Christian politicians right on
Chuck Sigerson isn’t trying to
brush his party’s Christian conserva
tives under the Republican rug. To
the contrary, he has brought out the
red carpet.
Sigerson, chairman of the
Nebraska GOP, says the Christian
right has become a major political
influence in the state and throughout
the country. It’s been a force
Sigerson has seen explode in the last
decade — and one which the party
leader shys must be recognized.
“This movement,” Sigerson says,
“comes with a heightened awareness
of not only what is right with
America, but also of what is wrong.”
Indeed, on the national level, the
religious right is now one of the
most potent grassroots forces in
American politics. Christian
political powers, like Pat
Robertson’s Christian Coalition,
count as major conservative forces
in the Republican party.
According to Coalition reports,
Christian conservatives currently
have control or play a leading role
in state GOP affairs in more than 30
states. And Robertson has said he
wants even more state GOP organi
zations under Christian conservative
leadership, suggesting “100 percent”
as his goal.
It is a movement that has some
out-of-touch party officials worried.
Not Sigerson.
“This isn’t an attitude of ‘We
have to take it over to get it right.’ It
is more ‘How can we help to get it
right?,”’ says Sigerson.
“These folks aren’t trying to tell
people how to live. They are saying,
‘We believe Republicans can lead in
the moral direction we think is
best.’”
It’s encouraging to see Sigerson
and the state party not only listening
to its moral majority, but welcoming
them in as well. At a time of
receding loyalty within both parties,
more GOP officials need to see the
Christian conservative movement
for what it is: The party’s most
valuable asset.
I_I
Jamie Karl
“These are the
conservatives of the
heart. These are the
traditionalists who
believe our problems
stem not from a lack of
goods, but a poverty of
the soul. ”
For too long, the Grand Old
Party has been playing politics like a
high school girl running for home
coming queen—trying to be
something she is not. Pronouncing
its “Big Tent” philosophy, the GOP
of the late ’80s and early ’90s tried
to make everyone feel comfortable
and right at home in the party.
In this failed grab for universal
popularity, Republican leadership
discarded the party’s traditional
stances on social issues, such as
abortion, gay rights, etc. They
concurred these were “wedge
issues” that divided the nation, and
had no place in their plan of
“cohesive politics.”
Instead, the GOP focused on free
trade and economics. But in running
away from its moral matters, GOP
leadership showed a lack of convic
tion and a lack of confidence in the
party’s message—and in the
party’s foundation.
Waffling on these issues of our
time, wishing that they would go
away, the Republican hierarchy
brought down their president in
1992, and almost killed the party for
good.
If principles count for something,
the GOP of late has stood for
nothing.
There is still that old faction of
the GOP that wants to be
everybody’s homecoming queen.
The party is still home to the
“economic conservative,” who
thinks social issues are only ob
stacles on the way to becoming
elected.
But a new message is coming
from the party, after some soul
searching. As evidenced by Mr.
Sigerson, things are starting to
change in the Republican hierarchy.
The new Republicans, headed by
the Christian right, sense the
struggle is much broader, much
deeper than economics alone.
They want the traditional beliefs,
cultural norms and moral values
they were raised on returned to the
party and honored as they once
were.
These are the conservatives of
the heart. These are the traditional
ists who believe our problems stem
not from a lack of goods, but a
poverty of the soul.
They are out there, in the tens of
millions. And if the Republican
Party fails to represent them, they
will find another party that will.
More and more GOP leaders, like
Chuck Sigerson, understand that if
you stretch that Big Tent too far, the
tent poles collapse.
And as Sigerson himself has said:
“Until people start feeling comfort
able again about where we are going
as a state and as a nation, more and
more religious conservatives are
going to be yielding more influence
and becoming even further involved
with the country’s politics... We
welcome them.”
Amen, Mr. Sigerson. Amen.
Karl Is a sealor aews-edltorial major,
aad a Dally Nebraskaa coiamaist
Tale of the troubled ‘Tuskers’
As a small child, I revered
Christopher Columbus. I had a
picture of him on my bedside table,
looking like the smoldering volcano
of virile manhood that he was.
Non-Columbus fans in my home
state were viewed with suspicion.
He was our hero. We loved the way
he could pack the stadium at the
University of Madrid when he and
his crew, the “Tuskers,” charged
onto the field, as strong and power
ful as the wild Spanish pigs they
were named after.
Fashion was important. Fans
carried the ceremonial pigskin and
dressed in scarlet and cream, the
colors of the University of Madrid
— where Chris got his Ph.D. in
psychology.
We felt we owed him that much.
After all, he and his crew opened up
a whole new world to us—not just
in America, but every other Satur
day afternoon at the stadium, where
they re-enacted their conquest of
opposing teams, like the Arawek
Arrowheads or the Indian Islanders.
Crew members came from all
over the country to sail with
Columbus and the ‘Tuskers.” Red
was in at Madrid. “Go Big Red,”
fans screamed, watching the
“Tuskers” charge. Queen Isabella
and King Ferdinand cried, “Go Big
Red,” whenever Columbus and his '
crew came onto the field, or sailed
off for an away game.
And wherever they went, they
brought home the gold for Spain and
the University of Madrid.
But now all of that has changed.
Once lauded as a strong, rugged
conquistador, Columbus has now
become vilified by the press as
nothing more than the leader of a
pack of thugs.
I’ll never forget the day Chris
told me that he had banned the
“Daily Madridian” from ‘Tusker”
practice sessions, after they started
running uncomplimentary stories
about crew members Juarez and
Fellini, accused of assault, and crew
member Diaz, on trial for attempted
Debra Cumberland
“Isabella, Ferdinand
and the University of
Madrid's Board of
Regents fielded calls all
day, begging Columbus
to put Fellini back on
the team. ”
murder. '
“Maybe things have gotten out of
control. I don’t know. You tell me,”
said Columbus, in a statement to the
press.
“People say that we’re another
Florence, or a Barcelona,” added the
famous conquistador. “Well, maybe
we are. But I don’t think we’re that
bad. I think we have a pretty good
character level.”
None of the fans knew what to
think. Columbus decided to suspend
crew member Fellini, charged with
assaulting his former girlfriend. Diaz
and Juarez were still on the team.
_ “Ships Illustrated” came and did
a feature on Columbus. The con
quistador issued a press release,
saying that he refused to read the
article.
Isabella, Ferdinand and the
University of Madrid’s Board of
Regents fielded calls all day,
begging Columbus to put Fellini
back on the team.
Callers also defended Diaz,
whose presence on the crew had
stirred a few protests.
“It wasn’t as if he killed any
body,” said one caller. “After all, he
fired a warning shot.”
“Crew members are under a lot
of pressure,” noted an Eminent
I Psychologist, when I interviewed
him for the “Daily Madridian.”
“On board a ship all day, in the
hot sun, denied fresh fruit and
vegetables and female companion
ship, there’s no telling what could
happen when they actually land,” he
explained.
“Some people say that Columbus
committed genocide against the
Indian Islanders and the Arawek
Arrowheads,” the psychologist
continued. “People who take this
stance feel that crew members are
just naturally violent, and that they
need to be violent to get the job
done. I think that’s a little too
strong. People don't understand that
these guys are under terrible
pressure. Columbus opponents
ought to try and see it from their
point of view.”
Columbus agreed, noting that
before he and his crew discovered
the New World, they created a
Wellness Program to help ship
members deal with aggression. He
talked with his assistant conquista
dor about developing a program to
help the “Tuskers” turn off the
aggression needed on board when
they went ashore.
In the 13 months before Colum
bus and his crew discovered the
New World, the “Tuskers” attended
three workshops on authority and
anger control.
“Tusker” opponents claim that
the workshops were not helpful.
When asked, the mighty conquis
tador just heaves a big sigh and
hangs his head.
“I don’t know,” he said, thinking
about his past history of pillaging
and plundering. “Sometimes, this all
weighs so heavily on me.”
Cumberland Is a graduate student of
English and a Daily Nebraskan columnist
i •
O.J .can’t escape
internet jokers
“Did you hear that F. Lee
Bailey was mad at Shapiro? He
even told one reporter, “I’m
going to sue that SOB for
everything O.J. has!”
The last year will be remem
bered for a lot of things:
marathon trial coverage, Mark
Fuhrman’s weaselly ways and
white Broncos. But jokes, like
delicate flowers, bloom only
once, and are gone.
Let’s take a moment to smell
those flowers (even though
some of them are pretty stinky)
just once more before the seson
fades.
For more last whiffs, contact
the same page where we found
these: <http://www.iafi.net/
~cashman/humor/canonical/
QJ.html>
There’s good news and bad
news today: The bad news is that
the jury has acquitted O.J.
The good news is that Susan
Smith drove him home.
More evidence that O.J. didn’t
kill his ex-wife: Any man who
can sit beside Howard Cosell on
Monday Night Football without
killing him would never kill
anyone.
Police are now saying that O.J.
is no longer a suspect because
they found a Super Bowl ring at
the murder scene.
When Marcia Clark asked
Kato Kaelin where he had been
between 9 and 11, Kato replied,
• “Third grade.”
At O.J. Simpson’s arraign
ment, the prosecutor said “..and
we will prove beyond a reason
able doubt that Mr. Simpson
committed this crime with malice
and forethought.” At which point
a confused O J. blurted out,
“That’s not true! I did it alone!”
O.J. ran for more yards in one
evening than in 8 years with
Buffalo. His final run, although
spectacular, epitomized his
career. Just think what he could
have done if he had just had some
really good blocking.
The play by play: “Well,
there’s not much time left, they
have to make a big play soon...”
“Movement in the backfield,
It’s OJ.! What a move! He
breaks away from a pack of
defenders, he’s going 10,5. He
just might make it.”
“He cuts to the 91 ...now
streaks down the 405. They can’t
catch him!”
“Looks like he’s going to
make it, and...ooohh....They bring
him down in the driveway, just
short.”
“What a play...One we’ll all
remember...One for the record
books, O.J.’s longest run from
skirmish.”
Heard on one of the New York
City radio stations: “I tried to
watch the Knicks game last night,
but all I kept seeing were those
Ford Bronco commercials.”
Q: What’s OJ’s favorite '
baseball team (besides the
Dodgers)?
A: The Red Sox!
Q: Did you hear about Hertz’s
new billboard?
A: It’s a picture of O.J.
Simpson with a caption, “Hertz:
For Great Getaways!”
They are going to remake the
movie “The Longest Yard,”
starring O.J. Simpson as himself.
Q: Why did O.J. flee?
A: He was mad about not
being Grand Marshall in the Rose
Parade.
Q: Do you know why O.J.
drove around as long as he did
A: He was waiting for a call
from Dr. Kevorkian!
Q: Why did O.J. sit in the
Bronco for so long?
A: Because Rodney King
called him and told him not to get
out of the car.'
Q: What do O J. Simpson and
Michael Jackson have in com
mon?
A: They are both missing a
glove.
Q: What is the difference
between O J. and David
Letterman?
A: There is absolutely nothing
funny about David Letterman.
Q: What is the difference
between Tang and O J.?
A: Tang won’t kill you!
BE OUR GUEST
The Daily Nebraskan will present a guest columnist each Monday.
Writers from the university and community are welcome.
Must have strong writing skills and something to say.
Contact Mark Baldridge c/o the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska
Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588.
Or by phone at (402)-472-1782.
