The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, November 1, 1996 Page: 3 of 20
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Opinion
■<■ 0*>' 'B::;■■':' h',;. ^'tv-.;'H ^• .V : • *■'?}' ■ :"/■ i'"V'.'.;; -: ^ ■''
1, 1996
but also,
Trial lawyers consistently
gave 90 percent of their political con-
tributions to the Democratic Party.
Let's discuss the tort reform that
President Clinton and the
Democrats have given us.
In California, a woman
filed a$l million emotional
distress lawsuit against I ter
veterinarian for breaking
her iguana's back. A Phila-
delphia jury awarded $1
million to a fortune teller
for a CAT-scan which sup-
posedly destroyed her psy-
chic powers.
In a St, Louis circuit
court, Jean Kinder struck it rich in a
$78 million settlement from
Domino's Pizza for injuries sustained
when a Domino's Pizza driver
broadsided her car. Product-liabil-
ity settlements now average $l;f>mil-
lion and medical malpractice awards
$250,000. With these ludicrous
settlements, who can afford to do
business?
The past two decades have seen
a 1,200-fold increase in product-li-
ability. lawsuits and a 300-fold in-
crease in medical malpractice law-
suits. We pay for this in higher prices
for goods and services. Despite this
avalanche of outrageous lawsuits
and settlements, President Clinton
vetoed Republican product-liability
reform legislation. In fact, the Re-
publican Congress had to override
liis veto to implement securities liti-
gation legislation. President of the
Willy
Hwang
COLUMNIST
people? Djokktgafter our interests?
Hardly.
Bob Dole and the Republican
Party oppose the discriminatory poli-
cies of affirmative action.
Governor Pete Wilson ve-
toed the so-called Educa-
tion Equity Act that the
Democrats put through
the California state legis-
lature. The Education Eq-
uity Act provided for ra-
cial quotafe in university
•hiring, admissions and
graduation. The Ameri-
can National Election
Studies biennial surveys
(1986-1994) consistently measured
about an 80 percent opposition to
racial preferences, yet President
Clinton and the Democrats acted
against our will and interests.
The Republican Party supports
California Proposition 209. which
says: "The state shall not discrimi-
nate against, or grant preferential
treatment to, any individual or group
on the basis of race, sex, color,
ethnicity or national origin in the
operation of public employment,
public education or public contract-
ing."
The Democrats consistently mis-
state those facta although Proposi-
tion 209 (CCRI- — California Civil
Rights Initiative) has directly incor
SEE OOP PAGE B
Willy Hwang is a Will Rice College
freshman
libertarians value rights
over larger government
J\S CLINTON prepares Ins sec
qnd inaugural speech'-and as Dolt
searches for*a winning solind bite,
can understand -the. question hean
everywhere: "What's the
point of voting this year?"
However, I can't appre-
ciate the fact that t his wide-
spread apathy exists
alongside widespread dis-
satisfaction with the gov-
ernment. Nor can 1 appre-
ciate the fact that the fed-
eral government's spend-
ing increases while most.
Americans want spending
reduced. These two con-
tradictions are explained only by the
great influence of recent tradition. '
Familiar aspects of the federal
government such as the income tax,
Social Security, the Selective Ser-
vice and the War on Drugs are all
products of this century. They con-
stitute recent government tradition.
Few public figures or organizations
challenge these federal programs.
Libertarians challenge all of
them. Libertarians ask: "Why are
these recent additions to the federal
government now considered by the
Democrats, the Republicans and
conventional wisdom to be unques-
tionably necessary?" and "Do these
additions jive with America's found-
ing ideals?"
ITie libertarian movement as well
as the U.S. government is based on
the rights of the individual. Libertar-
ians have high regard for America's
founders. The Declaration of Inde-
pendence and the Bill of Rights are
clear statements of respect for intli- -
vidual rights: "All men are created
•equal ... with certain inalienable
rights" and "Congress shall make
Chris
Click
COLUMNIST
Tuesday
This lathe
sue. You are
skimming) the Rice Young
crats column, probably
looking for what new
and exciting insights I
could add to the 1996
presidential contest
that you haven't heard
already, so you can
make your decision be-
tween Billy and Bobby.
Well, I don't know if
there is much I can say
that most TV-watching
Americans are not al-
ready sick of,
I don't know if you are reading
this Democrat article to feel more
smug about the vote you plan to
cast or to look for fuel for a letter
to the editor in next week's
Thresher, but instead .of feeding
you partisan lines that (he so-
called political conventions and
debates displayed for both major
parties this year, I want to appeal
for your vote, I'm not running for
office (nor will I ever), I simply
request that you take IS minutes
tovote.
You m^ty be confident that a
certain candidate will win, mak-
ing voting superfluous. This is a
grievous error. It's overconfi-
dence,
With respect to the presiden-
tial election, Texas, the third larg-
est electoral power, is up for grabs
with any differences in recent polls
falling within the margin of error.
But this election is not just a
presidential election. Major ideo-
logical differences separate the
senatorial candidates. In the ideal
American democracy, not only is
unhappy with the
Phil Gramm, also a
Sheffy
Gordon
RICE YOUNG
DEMOCRATS
diwMtifr
with the options, any citizen
billionaire or worker
can run for that <
In Texas, a wor
schoolteacher by the
name of Victor Morales
was
way
former educator (at
Texas A&M University),
was ignoring the stu-
dents of IVxas and the
nation. Though a former
financial aid recipient
himself, Gramm repeat-
edly voted to reduce federal funds
for education from the primary
level through college loans. The
reality of the campaign has dem-
onstrated that although one is not
required to have money to run for
office, it certainly helps. In the
age of TV, it is hard for a working
citizen to take on a candidate with
the support of the religious right.
If you live at Jones or Brown
and remember voting for Sheila
Jackson-Lee two years ago in the
18th U.S. Congressional District,
come Tuesday you may wonder
why she isn't on your ballot.
Thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court
mandate, the district you live in
has been redistricted because too
many blacks lived in the 18th, and
it was contested on being drawn
on racial grounds. Rice is now
entirely in the Texas 25th, which
is currently represented by Ken
Bentsen, a moderate Democrat
with a history of supporting Rice.
His district is one of the "tar-
geted'' districts by the' national
parties as a seat that can go either
w> it is now has a (
lblican bias.
t traditional
r the re-
i ot tne primary, your vote in
this race could impact the out-
come with so many candidates in
the running. In fact, this vote may
be one of the closest races you
will have the opportunity to influ-
ence. Don't let someone else de-
termine who your representative
will be.
Candidates Will listen to their
"constituency." They need their
support in order to keep their
jobs. Therefore, in order for the
system to work the way it was
designed, you must prove to the
candidate that your opinions mat
ter. •
The reason Congress has
turned its back this past couple of
years on education, on the envi-
ronment and on guaranteed
health care is because they can
getaway with it. The national turn-
out among 18-24-year-olds in 1994
was under 20 percent, down from
43 percent in 1992. It is no won-
der that politicians respond to
those big industries that come in
to rewrite the Clean Air Act and
push for offshore drilling and de-
regulation of nicotine ads to kids.
(Actually, I just heard a study that
nicotine kills certain cells, which
in turn, causes Alzheimer's— it's
a shame that people who start
smoking when they are in junior
high school will not liVe long
« SEE DEMOCRATS, PAGE 5
Sheffy Gordon is a Jones College
junior and president of Rice Young
Democrats.
;;1
\ i.
m
„
i-.-A
•< '.V
Nader: Just another with a radical view
no taw ... abridging the freedom of
speech." The current libertarian
movement has emerged politically
as the Libertarian Party (LP).
Heading thP LP ticket
for public office this No-
vember is Harry Browne,
economic author and can
didate for president in all
50 states.
hi his widely available
book, Why Government
Docsn't Work, Browne pro-
poses the "Great Trade":
Give up your favorite fed-
eral programs, and never
pay another dime of fed-
eral income tax. But what, in his
opinion and in the Libertarian view,
is so bad about most federal pro-
grams and their source of funding?
Though every Libertarian posi-
tion can be derived from the respect
for individual rights, examples of
positions on current issues can make
Libertari^nism more easily under-
stood. Let me return to my list of this
century's federal program additions.
The current War on
Drugs is a replay of
Prohibition during the
1920s.
For each program, as articulated
by David Bergland ijP Libertarian
ism in One Lesson, the conventional
wisdom (CW) contrasts with the
SEC LIBERTARIANS. PAGE 5.
Chris Click is a Hanszen College
freshman
There once was a time when,
enamored with the hedonistic ide-
als of Henry Miller, I resolved that i
would never get involved in politics
again. It seemed a waste of
ti me t hat was t c> be avoided
for the-moral sinkhole it
represented. Life instead
laid In the bordellos of
Paris where all of existence
could be summed up by
the potent image of two
turds floating in a bidet, an
apt analogy for the lack of
moral fiber in our presi-
dential candidates.
Luring me back re-
quired the errtry of a crusading whirl
wind,' Ralph Nader, who has
launched a quixot ic effort under the
banner of the Green Party.
For the first time in my memory,
a liberal with unimpeachable char-
massol id
Javadi
COLUMNIST
acter is running for national office
on a platform that stands outside
and above the blinkered positions
held by the stagnant mainstream
In Nader, America
finds a perfect vehicle lor
its aspirations. A graduate
of Princeton University
and Harvard Liw School,
he devoted his life to de-
fending citizens against
predatory big businesses.
Nader first gained at-
tention in the mid 1900s
when lie look on the De-
troit auto makers regard-
ing auto safety. He was in
strumental in getting car safety-leg
islalion passed by Congress soon
after and became a household name
when he $280,000 in an inva-
sion of privacy suit filed against Gen-
eral Motors for sending a private
investigator to spy on him. Charac-
teristically, nothing damaging! ould
be found on Nader.
In 1908, he forced General Klec-
trrc to admit that it was recommend-
ing higher doses of radiation on its
X-ray machines for blacks, appar-
ently, they held to the notion that
blacks had tougher skins and bones
than whites. From those days, Nader
lias not relented in his fervor to pro-
tect the American citizen and make
the government more responsive.
Many reforms that are taken for
granted today, such as the Environ-
mental Protection Agency, Occupa-
tional Safety and Health Administra-
tion, Consumer Product Safety C om-
mission and Freedom of Informs
SEE NADER I'AGE 5
Massoud Javadi is a College
senior
.11
IS!
m
i • The
SINCE 1916
Marty Heard, Vivek Kao
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Managing Editor
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BACKPAGE
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Beard, Marty & Rao, Vivek. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, November 1, 1996, newspaper, November 1, 1996; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246551/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.