The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, September 10, 2004 Page: 3 of 20
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THE RICE THRESHER
OPINION
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10. 2(X)4
... the paper it's written on
The fall election is coming, look busy
As the 2004 presidential cam-
paigns heat up, I'm having trouble
keeping my cynicism and contrari-
ness in check.
One person, one vote.
This is the strength of
democracy — that ev-
ery citizen, no matter
who they are, faces the
same choice, and the
summation of these in-
dividual choices decides
the nation's new leader.
While millions of votes
are significant, the same
can't be said of mine.
The scale of a national
election is incompre-
hensible. By Nov 2, the
campaigns of John Kerry and
George W. Bush will have spent
more than $500 million traveling,
mudslinging, town-hall meeting,
bumper-sticker printing and public
speaking, all in a grand attempt
to convince the public to vote
for them. It's all too easy for the
real issues to drown in such a sea
of money.
There's certainly plenty more
for me to be cynical about. Both of
the candidates are rich men who
attended Yale University. Neither
is against the war in Iraq. The two
major parties receive millions from
corporate and special interests, while
Independent Ralph Nader is forced
to take handouts from right-wing
James
Sulak
groups simply to get on the ballot.
To make matters worse, Texas
will remain firmly Republican come
November, and there's nothing I or
anyone else can do about
it. Even if Rice's precinct
goes for Kerry, Texas'
34 electoral votes will be
Bush votes.
So it's tough to see why
I or anyone else should
waste time caring about
an election we cannot
influence and a system
we cannot change.
But I can't make myself
give up. If we, students
who pay thousands of
dollars a year to learn in
the classroom, refuse to learn about
national politics, nobody will. If we
are not idealistic, nobody will be.
Democracy is not perfect, is not
pretty, and does not work all the
time. But for all its failings, a free
press, elected representatives and
judicial oversight are priceless in-
stitutions, and it would be a tragedy
to write them off because they do
not always work correctly.
ITie United States has seen its
share of stupid, wrong and ineffec-
tual leaders. We have seen corrup-
tion and vote-buying, cronyism and
sheer incompetence. Democracy
does not make our leaders great,
but it does help make them account-
able — if we're paying attention.
And that's the crux. If nobody
talks about politics over dinner
or reads newspapers or listens to
debates — if nobody votes — then
elections are useless, nothing more
than expensive charades.
For all the pageantry and monied
interests, the end result still comes
down to the individual decisions
made in the solitary privacy of the
voting booth, including mine. It
may be a flawed choice — but it's a
choice that most people throughout
the world and throughout his-
tory have never gotten the chance
to make.
In the weeks leading up to
Nov. 2, these pages will play host to
"Right and Left," a series involving
Rice students from both sides of the
political divide who will debate im-
portant topics of the election. While
there is certainly more to politics
than the choice between Republican
and Democrat, this is the pragmatic
choice we face, and so that is what
the focus will be.
You may hate one or both of the
candidates. Some of these writers
you will agree with, and others you
will not. Some might even make
you angry.
But that's all part of the game.
So talk politics, write letters, register
to vote. Most of all, disagree.
James Sulak is a Hanszen College
senior and opinion editor.
Guest column
Kerry needs to clarify his confusing record
From the Republican war room to
the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,
the right has done one hell of a job
tarnishingjohn Kerry's record. Dur-
ing the first three days of
the Republican National r—
Convention, it seemed | ^gg|
Kerry was mentioned
more often than President
George W. Bush.
If the Democrats should
have learned anything from
the failed 1988 Michael
I )ukakis presidential cam-
paign, it should be that a
candidate who is unwilling
to defend himself is seen as
one who will not defend his
country. Sadly, 1 fear the
Kerry camp has forgotten history.
While the Democratic campaign
consistently reminds the nation
Kerry defended his country in
Vietnam, the traditionally loyal
base has become passive, touting
an anybody-but-Bush mantra. Many
Democrats do not feel apprehensive
about putting Kerry in the Oval Of-
fice, even though he appears weak
on the issue of security.
1 do not believe Kerry can be
called a "flip-flopper," but he needs
to justify his confusing voting pat-
tern, and that justification can be
hard to find.
Faraz
Sultan
I fear the Kerry camp
has forgotten history.
For instance, Kerry voted for
the Use of Military Force Against
Iraq Resolution of 2(X)2 and recently
admitted he would not have voted dif-
ferently, even if he had known about
faulty intelligence and the absence of
weapons of mass destruction stock-
piles. He probably made this admis-
sion to avoid the dreaded flip-flopper
label. But in light of a burgeoning
anti-war base, Kerry should explain
he did not vote for war, rather, Kerry
only voted to authorize the president
with the right to preemptively at-
tack Iraq if diplomatic means were
exhausted — providing a credible
threat of force.
In effect, Kerry trusted the
president's wisdom over the
Senate's constitutional authority. In
addition, Kerry was among 30 sena-
tors who supported the resolution
only if it was amended such that the
President could only act in the case
of an immediate — not
continuous — threat. But
that amendment failed.
Kerry later incited
his opponents when,
after much contempla-
tion, he voted against the
president's $87.5 billion
request to fund the war
in Iraq. Most likely, his
waning campaign against
then-Democratic candi-
date frontrunner Howard
Dean and a skeptical
constituency influenced
his decision. Nevertheless, he oc-
casionally weakly labels it a "protest
vote," citing the already overwhelm-
ing Congressional support for the
appropriation.
Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, Ker-
i y supported the Attorney General's
controversial USA Patriot Act, whic h
compromises law enforcement
regulation and personal privacy.
Even the American Conservative
Union, a conservative think tank,
believes the act unfairly impinges
on civil liberties.
—Now that Kerry is speaking
against the Patriot Act, it's not sur-
prising the right wing is accusing him
of inconsistency. But congressional
leaders rammed the bill through to
passage, and the clauses which un-
fairly impinge on our civil liberties are
not Kerry's fault. The blame should
rest squarely on John Ashcroft's
shoulders, and perhaps it would if
Kerry would defend himself more
vociferously.
Although polls indicate Kerry
is edging his opponent on other
domestic issues, that lead is still
precarious and may vanish as Presi-
dent Bush continues to bombard us
with his special brand of self-serv-
ing rhetoric. I almost fell out of my
chair laughing when Bush began
his acceptance speech predicting
a successful No Child Left Behind
act — in effect admitting its failure
in the last three years.
Kerry supports the act, but it
has been ineffective because the
Republican-controlled Congress and
White House have refused to fund it
adequately. The bill's primary senate
supporter, Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.,
was repeatedly unable to pass the
necessary appropriations. 1 just
wish Kerry would inform us of these
circumstances himself — that way,
he wins on the idea that we should
"leave no child behind," and his
"misunderestimated" opponent must
take the defense.
Until the Massachusetts senator
justifies his past and forces his op-
ponent to take the defensive, he may
never succeed in showing the public
a candid Kerry. The New York Times
op-ed columnist Paul Krugman, in
response to anti-Kerry mudslinging
at the Republican National Conven-
tion, writes, "Nothing makes you hate
people as much as knowing in your
heart that you are in the wrong and
they are in the right."
Unless Kerry understands this
sentiment, he may face the same fate
as Howard Dean in the primaries:
dropping victory even as he holds it
in his hands.
Faraz Sultan is a Sid Richardson
College junior.
Rice Voices
Coping when no two dorm
rooms are created equal
For the past few years, ever
since the shock of the discovery
has worn off, I have taken it as
a fact of life that rooms at Wiess
and Martel Colleges are simply
better than my own
room at Ixjvett College.
I have even developed
a quaint emotional at-
tachment to the bare
brick walls and ceiling-
height windows of my
home college, mentally
setting aside my initial
indignation. After all, a
common room does not
a college make.
However, this ac-
ceptance might have
something to do with the fact
that I am not myself paying
for my room at Lovett — I am
fortunate enough to be able to
leave that concern to my parents.
If I were paying for my room at
Lovett directly out of my own
food, clothing and fun budget,
I might feel more slighted that
for the same amount of money,
I could now be living in Martel's
spacious suites, where I wouldn't
have to stuff boxes under my
roommate's bed to save sweet,
precious space.
I have learned to ignore I>ovett's
inadequacies, but the fact still re-
mains — it is simply unfair that
although I pay the same amount of
money as a Wiessman, I receive a
room that is significantly smaller
and older.
Here is where, normally, I
would argue for a solution to this
inequity. But in this case 1 can-
not. While unfair, a flat housing
fee structure is probably the best
solution for Rice.
Ames
Grawert
full suites, sometimes even rooms
with kitchens.
But this answer would ob-
viously be the death of the
residential college system, and
for me, no amount
of living space could
ever make up for such
a loss.
Housing and Din-
ing might instead in-
troduce a graduated
fee system, whereby
students would pay
higher fees for being
a member of a more
recently renovated
or more spacious col-
lege, but this proposal
would also mortally wound the
university's social structure.
While unfair, a flat
housing fee structure
is probably the best
solution for Rice.
The very thought of
one college being
labeled the "poor
kids' college" is
simply terrifying.
Consider the alternatives.
Other universities solve the hous-
ing inequity problem by allowing
students to switch buildings every
year. Upperclassmen inevitably
climb the housing ladder from
bathroom-less double rooms to
To be fair, students who could
not pay for more expensive rooms
would have to specify which col-
leges they could afford, and socio-
economic gaps would inevitably
emerge among the colleges. The
very thought of one college being
labeled the "poor kids' college"
is simply terrifying.
This basic proposal might
be modified such that H&D
fees more closely resemble the
"real world," so that fees are
contingent on the room instead
of the college, but this would be
a logistical and social nightmare
that would create more problems
than it would solve.
However, if we are likely to
look for a solution to this and
other similar student concerns,
now is the time. Writh the en-
trance of the new university
president and the restructuring
of Student Af fairs, this is the time
to radically re-think the way the
university works.
There is no easy answer, and
there could be no answer at all.
But we can hardly go wrong look-
ing for one.
Ames Grawert is a Ijyvett College
junior.
the Rice Thresher
Ijndsey Gilbert & Jonathan Yardley
Editors in Chief
NEWS
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OPINION
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SPORTS
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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DINING
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CALENDAR
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BACKPAGE
Scott Selinger, Editor
COPY
Risa Gordon, Editor
Elaine Lee, Editor
PHOTOGRAPHY
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BUSINESS
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Gilbert, Lindsey & Yardley, Jonathan. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, September 10, 2004, newspaper, September 10, 2004; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398491/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.