Eighty-four years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan People s rights vs. success Saturday, October 26, 1974 News Phone: 764-0552 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104 Ford woos black voters SINCE BECOMING President, Ger- ald Ford has spent a lot of time and effort trying to repair and' strengthen the Republican party. He' is attempting to accomplish this, in part, through an effort to regain at last some part of the GOP's black support. Up until the mid-1930's, most black voters supported the Republicans as the "party of Emancipation." The" New Deal program of Franklin Roose- velt however, generated a large scale change - over of allegiance. Many black voters aligned themselves with the Democratic party, and this is wher their support has remained. Ford has gone about his attempt to regain this lost favor in several ways. In a well-publicized gesture late in August, he met with the 16 member Congressional Black Cau- cus, all of whom are Democrats and of whom only one voted for Ford's confirmation as vice president., MORE RECENTLY, the President spoke with 30 prominent black Republicans, assuring them that "they have a friend in the White House. " Betty Ford has also been active in the pursuit of black support. Speak- ing at a luncheon meeting of the Na- tional Council of Negro Women, she, pledged her aid to "you women who will lead the nation down the path of equality - not only racial and sex- ual, but for all equality." The black vote is more important today than ever, and it's no wonder Ford wants to attract as many black voters as possible to the Republican party. Considering his carefully laid groundwork, it would seem conceiv- able that President Ford has gotten off on the right foot, and that per- haps he is headed toward success in his quest. Hishandling of the Boston school busing affair, however, leaves all this in doubt. Although the president views his statement that busing is "not the best solution to quality education in Boston" as non-commital, many peo- ple have interpreted it otherwise. Anti-busing activists were elated with the statement and have been waving it as a banner in support of further resistance. Ford also said that the situation in Boston should be dealt with by the city and state governments, and that his role should be minimal to non- existent. From one who seems to con- cerned about the esteem of the black populace, this type of side-stepping hardly seems wise. JT WILL CERTAINLY take more than one election to measure the ef- fectiveness of Ford's quest for black votes, and his efforts will without a doubt be negatively affected by the way he has dealt with the desegrega- tion issue in Boston. Success, if it comes, may be a long time on the way. -SUE WILHELM By L. ALAN TOTH TUESDAY EVENING, October 22, there was a public hearing on the "rights" of women in the job market of today. This was an attempt to expose the injustices women suffer in the work- a-day world because of sexist and other discriminatory mind-sets held in the va- rious structures of our society by the people who control or run them. This effort by the Washtenaw County Advisory Committee on the Status of Women was important and necessary, as one effort among many taking place in our society to raise public conscious- ness and help people come to terms with sex-discrimination in themselves, and ul- timately in the societal structures where these attitudes become entrenched. It is never a comfortable thing to come to grips with socially learned attitudes that are oppressive whether confrontation be with one's self or with the societal struc- tures that reflect what lies in people's hearts. I WAS DISTRUBED during the course of this hearing by my own inner strug- gle to come to grips somehow with fun- damental questions I believe must be asked if liberation from oppression is taken to be the underlying theme of the struggle by women in their attempts to redefine their personhood, and open up the various societal structures in such a way that more choices are available to them in the living out of their lives. I was' disturbed because I did not see anyone addressing the theme of libera- tion in its radically integral sense as that word applies to every aspect, to every relationship (personal and structural) of life in our society. This is not a criti- cism of Tuesday night's hearing. The meeting was well attended, well or- ganized, and it was good that it was held. It does reflect, however, the strug- gle going on inside of myself to see things in their full and proper perspec- tive. Women are not the only sex in need of liberation. Men in our society are des- nerately in need of liberation from the whole way our society defines "suc- cess." Success in American is economic- ally reductionistic in that it is interpret- ed nrinoarily in terms of "having and getting" as opposed to "being and giv- ing." When we speak in terms of "being and giving," we are talking then, not so much about maleness and femaleness, and how our culture has come, in straight-.Jacket form, to define these words, but we are then at least attemnt- ing to come to terms with what it means to be a person. AND IT IS THIS that begins to onen un to us the very nature of the word onoression in American society, and the urgent need for liberation at more fun- damentl levels of our conscio"nes renrdless of sex, race, age, or income. For when we begin to talk about the nbtire of nersonhood we are automatic- .llv bronvght into the realm of world and life view persnectives, i.e. Marxism, Christianity. Judaism, Secular-Human- ism, etc. as each of these vale-com- m'nitiel has its own distinctive way of resnonding to. relating to, and acting out what nersonhood is. Intuitively sensing this, one cannot help but recognize that the current struc- ture of our society militates against this kind of community struggling by the ba- sic value-communities in their respec- tive attempts to identify and live out their values, as persons, both male and female. THIS IS SO particularly in the political and educational arenas. These structures Executive power threatened THIS WEEK PRESIDENT FORD told us that a Democratic victory in the upcoming congressional elections could jeopardize world peace. But he did not specify exactly what he meant. Essentially, he means that if the Democrats win in November, the present Foreign Assistance Act will hold, and his powers in foreign rela- tions will be restricted. Just as im- portant, the CIA's freedom to per- form covert operations will have been curtailed. The Kennedy amendment to the foreign aid bill was passed on Oct. 1. This amendment will bar all mili- tary aid to the present regime in Chile. THIS AMENDMENT was passed 47-41, with voting split along party lines. If things go on like this, the power of the executive in the area of foreign relations will be sub- ject to close scrutiny by Congress. This may mean that U.S. will not be able to support fascism abroad, TODAY'S STAFF: News: Dan Biddle, Barbara Cornell, Liz Coules, Stephen Hersh, Cindy Hill, Tom Preston, Judy Ruskin, Jim Tobin Editorial Page: Peter Blaisdell, Clif- ford Brown, Steve Stojic, B e c k y Warner Arts Page: Ken Fink Photo Technician: Pauline Lubens It is well known that former ad- ministrations supported the military juntas in Greece, South Vietnam and Chile. Kennedy's intelligent, humane amendment may well be a landmark and lead to a foreign policy more in line with the concepts of national self-determination and democracy. A weaker legislative move was the modified Hughes amendment to the same bill, which is intended to end all covert activities by the CIA un- less the operations are for intelligence Gathering, or are authorized by the President, Essentially this means nothing, since the so-called "40 Com- mittee," which oversees the CIA, is dominated by the secretary of state, acts under the direction of the Presi- dent. A REAL ATTEMPT to pass a strong- er bill was made by Senator James Abourezk (D-S.D.) to abolish covert CIA operations, but it was defeated 17-68. However, if a more liberal Congress is elected. this amendment may be brought up again, and again. If a Democratic victory should en- sue next month, the stability of the world might indeed be threatened. As Ford implies, if the U.S. ends its meddling in the internal affairs of other nations, the status quo may well be threatened. -DAVID WARREN operate on the presumption, of philosophi- cal neutrality, holding to the democratis- tic notion that as a people, even with all of our colorful differences, we are in essentials, one. This is what makes us Americans, we are told. And so wrap- ped in the sheep's clothing of neutrality, the wolf of "shared ideals" becomes an absolute, presuming to speak for every- one. In the nature of the case it cannot. Neutrality in our various societal struc- tures is a myth. In its assumption of absoluteness, the oppressiveness of this myth becomes ap- parent when we address the theme of liberation. If women, in their struggle to free themselves from sexist shackles, are not at the same time able to help in the concommitant struggle to make it possible for the basic value communities in our society to redefine what we mean by "success," they, in turn, will become enslaved by the current cultural mean- ing of that word (success: - a secular, individualistic preoccupation with eco- nomic advancement as the highest pri- ority), and they will become dehumaniz- ed by the thrust of this spirit in the same way men are today. WHEN ONE BEGINS to see that in oir culture this thrust is held to with what is tantamount to religious fervor, that it has brought about not only the destruction of our environment, a de- pletion of our natural resources, a soar- ing cost of living, a widening gap be- tween rich and poor, and the break- down of family relationships, but also a penetrating alienation of people from the very core of their existence as im- age-bearers of God redemptively called to loving service within the creation, to be actively engaged in attempting to re- store the harmony originally intended for every creature and every aspect of cre- ation, then one can only conclude that the current structuring of political and educational life in our society will never allow the basic value communities to struggle with what this means, because the democratistic leveling of each of ing voice, but denying power. The cry of women for liberation will become meaningless if it is only a self- serving demand for entry into the Amer- ican way of societal death, via the myth of political, educational, etc. neutrality. IN ORDER FOR liberation to become packed with meaning, it must expose the myth of philosophical neutrality in our various societal structures, break out of the polite totalitarianism of the level- ing, absolutized, democratistic notion of "shared ideals" recognize the plurality of basic value-communities in our so- ciety and make room for each to re- sponsibly work for non-oppressive change within our various societal structures. This presupposes a multi-party system based on differences in world-and-life view perspectives, and not the present philosophical monolith of secular-human- ism out of which both the major politi- cal parties operate, with good intentions I as sure, but locked in to a maelstrom of party bosses, people of means, and snecial interest groups where the notion of "shared ideals" perpetuates non-dia- logue, and pragmatic, patchwork reform- ism becomes the norm of a sterile and dying culture. SUFFICE IT TO sly that I st-nd to learn much from those women who are struggling for liberation, who want to be able to be free to make life' choices uninhibited by sexist obstacles. But I see more findamentally in the theme of liberation (male or female) not a call for revolution where oppressor and op- n.ressed merely change positions, or where one only wants a bigger piece of an already cancerous Die, but rather a call for a radical 'restructuring, a refor- motion of our society where real nhilo- sonhical differences are openly acknow- ledged and the various structures of our society - narticularly the political and ed"cational - are realigned to reflect tl-s differences. This suggests a cultural mosaic based on the enriching justice of structural nli'ralism, as onposed to the monolithic, melting pot philosophy that presently, Doily Photo by TERRY McCARTHY limits our freedom and oppresses people by denying them the opportunity to ex- ercise their freedom responsibly in the various structures of our society accord- ing to their world-and-life view. To be sure this is not a panacea for all of our complex social ills, but it would consti- tute at the very least a political struc- turing more justly representative of the plurality of basic values communities in America than what we have now. IF WOMEN, in their struggle for liber- ation, relate to this theme in the radical, integral spirit I have tried to describe here, they will then be confronting funda- mental life questions and will be forced to come to terms with the oppressive and destructive forces rooted in the central directional thrust of our culture. It is here that the battle for a free and open society rages in its most deeply rooted sense. It is this that women and men must come to terms with, for evil is not the exclusive characteristic of any sex, race, age, class, or national ideology of people. It is rooted fundamentally in our lives as human beings, personally and structurally. To come to terms with this reality requires the choice of a world- and-life view perspective. When, as Gerald Vandezande says, "Government realizes that conformity is not necessarily a virtue, that frank ad- mission of and proper respect for deep differences of conviction as well as equal opportunity for all to live according to the dictates of. one's heart within the framework of non-discriminatory laws, makes for more harmony than the ar- bitrary notion that women and men must suppress their basic beliefs and feelings for the sake of a colorless, artificial un- ity," then liberation, for all of us, re- gardless of sex or world-and-life view, will become a poignant word, dynamic- ally alive, overflowing with meaning, enriching our lives with a plurality of real choices in every aspect of our ex- istence. L. Alan Toth is chairman of the Washenaw Coun/y Board of Comanmis- sioners. them into the melting ideals" will render them pot of "shared impotent, allow- Letters to The B0ONbt 89 rM?1AL CELE8SRAnoN Levin To The Daily: THE LEVIN campaign most be feeling the heat n A n n Arbor. Why else the letter from their local co-ordinator in The Daily attacking Zolton Ferency for the most dubious of reasons? The letter states that Ferency, who threw away his entire 20- year political career to oppose the war in Vietnam and Lyndon Johnson, is labelled by the Lev- inites as one who reoresents Watergate and "unethical trick- ery" in politics. Ferency, as you may recall, was forced out of the office of chairpersoa of the state Democratic Party for opposing Johnson and the war. The party hierarchy rep1aced him with somebody that w a s "safe" - Sandy Levin. Anyway, the reason Ferency is supposed to be the bad guy, according to the Leviniks, is that he left the Democratic Par- ty in 1970 to form a new party, the Human Rights Party, and that party two years later nom- inated him for the Supreme Court. Gosh. WHY WON'T the Levin cam- naign resoond to our attacks on office" because he ran for 'he Supreme Court on the HRP tick- et. In his "hunger," Fe:ercy spent the least of all the c mdi- dates, about $9,000, while man- aging to outdistance both Demo- cratic candidates that year. ,Who did win that year? The leading vote-getter was Sindy's cousin, Charles Levin, who form- ed a non-existent "party ' :o' get his name on the ballot, which is what Ferency is be- ing accused of doing. Except that Ferency helped form a par- ty that was and is very .eal. Levin reported spending over $250,000. ANOTHER LEVIN, Sandy's brother Joseph, recently spent over $125,000 in an unsuccessful bid to get a congressional nom- ination in a district ii which he never lived. Another Levin, Sandy's broth- er Carl, regularly outspends is rivals to get elected to the De- troit City Council. And Sandy himsef spent over a half-million dollars in 1970 in a futile attempt to get ele::- ed governor and is sioaodlng $750,000 thisryear. He has offer- ai 'omRTTV dpna tm ithMi allegedly included only 50 dele- gates, all but one of whom was supposedly nominated as a can- didate. THE NUMBER was actually 100, not 50. Anyone that consid- ered themself a member could come and vote. Seventeen candi- dates were nominated. But cutest of all was the fact that HRP was FORCED to hold the convention on Memorial Day weekend because ,the legis- lature passed a new law that said so. Of course, we were nev- er informed or consulted. We hope that the next three weeks can be spent debating is- sues and the Levin campaign will allow their candidates to get on the same platform with Zolton Ferency, who in his "hun- ger for elective office" is run- ning on a platform of busing, heroin decriminalization, a soc- ialist economy, and other issues guaranteed to get him elected. -The Michigan Human Rights Party Campaign Committee ERIM To The Daily: AN ANN ARBOR News article Daily. offered to refute Fojtik appear to constitute a whole school of red herrings, led by this one: "If ERIM is forced to leave Washtenaw County (e.g., move to Livingston County), it will take with it its status as major employer." To begin with, ERIM has ne,T- er been located in Washtenaw County - ERIM (including its former incarnation as the Uni- versity's Willow Run Labs) ha; always been located in Wayne County. Its Washtenaw County employes have always been commuters. Those who live in the Ann Arbor area (who tend to be University-identiifed, 'pro- fessional-level' employes) would probably enjoy the more convea- lent location in Ann Arbor. Those who live in Ypsilanri or farther east in the county would not find Ann Arbor location much of an advantage. The ef- fect of relocation to 3rignton in Livingston County wouA be similar to that of ERIM', pre- sent location in Wayne County. from ERIM's presence. The issue before the Commis- sioners is basically whether or not to subsidize this particular business. Given ERIM's t a x- exempt status, I nm curio:s about why some Commissioners want to assist ERIM in a move that will result in a loss of tax revenues. Their position would be understandable if ERIM were a new major employer promis- ing 450 new jobs; or a taxab'e, revenue-producing facility; or a tax-exempt organization engag- ed in activities clearly directed to the publicbenefit (e.g, medi- cine or health care, education, or any human-service-oriented work). THE INFORMATION on ERIM so far simply does not satis- factorily demonstrate that i t s potential value to the County wil be enhanced by a move to Ann Arbor, and thus does 'ut justify special support in the form of a low-interest bond is- sue. Instead, this support ap- pears to risk a reduction in lo- -al tax revenoes because of ElRIM's tax-exempt status, re- quiring further cuts in local pub- lic service or shifting the 'tax AN IMPORTANT point to be noted is that ERIM depends heavily upon its continuing as- sociation with the Unives'ty's