Eltw £iryi$gau Dai1 Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan under authority of Board in Control of Student Publications Do SbOoksbooksbooks bool 0 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 T. H. White 's typewriting on the wall... Editorials printed in The Michigan Doily exp ress the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1968 NIGHT EDITOR: RON LANDSMAN The five state propositions behind the candidates NOT ALL ISSUES on today's ballot are' as exciting or as controversial as the presidential race. However, five of the most. important questions facing voters, the five state propositions, do not even involve candidates. PROPOSITION 1 - (YES) - Hardest fought of the five is a proposed amend- ment to the Michigan Constitution which would allow the state and local governmental units to levy graduated income taxes. The need for passage of this amend- ment is clear. The Constitution of 1963 prohibits the state or any of its subunits from imposing a graduated tax. As a re- sult, the state and a number of cities have passed flat-rate income taxes. But these taxes already allow the rich to pay. less than their share since the tax rate #a does not progress with income. The crying need of the state and the cities for more tax revenue must be met.' And it cannot be met by increasing flat- rate income taxes, for that would place an unbearable burden on low- and even moderate-income families. State and local governments must be allowed a means of progressive taxation. The only way they can get it is through passage of Proposition 1. Opponents of the measure argue that a graduated tax, by taking a larger chunk of pay as income increases, will destroy incentive. But if the federal income tax, which has had a maximum rate of over 90 per cent, has not destroyed initiative, it is doubtful that a state income tax, with a maximum rate of about five per cent, will. Beyond the pure self-interest of the well-to-do, there seems no rational basis for opposing a graduated income tax. Vote yes on Proposal 1. PROPOSITION 2 - (YES) - This is a referendum on Daylight Savings Time. Movie theaters, farmers and s o m e mothers oppose it; the state government, most retail business, and "outdoor ath- letes",support it. As of now, the entire nation is on DST, as a result of a fed- eral act; a state may exempt itself, and this is the aim of the referendum. Proposition 2 should be passed, both for the benefit to Michigan commerce and the enjoyment pf available summer sunlight-not to mention avoiding con- flict with other state governments. Vote yes. PROPOSITION 3 - (YES) -- This would allow the state to b o r r o w $335,000,000 for the purpose of fighting water polution in the state's rivers and streams. Anyone who has seen the Huron Riyer or attempted to swim in the Detroit River should realize why such a measure is necessary. Vote yes.' PROPOSITION 4-- (YES) - This mea- sure would allow the state to borrow $100,000,000 to develop the outdoor rec- reation syster. As the cities and their suburbs allow developers to encroach up- on what available land there is, and as other great parcels of usable land sit idle, it is necessary that the state be empowered to turn plunder. and waste into socially beneficial parks and recre- ation areas. Long hot summers hit home when there's no place to cool off. Vote yes. PROPOSITION 5 - (NO) - This prop- osition would allow state legislators to run for office and hold other offices while serving their terms in the state Legislature. The only result of this would provide an avenue for our less-than- admirable lawmakers to turn their Lan- sing stewardships into part-time jobs. Vote no on Proposition 5. -THE SENIOR EDITORS By STEVE ANZALONE The Making of the President, 1968, by Theodore H. White? Atheneum, .$6.95? THE SO-CALLED Great Debates were the deciding factor in the 1960 election. Richard Nixon lost the debates, and consequently the election, because he was wearing a gray suit and a lousy make-up job. Right? This armchair summary probably represents the considered analysis of every fifth male at the cocktail party. And responsibility for disseminating it can be credited largely to one man: Theodore H. White. White's position as chief national election chronicler and opinion molder has been established in two seminal works of political-journalism-in-retrospect, The Makings of the Presidents, 1960 and 1964. In these two big-selling informative, and occasionally insightful tomes of politics for the masses, White performed with laborious precision the' difficult task of making sense out of the myriad de- tails of a Presidential campaign. THIS YEAR, White may be in a bind. If in 1960 White had to stretch to bring Camelot into the television studios, and if in 1964 he had to milk dra- ma from the defeat of a hapless Goldwater by a drab Johnson, 1968 will undoubtedly pose vaster, perhaps in- surmountable problems for the President-Maker scribe. For whomever is elected today, 1968 has not been so much the Making of a President as the unmaking of na- tional politics. It has been a year of little enthusiasm for any of the Presidential nominees save Wallace, a year when the "great middle majority" has been left to choose a Presi- dent by process of elimination. It has been a' year of disenchantment, with the left taking to the streets and the right taking to Wallace. IT HAS BEEN a year of collapse for the traditional political forces: the unions can no longer deliver the votes, the machines are on deathbeds everywhere, the Democrats can't count on the solid South - but neither can the Republicans. And the campaign has been boring, Nixon un- willing to squander his lead by taking a controversial stand, Humphrey, inept, able only to swim in his own verbiage. The lead story of 1968 will not be the Making of a President. It will be somewhere on the fringe, in Mem- phis, in Los Angeles, in Chicago but outside the conven- tion hall, on the campaign trail with Wallace, who is more of a symbolic force than an actual contender, Any- thing Theodore H. White can say about the Making of a President in 1968 must somehow smell of irrelevance. Yet 1968 is not 1969, and what seems sacrilegious now may not seem so then. Treating the events of this year in the terms of 1960 and 1964 may fit only too well the politics-of-normalcy, good-feelings-of-Reconstruction which 1969 may usher in. The problem for Mr. White will be to create an in- spiring, thematic chronicle of the 1968 campaign while treading lightly on the nation's still-sensitive toes. WILL IT BE THE YEAR the incumbent dropped out? The year the nation elected a Vice-President? The year the darlings were defeated in the conventions? What will White's theme be? Where will he find the turning point? What does he have to compare with Nixon's makeup and the Great Debates? How can he play Making of the Pres- ident without playing the much harder game, Great News Stories of the Year? White has two important elements this year of the more exciting 1960 campaign that were missing in 1964'. These are the presence of a phalanx of candidates in the primaries and the spirit of a time when many people are crying out for change. In 1960, White described America as it was coming out of the decade of the '50's. Analyzing census data, White tried to define the sociological underpinnings of popular political thought in 1960. This year lends itself well to that kind of analysis, although the 1960 census evidence has become a bit dat- ed. Nevertheless, White will be able to extrapolate from the unrest on campuses and in the ghettos, the reactions of "the forgotten Americans," and the emergence of the 4 bourgeois proletariat. ONE OF THE author's major problems will be to create the romantic images he orchestrated so deftly in the 1960 installment. Today's outcome will mark the tragic figure. Although somehow Nixon and Humphrey seem to lack the stature for tragedy, both are staging dramatic comebacks.this year. Nixon (Humphrey) could be Lazarus rising from the dead; Humphrey from the hills of West Virginia and en- tombment in a dead administration; Nixon from humil- iating defeat in a gubernatorial contest and subsequent self-immolation at a now-renowned press conference. And then there is Eugene McCarthy, the lonely poet in the cold of New Hampshire, but spare us another ref- erence please to the Man of La Mancha, White furthermore will be able to focus on some of the campaign imponderables within a larger perspective. What effect Johnson's eleventh hour bombing halt? The timing and content of McCarthy's endorsement? Finally, White will analyze for those who like that kind of thing the nitty-gritty tactics of the actual, yes, physical campaign. The advance work, the allocation of funds, the new style of advertising. WHITE'S PREVIOUS TWO volumes have been suc- cessful because they have shown the American people some of the intrigue, the drama, and the glory of politics. How will he find nobility in the 1968 presidential race,$' when the candidates have failed so miserably to capture the imagination of so many people? This time it will take a monumental effort for White to stir our hearts with an appreciation of the art and style of politics. Heart-stirring became harder in 1964, and it may have become impossible in 1968. But if Mr. White does fail to inspire us to a greater, 4 awe for the political process, he will at least probably write a good account of an unusual, if uninspiring, cam- paign. And if he does fail to move us this time, it may not be his fault, but rather the fault of a campaign that many Americans want only to forget. amnmuHOWARD KOHN - Lewis: A novice far from heaven DOUG HARVEY, a brash, young recruit, rode patrol with a beaming behemoth of a man named Jim "Joe" Lewis when they were both deputy sheriffs here in 1963. "Harvey always wanted to make it a one man show," remembers Lewis. Lewis finally had to quit his $4900-a-year job in the sheriff's department for a better offer with Ford in late 1963. Harvey ran for sheriff and was elected in 1964. Lewis, a resident of Ypsilanti's black community, did not forget Harvey's brashness. He was often reminded by headlines which be- spoke Harvey's disrespect for the public. During the 1968 primaries Lewis supported Clare LeFerier, a rene- gade Democrat who believed he could unseat Harvey by winning a place on the Republican ticket. When LeFerier lost, Lewis decided to challenge Harvey. A POLITICAL NOVICE, Lewis had little appreciation for the parochialism of party politics. But he was lucky, and the New Politics Party secured him a spot on to- day's ballot. Lewis, 29, walks boldly, bent forward slightly as if on the verge of blitzing the quarterback. His face, lined with a scar, smiles radiating candor, character and somehow, success. But he is, of course, as far away from victory as most churchgoers are from heaven. Lewis' weakness is that he isn't a politician. He has little interest in the ideology of any of the par- ties, even the New Politics Party. He has difficulty mouthing the rhetoric. His campaign literature tells about his wife and three sons and his work in UAW Local 65. His seven-point platform is simple and straightforward. Just maybe, his supporters say, the electorate will want a sheriff instead of *a showpiece or a show- man and elect Lewis. Lewis is a TooneV: A ist prosecution lawman with very definite ideas about the rappo; between the sheriff's departmeht and the cit- izenry. The keynote to his plat- form is a Citizens' Review Board which would investigate com- plaints and criticisms of the de- partment.° CRITICS SAY that his pana ceas are glib rather than inform- ed and that he has never done anything but talk. One of the, things he is'talking about is law and order. "If those people who stand for the law are going to take the at- titude that they can get people to respect the law by scaring them to death, then we're going to have rebellion," says Lewis. "I get wor- ried when they start using Mace and dogs instead of a handshake and friendly advice." Lewis refused to be intimidated by his imminent political disaster. On the premise he will need at least 30,000 votes to win, he hopes to win 85 per cent of the county's 16,000-black vote plus substantial numbers of disaffected Democrats and students. He has received the active support of the McCarthy and New Democrats coalition, the Mobilization and that of some prominent liberals. Lewis' estimates are admittedly high. New Politics people are con- cerned enough about obtaining a total of 13,500 votes in the stat for their presidential candidate. LEWIS HAS not been the ral- lying point his friends Ooped he might be. He steadfastly refuses to appeal to the alienated simply because they are alienated. And he wilt not grossly guaran- tee racial harmony, although he is convinced the sheriff's depart- ment can work for white and black in unity in both Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. If elected, he plans to appoint whites as undersheriff and captain. His campaign is staffed by 150- 200 volunteers, half of them stu- dents, who have been canvassing door-to-door for several weeks. Some of them are so bitterly anti- Harvey that they have not taken , the time to know their candidate. They might be surprised at the positiveness of his approach. They might also be surprised at the earnestness which projects a dig- nity which is anathema to the hopelessness of his cause. "When you start something like this you have to think about not winning," says Lewis. "But you also have to think about giving people a chance to be people and that's what I'm trying to do." THE PRESERVATION of "law and or- der" is at least as much the responsi- bility of the County Prosecuting Attorney as it is the task of municipal police and county sheriff. The prosecutor should be a Miason be- tween the community which elects him and the/ law enforcement agencies. Bet- ter than anyone else in local government, the attorney c a n ensure the equitable dispensation of justice on the grass roots level. But traditionally in Washtenaw County, and definitely under the direction of in- cumbent Republican William Delhey, the prosecutor's office has become the judi-- cial arm of the police. Allying himself with .the law enforcement agencies, Del- hey has distanced himself from the elec- torate. While Delhey has conspicuously failed to take action against county officials ac- cused of illegal activities, namely,Sheriff Douglas Harvey and Drain Commissioner John Flook, he has shown intense inter- est in convicting those least able to pro- tect themselves from police harassment - blacks and students. a Most significantly, Delhey has been ac- cused of using "plea-bargaining" to ob- tain a high rate of convictions. Local at- torneys assert that the prosecutor auto- matically books defendants,. on the most severe offense and then encourages them to plead guilty on lesser charges, HOWEVER, Democratic candidate Johnr Toomey represents a distinct and im- pressive change from Delhey's policies. Toomey, who has spent the majority of 1 is eight-year law career in criminal work does not view the prosecutor's of- fice as an extension of the police depart- merit. Toomey has also spent a significant proportion of his time defending indigent clients. The Democratic candidate speaks un- equivocally on the issue of plea bargain- ing: he states that charges leveled at a defendant must reflect only the offense of which the prosecutor has proof for conviction Although Washtenaw County has never elected a Democrat as Prosecuting At- torney, the community is hopefully mnaking a realistic reappraisal of the' prosecutor's role and will chose John Toomey for Prosecuting Attorney in to- day's election. -PHILIP BLOCK Handshaking for sheriff Letters to the Ei Election endorsements Irrationale' To the Editor: rPHE DAILY has finally driven me beyond the point of toler- ance. I usually find it possible to calmly read your publication des- pite certain editorials whose con- tents disagree markedly with my beliefs. The editorial entitled "Support the National Student Strike" was the crowning touch. This article represents to me "the pinnacle of a style of 'irresponsibility, biased. unrepresentative, and logically in- consistent journalism which has markedmtherpages of The Daily this semester. A typical example of the irre- sponsible editorials presented was the one entitled "A rationale for disruption" which appeared in the October 4 issue. In this article David. Duboff presents a poorly reasoned, inconsistent, and in- flammatory article under the guise of editorial matter. "Liberating in the lobby of Rackham was enjoyable a n d therefore meaningful." I WOULD like to point out that to stomp on Mr. Duboff's head would for me be an enjoyable and therefore meaningful experience. I think that the previous state- ment emphasizes the equivocation and lack of meaning in the man- ner in which "enjoyable" and "meaningful" are used. This absurd statement, of Mr. Duboff's is not the first, nor will it be the last, absurdity passed as rational thought. The article is in- flammatory in that it uses emo- tionally charged words to present an argument an: thereby succes- lieve that there is no hope for a sane, logical and rational discus- sion of issues on the pages of The Daily. -David Fauman Oct. 30 A choice ... To the Editor: THE "STRIKE" ad in Sunday's Daily listed the endorsement, among others, of Citizens for New Politics. As we have been involved in our respective election cam- paigns, CNP has had no recent meeting and has, therefore, neither endorsed nor non-endorsed the strike. Personally, I favor the an- nounced strike program. But I am disturbed by the implication in the ad that voters , have "no choice." In the presidential race the New Politics Party has pro- vided what is, indeed, a choice. A vote for Cleaver-Hochman is' a meaningful, affirmative protest. It is a vote intfavor of treating the people of the world and our own people with respect and de- cency. -Larry Hochman Vice Presidential candidate New Politics Party Nov. 3 Toilet paper To the Editor:% THERE IS STILL hope left in the world that goodness may someday triumph. Too bad The Daily won't see it if it ever ar- rives. I am here as a freshman. I find the classes boring, insipid, a n d litor will follow her for the remainder of her years here. To watch her was well worth the cost of the concert. SATURDAY also h eld a sur- prise. Kappa Kappa Gamma and Lambda Chi Alpha had a float that was both, beautifully done and a good reminder t h a t we should never forget what is going on around us. I It was a good thing that I saw these two events, for had I not seen them I never would have known they had happened. I am very disappointed to find t h a t there was little or no mention of these events in The Daily. I per- sonally would much rather read about what is going on here at the University than at Columbia or Berkeley. It is my opinion that yours is no better than any other newspaper, printing only what the editors want to rather than all the news. You call this editorial free- dom; I call it Censorship with a capital C. I would like to take this oppor- tunity to cancel my subscription. I can no longer justify spending the cost of your newspaper; the dorms furnish toilet paper. --Lewis Schiller Nov. 4 DAILY POLICY This seems an appropriate time to reiterate The Daily's long- standing policy on signed editor- ials. Individually signed editorials represent the opinions only of the person or persons signing. Editor- ials signed "The Editorial Direc- tors" represent t h e collective opinions of the editorial director and associate editorial directors. Those signed "The Senior Edi- i IN AN ELECTION YEAR when the choice of candidates offers the voter at best an echo of his views, The Daily has not been able to endorse many candidates with confidence. On the national level The Daily edi- tors could reach no concensus in their selection of presidential, congressional nor senatorial candidates. However, if the political system is to 'change significantly, it will un- doubtedly change through the efforts of local candidates working diligently on the grass roots level. 'What strike? .. 0 The Daily has endorsed a slate of candidates for County Board of Super- visors, County Prosecuting Attorney and Washtenaw County Sheriff. For sheriff, The Daily endorses New Politics candidate Jim "Joe" Lewis. For County Board of Supervisors, Marjorie Brazer (D-Second Ward); Ez- ra Rowry (D-Fifth Ward), Eugenia Carpenter (D-Fourth Ward), Lloyd Williams (D-Third Ward) and David Byrd (R-First Ward) were approved. For Prosecuting Attorney, Democrat John Toomey is endorsed. .. you see a, strike?' By ROB BEATTIE LAST WEDNESDAY in my Shakespeare class, a girl on the far side of the room asked the professor what he planned to do about the election day's student strike. "A strike?" What strike?" the class murmured. "Are they still having trouble in Flint?" The man up front with the liberal-I-like-students smile said "I'll leave that up to you. I don't want to be authoritarian." Democracy went to work. "They want you to take time out to think about the war, the election and the University's role in all this," some- one in'the back explained. "They" want something again; "we" aren't involved. "It is a time for those who are straddling the fence to sit back and think. A time for them to make up their minds on these issues," another person continued. "Are there many fence straddlers at this University?" asked the professor-turned-moderator. "Only about 30,000 out of 35,000," I quipped to the girl on my right. The class nodded; they seemed to agree on everything. - "But we haven't heard any arguments against the strike," a girl in the front row protested. The debate continued, but no one explained why we should come to class. I was moved to speak. "This strike offers us a chance to participate in a dialogue on some of the important issues which we all ought to be thinking about. Just because you disagree with the views of some of the people who are organizing the strike, there is no reason for not taking part. If you would participate in a meaningful dialogue, then you ought to vote to call off class." For a minute, I thought they were actually going to buy that line. "YOU HAVE three alternatives," said the professor-turned-mod- erator-turned referendum coordinator. "One: you can vote to partici- pate in the strike, which means that I will not come to class. Two: you can vote to have class and I will come. Three: you can vote 'I don't * 4 1 P Ix t gFlri Batty Editorial Staff MARK LEVIN, Editor I