Opinion
Tuesday, October 4, 1994 Page 4
Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jeff Zelenv..Editor, 472-1766
Kara Morrison...Opinion Page Editor
Angie Brunkow.Managing Editor
Jeffrey Robb.:...Associate News Editor
Rainbow Rowell.Columnist/Associate News Editor
Ki/ev Christian....Photography Director
Mike Lewis... Copy Desk Chief
James Mehsling. ......Cartoonist
(don’t) Play it again
Finalists don’t reflect UNL’s community
Same song, different verse.
Last year, the UNL Homecoming Theme was “United Colors
of UNL.” But as Karen Frcimund, last year's homecoming royalty
co-chairwoman and University Programs Council vice president,
said then of the theme, “The only color that's going to be happen
ing is their hair.”
Once again, UNL's homecoming royalty court has failed to
accurately represent the University of Nebraska-Lincoln student
community.
Of the 18 finalists chosen, 17 arc members of the greek system.
Only one is a minority.
The candidates should come trom all tacets ot university lire,
including the grcck system, the residence halls and off campus,
and from diverse backgrounds
One of the biggest obstacles to ensuring a diverse court seems
to lie in making sure the selection committee also is a diverse
body.
When selection committee members stem from similar back
grounds, the candidates chosen will reflect the qualities of the
committee itself. The problem here is that — not purposely —
there is less appreciation for the activities and experiences of
applicants with vastly different backgrounds. The grcck system
always has been represented well in the Homecoming race. This is
not new, nor to a large extent surprising. Individuals involved in
the greek system arc often quite involved in campus activities.
The involvement of grcck members of our campus and the wide
range of philanthropic activity they provide to the community
should not be diminished.
However, our “qualifications” for the candidates should be as
diverse as the wide range of student leaders on our campus.
Just as the “United Colors of UNL” theme paled last year, this
year’s “Sellout Celebration” also will be homogenous.
Cinch it
Congress needs to tighten its own belt
Friday marked another lapse in the Senate's efforts to recover
the plunging approval rating of its voters.
A Republican filibuster proved to be the death of the campaign
finance reform bill, which would have imposed limits on cam
paign spending and reduced the amount of money that political
action committees could contribute to candidates.
The controversial bill was opposed by six Democrats, including
Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, who said he voted with “regret to
block the bill’s consideration.
House members, on the other hand, need to be congratulated
for passing a bill Friday that limited lobbyists' buying meals and
entertainment for members of Congress.
The bill also will require all professional lobbyists to register
and disclose how much they arc paid, whom they are working for
and on what issues they arc lobbying
The benefits of this would be two-fold. With the distraction of
free gifts out of the way, the Congressional office would not seem
like a glamorous position, and it would not be as tempting to go
astray.
a n i
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^WlfeS...S,00 OUlY
L out « UVT.
^ —
Health care heart still beating
One of the most exciting things
about graduating in December is the
possibility of actually having health
insurance again.
OK. no more tests is great. No
more classes. No more buying
outrageously priced books, opening
them a grand total of 12 times and
selling them back at one-eighth of
the price is nice, too.
But health insurance. What a
concept.
I had health insurance, but that
was so very long ago.
I saw the editorial cartoon
Friday. I laughed. I really wanted to
cry, but I was in class.
Health-care reform as a major
issue of the ’90s appears to be dead.
But not for me or the millions of
other people in this country who
don’t have health insurance.
I support single-payer national
health care. Fpr those of you who
don’t keep up on this issue — those
of you who have insurance — this
is universal coverage that is similar
to, but not identical to, the Canadian
system.
My stepmother and I have been
in favor of this system for a very
long time. We debate it often with
my father, who once told me that
people who can’t afford insurance
shouldn’t get care.
I thanked him for his compassion
and assured him I would be coming
to him for money the next time 1 got
sick.
After years of hounding him,
pointing out the pros of universal
coverage, my father has jumped on
the health-care bandwagon.
1 feel so proud. What a victory.
Actually, I can’t take credit for
this, but I do
My father’s only real reason for
coming to my side of this issue is
/ joke often about being covered
under the prayer plan: I pray I don t
get sick. My contingency plan is my
car. If / get really sick, / run my car
off the road and collect under my car
insurance.
that Rush Limbaugh is adamantly
opposed to the idea.
So what if I spent countless
hours explaining that despite being
one of the richest nations on the
globe, we also have one of the
highest infant mortality rates in the
industrialized world?
This can be directly attributed to
the fact that low-income mothers do
not receive prenatal care at all or
receive sub-standard care because
of the high cost.
The United States also has one of
the shortest life expectancies, which
can in part be attributed to our lousy
diets of meat and cheese, but it is
also due to a lack of health care.
The United States is the only
industrialized nation, other than
South Africa, that does not have a
system of national health care.
For all of the good reforms
taking place in South Africa today.
I’m still not convinced I want to
model a nation after it.
If. after hours of stressing these
important facts to my father, all he
takes from the debate is that Rush
opposes the concept. I’ll accept that.
I take my victories however I can
get them.
Which is the purpose of this
column today.
The health-care reform debate
may be dying in Washington, but
for the millions of uninsured — and
underinsured — in this country, the
debate must continue.
I joke often about being covered
under the prayer plan: I pray I don’t
get sick.
My contingency plan is my car.
If I get really sick, I run my car off
the road and collect under my car
insurance.
(That’s a joke, by the way. Don’t
send letters.)
Unfortunately, none of this is
funny.
I can see an end to my condition.
I will, I hope, have a full-time job
soon, one with benefits and every
thing.
But I’m one of the lucky ones.
National health care is not
another way for the government to
get us under its thumb.
Not all government plans are
bad.
For those of us who can’t afford
health insurance, this debate will
not be over until everyone receives
the care he or she deserves.
This issue is not dead.
Not for me.
Arthur is i senior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
Traditionalism
To Jamie Karl and his feelings
toward the state of modem Ameri
can culture (DN, Sept. 30, 1994), it
is obvious that you are from a small
town.
I am from Omaha, sadly
Nebraska’s largest metropolitan
area (only about 659,000 total,
including suburbs), and I can safely
say I’ve been exposed to enough of
the "assault” on small-town values
and family virtues to realize that
multiculturalism is a way of life for
most people.
I have traveled to D.C., Philadel
phia, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and a
few other major cities, and this way
of life is not an “assault on our
traditional American culture and the
lifestyle of middle America." It IS
the traditional American culture!
Remember “Give us your poor,
your cold, huddled masses?”
Different lifestyles are what
founded this country. Turning your
back on different lifestyles is
turning your back on this country.
You say, “If Americans no
longer share the same societal
standards and the same religious
foundation, then we will fail to
share one nation.” In fact, we would
not have a nation if the white
founding fathers had been content
with uniform societal and religious
standards.
Your “traditionalist” thinking
does have a special name, though.
It’s called having a closed mind.
Joshua P. Gillin
freshman
news-editorial