OH NON
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Chris Hopfensperger.".Editor, 472-1766
Dionne Searcey.Opinion Page Editor
Kris Karnopp. Managing Editor
Alan Phelps. Wire Editor
Wendy Navratil. Writing Coach
Stacey McKenzie.. ...Senior Reporter
Jeremy Fitzpatrick.. .. Columnist
Steering clear
Campaign trail should include Nebraska
' 9
Nebraska has been ignored in the race for the presidency.
Candidates have steered clear of the state on the campaign
trail. They don’t realize Nebraska could provide them with
some bonus votes.
To win the presidency, a candidate must receive a majority —
270 — of the Electoral College votes cast. Electoral voles arc
acquired by winning in individual states.
_ Most states work on a
winncr-takc-all system. But
Nebraska’s electoral votes arc
awarded by congressional
district instead. All three
presidential candidates could
win an electoral vole in Ne
braska by carry ing one of the
state’s three districts.
Nebraska’s other two
electoral votes will be awarded
to the candidate who wins the
state. Those votes come from
Nebraska’s two senators who
arc elected by the state rather
than by districts. In all other
David Badders/DN stales but Maine, the? presiden-.
lial candidate who wins the majority of the votes receives all the
states’ electoral votes.
That means any one of the candidates could pick up a few extra
votes from Nebraska.
Granted the state has only five electoral votes. California has
54, New York 33, Texas 32.
Iowa has seven electoral votes. But Bill Clinton campaigned in,
Iowa Saturday. George Bush was there this morning. No one
came to Nebraska.
Well, almost no one. *
Barbara Bush was here this summer spreading love and cheer
to youngsters by reading them a book. Marylin Quaylc came to
the state and did something of equal importance. Jerry Brown was
even in Scottsbluff, for heaven’s sake.
The highest-ranking government official to cross the state's
boundaries was Al Gore when he visited Omaha last week.
But Lincolnitcs who wanted to rally in direct support of
Clinton or Bush this week had to drive three hours.
Nebraska has more than 1.1 million people of voting age. And
normally those voters lean toward the right come polling lime.
In 1988, only six states — Florida, Idaho, New Hampshire,
South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming — had a higher percentage of
Republican votes than Nebraska.
Bush may think he has the state wrapped around his finger. The
World-Herald, the state’s largest newspaper, has already endorsed
the Bush/Quayle ticket.
But both candidates should realize that Nebraskans aren’t all
Republicans. A growing crowd of Democrats exists on liberal
college campuses where students are exposed to the real world
and the way it works.
That fact should scare Bush. It should motivate Clinton to
campaign stronger in this state. But so far it hasn’t done either.
And more than likely, it won’t.
Nebraskans must realize their vole still counts, even though the
state will be ignored by both candidates.
Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Fall 1992 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by
the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the
university,itsemployccs,the studentsorlhc NL Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent
the opinion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNI.
Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. According to pojicy set by
• the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of
its students.
* **.
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Letters will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity, originality, tmiclincss and space
available. 'I he Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all material submitted. Readers
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Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 14(H) R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
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Finding refuge in the final frontier
■ he space shuttle is in space
£ again this week.
I’m not sure exactly what the
astronauts arc doing. Pulling a satel
lite in orbit, I think.
Most people aren’t paying much
more attention to the space shuttle
than I am. Many Americans seem
bored with s ace missions.
Some question
whether the m issions arc
of any use at all.
That attitude is unfor
tunate, because space is
the last safely valve left
for our increasingly
crowded planet.
When the rest of the
world became too crowded — politi
cally and otherwise— the first Ameri
cans came across theoccan and settled
here. When early America became
too crowded, explorers moved out
again, settling states like Nebraska.
People have always had a new
frontier to settle if conditions became
too constraining. People could always
start over by moving.
Now the United Stales is growing
more crowded again, as witnessed by
our increasing social problems, but
we have nowhere to go. Nowhere,
that is, but up.
space, as u nas been noted, is our
final frontier.
But just when space could serve so
critical a role to our country, we seem
to be giving up on it.
Sure, there is still talk of pulling
bases on the moon or going to Mars.
But are we really excited about it? Do
we really care if we go or not?
Somewhere we lost that drive —
that vision. Somewhere we stopped
dreaming of such things.
It’s time we started again.
We need to revive the spirit that
began the space movement, the spirit
with which John Kennedy pushed
Americans to land a man on the moon.
“We chose to go to the moon and
do the other things,” Kennedy said in
1962, “not because they arc easy, but
because they are hard, because that
goal will serve to organize and mea
sure the bestofourenergiesand skills,
because that challenge is one we arc
willing to accept and one we intend to
win.”
Space then provided us with a na
:_ m
tional goal and direction.
Now with the end of the Cold War,
America needs such a focus again.
We have spent so long fighting to
keep the world free that we don’t
know' what to do now that freedom
reigns.
Many areas that have been ne
glected in recent years need our atten
tion. Education, health care, cconom ic
competitiveness and our deteriorat
ing cities arc only a few.
But it would be a mistake in turn
ing our national attention inward to
turn our cyds downward. We should
keep them raised to the stars. Space
can provide us with a national goal we
need so badly.
We do not have to become an old
and tired nation as we leave this cen
tury and enter a new one. Space and its
possibilities can makcus young again.
Think of the potential that space
offers us. Imagine what we might
accomplish.
Now is the perfect lime for
America, wandering aimlessly after
the Cold War, to turn it’s focus back
to the stars. It is a natural role for a
nation of explorers.
Some w ill say space exploration is
too expensive, or too foolish. But the
same people would have laughed at
explorers coming 10 America, or me
Wrighi brothers, or someone who said
that one day men would walk on the
moon. America was made great by
people who were not discouraged by
such voices.
In these days, with our cities
crowded and our national purpose
unclear, we need a common goal.
America is com ini apart at the scams,
and we need something to pull us
together. /
Space is that opportunity. It would
require us to have courage. It would
require us to dream. It would require
us to work very hard.
But Americans—when chal lenged
— can do those things better than
anyone in the world. Working to
gether, there is nothing we cannot
accomplish.
What will we discover? What will
we gain? Who might we encounter?
That we cannot know. Columbus,
preparing for his voyage 5(X) years
ago,could hardly have imagined what
would result from his journey. But the
world would have been dillcrcnt had
he not sailed.
ExplorerscomingtoAmcricacould
not comprehend that they began what
would become one of the great na
tions of the world. But still, they
came.
Today, we cannot know what will
become of our efforts of space explo
ration. We cannot look 500 years into
the future and see the results.
But the resulls will be great. Be
cause the inevitable courseof human
ity is toward progress, and space is the
next step in that journey.
The citizens of the United Stales
can decide to pick themselves up and
lead the world in that effort. Or weean
choose to refuse the opportunity be
cause it is loo risky, because it is too
expensive, because we don’t have it
in us anymore.
The choice is ours to make. Our
generation will be remembered as the
first explorers of space — or as a
people too timid to try.
1 think we should try. And I think
wc will.
Robert Fulghum writes that when
a bystander asked Benjamin Franklin
at the launching of the first hot air
balloon what good it could possibly
be, Franklin replied, “What good is a
newborn baby?”
The exploration of space is yet a
baby. The good that can come from it
is completely up to us.
ck is a junior
e major, a
news reporter
ly Nebraskan
tnnisL
