
officials the ability to re-elect themselves
through free mail, free phones and free press,
all nicely paid for by the taxpayers. We cannot
expect government to perform if Congress can
exempt itself from the laws it passes for theresl
of the country. No, government does not need
term limits to solve these problems, it needs
responsible citizens who care enough about
what is going on to get involved in the process*
if nothing more than voting.
If the Perot people wantchangc, they should
stay active in the process, encouraging others to
get involved. They should look at who has
proposed changing the system to allow lor
parents to make a choice in their child’s educa
tion, to allow businessmen to open in the cities
without having to pay taxes on their small
profits, to provide inner city citizens the oppor
tunity to buy their own homes and have a stake
in their future and to open the debate on the idea
that strong families are better than government
programs.
If does not take a rocket scientist to look past
the liberal media and see why domestic pro
grams have not been passed to help solve our
national problems. It partisan warfare out in
D.C., and the Democrats can claim victory, at
least for round one. Unfortunately for the citi
zens of this nation, it was not the President who
lost the match, but the country.
Andrew Sigerson
ASUN President
taitoriai contusing
I must admit that I was confused by
the editorial entitled “Sin spreads
AIDS” in the July 30, 1992 issue of
the Summer DN. In particular the
passage “Homosexuality is wrong.
Heterosexuals having sex outside of
marriage is wrong. Doing drugs is
wrong.” baffled me for several rea
sons. From what vantage point is the
editor making these normative judg
ments? Why is homosexuality wrong?
Is it intrinsically wrong — if so what
arc the reasons? Is it wrong because
homosexuals have sex outside of
marriage, as in the next case of hetero
sexuals having sex outside of mar
riage — if so shouldn’t homosexuals
be allowed to legally marry? Why is
heterosexual sex outside of marriage
wrong — is it a moral or legal issue?
If it is a moral issue, from where do we
draw our knowledge of this wrong?
And finally, why is ’doing drugs’
wrong? Is the editor advocating a
return to prohibition? The three topics
labeled as wrong — homosexuality,
extra-marital sex, and drug use are
labeled without specifying the editor’s
particular moral vantage point. Well,
I think that I can probably point to
fundamentalist Christianity as the
unspoken source of the author’s wis
dom on right and wrong. And now for
a rebuttal to this incredible journalis
tic endeavor. For many in the world,
including myself, Christianity is not
the base of our value system. So please
slop labeling certain acts or groups of
people as wrong and sinful — espe
cially without some credible support.
Cameron G. Theis
Graduate Student
Political Science
m a * • a ■ I
Header insuned
I have just read your editorial in the
July 30,1992 edition of (THE RAG)
an appropriate name for this
university’s newspaper. Sin spreads
AIDS! What a crock. Your bible
bcating editorial docs nothing to ad
dress the concern that this disease
poses to everyone regardless of sexual
preference, ethnic heritage, religion
or anything else. To say that sin is the
cause and abstinence of sin is the
solution is at best retarded. I cannot
believe this editorial was even printed,
but since your the editor I guess any
thing goes. I know damn well you will
be hard pressed to find anyone in
agreement with your view except for
the fanatical fundamentalist racist
homophobic bozos in your ignorant
world order. Enough for Now!
Hugh B. Riley
American Heart
Association^^
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