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January 24, 1973 - Image 4

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Michigan Daily, 1973-01-24

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Y

Eighty-two years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

... a megaphone and he's unstoppable...

420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.

News Phone: 764-0552

Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1973

I

_....

The long overdue cease-fire

A VIETNAM CEASE-FIRE has been set
for Saturday. And with it, President
Nixon announced last night, the war will
end for American troops and prisoners
of war.
After a bloody decade of American in-
volvement in the Indochina war, our
first reaction is a joyous "at last." For
Nixon's decision to "sign the treaty" ful-
fills the demands for a finish to this
monstrous conflict - whether those de-
mands have been pressed in the streets,
in the voting booths, or in the privacy
of living rooms.
A lasting peace must yet be realized
before this war is buried into the soon-
forgotten past. The President declared
last night that the major stipulations he
has insisted upon have been met. He
termed the initialed agreement "peace
with honor"-a phrase he has used con-
sistently during his presidency.
It is, however, far too late for America
to salvage honor from the carnage in
Southeast Asia.

IT IS NOT too late to ensure that the
war ends not only for America, but
for all of Indochina. True peace will come
only when its strife-torn lands can stand
on their own-their people, in villages
and cities, in industry and agriculture,
determining for themselves the nature
of their societies. American guns and
American dollars can never be the pil-
lars of peace, no matter who wields the
arms or disburses the money.
Hopefully, the tragedy is coming to a
close, ushering in a new era of true peace
for Indochina and the world.
THE PRESIDENT'S achievement is a
welcome one, long overdue. After
the unwarranted bloodshed, the anguish-
ed years of horror and torment, Ameri-
can involvement is ending and the fight-
ing to be stilled.
And that is something for which we
must be deeply thankful.
--THE MICHIGAN DAILY
EDITORIAL STAFF

By ARTHUR LERNER
WASHINGTON - "Criticism of the vets'
separate march would be counter-p r o-
ductive. The vets have traditionally h a d
their own actions. By marching separate-
ly today, they are affirming that they are
with us. Here they come. We must support
them and cheer them on. But we must not
relax our discipline. Their distinctiveness
unifies them with us."
* * *
He's deadly. He's quick. He's everywhere.
He's often right, but it doesn't matter,
because he's Jack the Rapper.
Jack was in Washington Saturday. He's
been in Ann Arbor, and he's been in San
Francisco. He has natural talent, give him
a megaphone and he's unstoppable.
He can be found on all sides of public
issues. He is most often found at demon-
strations. He must not be confused with
Soapbox Sam or Bandstand Barry. He is
not a public speaker. He is a communi-
cator.
SATURDAY, we waited two hours to
march. As the tail of the march, we were
fair game for Jack. He came by time and
time again, in different uniforms, to tell
us when we could move, why we weren't,
and to where we would. Usually he didn't
know the answers to our questions, but he
came anyway.
Experienced march demonstrators are
connoisseurs of street activism, on the look-
out for the most obscure button, the, most
together chant, the niftiest banner. A n d
along comes Jack. Don't get me wrong. He
belongs.
He has an uncanny ability to bring a

crowd together. Disparate in politics, split
down the middle tactically, the crowd unit-
es in its conclusion that Jack is a nurd.
FOR THE JACK of today is but a bleak
tintype of yesterday's Jack - the Samuel
Adamses, Mario Savios, Carrie Nations,
String 'em up Steves, and Necktie Neds
who sparked lethargic mods into a spirit-
ed activism. A dime store version, of the
rabble rousers who transformed reluctant
collaborators into convivial comrades.
Now we only call on him tq lead us
in "Down down down B52, down with Nixon,
down with Thieu," and "Up the ass of the
ruling class.",
Perhaps our cynicism has rubbed the
sheen from the street speaker. Or maybe
the quality of spontaneous street fire and
brimstone has eroded.
Raspy, unshaven, and repetitive, he ap-
proaches with bullhorn, megaphone, or just
stretchable vocal chords. And I just tingle
when I hear him say:
"I KNOW you've been waiting for two
hours now, but this is really a great event.
We've got all this good energy going and
we ain't gonna stop until we get that agree-
ment signed.
"We've got to show the President that we
still care. We've confounded the pigs and
the man by being here in such numbers.
The war is still going, but the anti-war
movement has been a success. We must
show with our feet that we still care."
Arthur Lerner is an outgoing Daily ed.
torial director.

Daily Photo by DAVID MARGOLICK

Debuking ideologyandpoliticsof division

Examining Johnson's career

THE DEATH OF Lyndon Baines John-
son, 36th President of the United
States, of a heart attack Monday, once
again forces upon us all the opportunity
to mourn a fellow human being and ex-
amine in retrospect the effect of his life
on the course of the world.
When most people die, the retrospec-
tion Is fairly easy: Most people are never
in a position to'affect the course of the
world. Throughout their lives they re-
main ineffectual -- "mute, inglorious
Miltons"' who perhaps affect their fami-
lies, friends, and immediate surround-
Ings but little else.
A celebrity, particularly a politician--
especially the President - is another
matter. When someone is thrust into a
Today's staff:
News: Debbie Allen, Robert Barkin, Beth,
Egnater, Cheryl Pilate, Judy Ruskin
Editorial Page: Ted Stein
Arts Page: Diane Levick, Sara Rimer,
Barbara Bialick
Photo Technician: Rolfe Tessem
Editorial Staff'
SARA FITZGERALD
Editor
PAT BAUER...............Associate Managing Editor
LINDSAY CHANEY ............. Editorial Director
MARK DILLEN............Magazine Editor
LINDA DREEBEN.........Associate Managing Editor
TAMMY JACOBS. .. . Managing Editor
ARTHUR LERNER ................ Editorial Director
ROBERT SCHREINER....Editorial Director
GLORIA JANE SMITH..................Arts Editor
ARTS STAFF: Herb Bowie, Rich Glatzer. Donald
Sosin.
ED SUROVELL.. Books Editor
PAUL TRAVIS .........Associate Managing Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Robert Barkin, Jan Benedetti, Di-
ane Levick. Jim O'Brien, Chris Parks, Charles
Stein, Ted Stein.
COPY EDITORS: Meryl Gordon, Debra Thal.
EDITORIAL NIGHT EDITORS: Fred Shell Martin
Stern.
DAY EDITORS: Dave Burhenn,hJim Kentch, Marilyn
Riley, Judy Ruskin, Eric Schoch, Sue Stephen-
son, Ralph Vartabedian, Becky Warner.
TELEGRAPH/ASSOCIATE NIGHT EDITORS: Prakash
Aswani, Gordon Atcheson, Laura Berman, Penny
thy Ricke, Eugene Robinson, Linda Rosenthal,
Zachary Schiller, Marcia Zoslaw.
STAFF WRITERS: Howard Brick Lorin Labardee, Ka-
Blank, Dan Blugerman, Bob Burakoff, Beth Eg-
nater, Ted Evanoff, Cindy Hill, Debbie Knox,
David Stoll, Terri Terrell.
Sports Staff
JOHN PAPANEK
Sports Editor
ELLIOT LEGOW
Executive Sports Editor

position of power and influence, he or
she receives the opportunity to exert that
amount of power and influence. One can
either avoid or grasp that opportunity.
Most people seem to succeed in utilizing
it. The difficult judgment to make is
whether they have used it successfully.
IN THE CASE OF Lyndon Johnson the
assessment is a complex one, clouded
by the dark spectre of a war that he
escalated, at first as almost a minor
policy decision, which grew gradually and
unobtrusively until it became a monkey
on his back he could not shake off, until
perhaps Monday evening.
Like the late Harry Truman and many
others thrust into an influential post,
Johnson rose to the occasion, and per-
formed competently. He brought to the
Presidency a reputation acquired in 24
years in the Congress and Senate, as a
shrewd operator, a politician's politician
who would go to virtually any length to
accomplish his goals. During his early
years as chief executive, he set up some
pretty good ones.
His record in domestic matters-rightly
the main concern of a U.S. President-
was admirable, following in the tradition
of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Among
his accomplishments were the 1964 Civil
Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights
Act, medical care for the aged, massive
federal financial aid to elementary and
secondary school systems throughout the
country, raising of the minimum wage,
launching of a major housing program,
and initial efforts to clean up the en-
vironment.
RUT THINGS DID not go as smoothly
for Johnson as they seemed to go
for his hero Roosevelt. Despite his Great
Society and the War on Poverty, as his
term progressed through the Sixties, dis-
illusionment surfaced, manifest in vio-
lence - ridden campuses and in riot-torn
cities.
For even Johnson's domestic record
could not escape being sullied by the
growing war. Students rebelled against
the hypocrisy of an administration that
could fight poverty at home, and at the
same time cause thousands of deaths in
a remote corner of the world fighting the
indefinable spectre of Communism.
Poor people in the cities were ultimate-
ly unconvinced that Johnson really
wanted to help them, since the war he
propagated ate up mammoth amounts of
federal funds and indirectly led to
widespread inflation which made their
lives more miserable.
JN THE END perhaps it was a lack of
foresight that proved to be Johnson's
tragic flaw. In recent years, even he
seemed to feel that he had made a great
mistake regarding U. S. policy in South-
east Asia. It is a shame that it was a mis-
take he did not live to see rectified in his
lifetime.
Right now a meaningful assessment of
Johnson is difficult. The closeness of im-
mediate events such as the war as well
as our tendenev to overlook shortcom-
inic in a cnn ha whn cinier r1'n pnm-

Editor's Note: The following is the
second in a two-part series analyzing
the internal problems facing the Ann
Arbor Human Rights Party.
By DAVID CAHILL
There are three other beliefs now
held by some HRP members that
are creating a lot of problems for
the party.
1. The HRP grows and prospers
by developing divisions within it-
self on political lines and by strug-
gle over those divisions.
A remnant of "dialectical" meth-
odology in a party which allows
diversity of opinion naturally leads
to the feeling that political divi-
sions should be fostered so that
we can "have it out," deciding
(at least temporarily) what t h e
majority view will be, and then go
on to the next division, ad infini-
tum. But in a troupe like HRP,
this results in constant uncertain-
ty, instability and the fostering of
hostilities which never die down.
THE AMERICAN LEFT has been
characterized for decades by in-
cessant factional infighting. That
helped to destroy the SDS, as many
of us remember. Whatever bene-
fits might be gained from contin-
ued hashing over of political dif-
ferences are far outweighed by the
resultant inability of the group to
function in any other way except
as a debating society. And a hos-
tile one at that.
The constant emphasis on "divi-
sions" prevents the formation of
coalitions either within or outside
the party - and it may even be
used as a power tactic. For in-
stance, I am told that at a recent
meeting of the "Rootless Choco-
late Almond Cosmopolite" caucus
one member said "Where can we
pick fights?" This is the ultimate
absurdity of a striving for divi-
sions.
Remember that old saying "di-
vide and conquer"? A group which
deliberately divides itself is al-
ready conquered.
2. The positions someone took
long ago on some issue are still
very important.
The local Democratic Party is as
untogether as it is partly because
their people can never forgive or
forget. Once I had a long talk with
some of them about others in the
party, and what came out of it was
one long, sad Byzantine intrigue
over splits which should have heal-
ed years before. "I can't support
him because he didn't back so-and-
so for City Chairman in 1962" is a
typical example. In our party the
splits aren't quite so personal (al-
though sometimes I wonder), but
the effects of not healing divisions
and not realizing that people's
views change are just as serious in
HRP.
PURPOSEFULLY encouraging
divisions on all kinds of issues
Letters
Alcohol danger
To The Daily,
AS COLD weather once again
approaches, I am reminded of
some incorrect advice given one
cold day last December by the
today ... column, namely, to stay
at home and drink hot toddies!" A
well-known pharmacological text
gives the opposite advice regard-
ing liquor fortworeasons: alco-
hol increases cutaneous blood flow
(that "flushed feeling"), and thus
:--.-0 - . . , 1 -. :_ . :on it : i

which really don't have to be de-
cided is bad enough. But not lay-
ing old conflicts to rest means
that, since each person is bound to
be on the losing side now and
then, and since the divisions aren't
always along the same lines, soon-
er or later no one can work with
anyone else since everyone has
been on the wrong side!
3. There is one correct ideology,
which can be "objectively" prov-
en. If you don't believe in
our ideology, you are either stup-
id, misguided, or evil. If we don't
have our way, we won't partici-
pate.
Not all belief systems have with-
in them statements about their own
infallibility, objectivity, or capabil-
ity of being "proven." However,
many political (and religious)
ideologies do. Naturally, not every
ideology which claims that it is
"cosmically correct" can be so,
since different ideologies which
claim to be all-encompassing as
well as correct are bound to con-
tradict each other on at least one
point, or they wouldn't be differ-
ent.
Revolutionary ideologies are par-
ticularly likely to have claims of
"correctness" attached to them, in
part because people will hardly
devote their lives to a struggle if
they don't think that it's correct.

But ideologies are all based ul-
timately on people's values - be-
liefs about what is desirable, as
contrasted with what is true or
false. And, since different groups
desire different things,their ideol-
ogies will be different. Often these
value preferences will be hidden.
EVEN THE non-value-loaded
part of revolutionary ideologies are
unlikely to be capable of real
proof, partly because they rely so
heavily on the "lessons" of prev-
ious revolutions. The trouble with
drawing conclusions from previous
revolutions is that each revolution
is an ad hoc, one-time production.
Social, political, economic, and cul-
tural conditions vary so widely
from country to country and from
time to time that drawing conclus-
ions from them is, and will likely
always remain, an art and not a
science.
One result of a belief that one's
own particular ideology is "infall-
ibly" correct is the conclusion that
those who don't share it must real-
ly have something wrong w i t h,
them, like people who believe that
the earth is flat. And if someone
just can't see an "obviously cor-
rect" position, ,then why bother
with that person. He or she ob-
viously deserves to be "purged" or
bludgeoned into submission. And

any nasty name you can think of
to call your opponent is okay. Each
faction can't stand people w h o
oppose it.
OVER THE PAST few months
we have seen just how bad this can
get. People who wanted to support
McGovern were called "liberals,"
"Democrats," and worse by one
group. If you didn't have "good
politics" - their politics - y o u
had "bad politics." People w h o
didn't agree with them were "guilt-
tripped" into at least keeping quiet
because of "lefter-than-thou" de-
bating tactics. ("I am left. Every-
one should be as left as possible in
HRP. Therefore, since you dis-
agree with me, you are not as left
as I am and therefore are incor-
rect.")
The Rainbow People's Party, on
the other hand, has repeatedly
launched long broadsides full of
insulting language at people w h o
don't agree with them in the Ann
Arbor Sun, their satellite newspap-
er. "Ultraleftists," "right-oppor-
tunists," "intellectual/social work-
ers" and other evil beings inhabit
their demonology.
The last straw comes when one
faction decides that it is more im-
portant than the group as a whole,
and sectarianism comes to its log-
ical conclusion: The disgruntled

faction bolts the party or sits on
its hands. In August, the defeat of
Eric Chester led to considerable
non-participation by his supporters
in Burghardt's campaign. Also In
August, when the Rainbow People
were unable to come up with a
candidate for sheriff, and found
that they could not control the
party, they took a walk.
WE SHOULD REALIZE - and
I think most of us do - that this
silly nonsense can't go on. The
HRP has now grown up.
We have behind us the votes,
good wishes, and even the hopes of
tens of thousands of people. We
should concentrate on their des-
perate and heart-felt needs, not on
debating fine points, creating ar-
tificial divisions, and all the oth-
er behavior that a concentration
on words and not actions leads to.
And we should bear in mind the
words of Ben Franklin, who said
during the first American revolu-
tion, that:
"If we don't hang together, we
shall most assuredly all h a n g
separately."
David Cahill is co-chairperson of
the Ann Arbor Human Rights
Party City Committee and **Uni
versity law student.

-4

How should i
'I cannot frle

we assess L.B..?
'A tragic leader'

By CHRIS PARKS
WHEN A PRESIDENT d i e s,
journalists are supposed to say
nice things about him. Even if the
President was Lyndon Baines John-
son.
After all, he's dead and it's an
American ethic that you don't kick
a man when he's down. Even if he
is responsible for escalating t h e
most monstrous American war of
this century.
We are asked to remember the
Great Society, to remember the
Voting Rights Act of 1965. We are
told that Johnson was essentially
a big-hearted guy, a humane Amer-
ican who made a miscalculation
that destroyed his career. John-
son, we are told, was the tragic
victim of the Vietnam war.
I AM ONE journalist who is not
ready to forgive or forget. You
can say I'm too young - that I
lack the balanced moderation of
an experienced observer, but I will
not forget.
Johnson was not a victim. John-
son died at 64, a wealthy man -
comfortable and secure. He died
of a heart attack - a disease of
post-industrial opulence.
He was no victim in any sense
that I understand the word. Viet-
namese peasants who died in fire-
storms of napalm were victims.
Young Americans who died thous-
ands of miles from home or who
lie horribly mangled in veterans'
hospitals were victims. Vietnam -
a tiny Asian nation ravaged by
the technological might of the most
powerful country on earth - was
the victim.
I don't deny the man his due.
He did some good things in the
area of civil rights. It must also
,be remembered, however, that
after the summer of urban riots
in 1967 he ignored the report which
said ther mt cause was racism.

But when we look at what is
worst in American society today
- the devision, the decay of the
cities, the moribund state of the
economy - there is little that we
cannot at least indirectly ascribe
to the war.
And despite the subtle interpre-
tations of today's sophisticated his-
torians who trace the Vietnam in-
volvement back to Harry Truman
(Why not Woodrow Wilson?), the
war as we knew it was Johnson's
war.
I cannot forget the shame of
America brutalizing a small, pea-
sant society. Or the horror of see-
ing people my age denied the right
to whatever modest plans they had
for their lives and sent to die for
nothing.
In 1968 we used to chant "Hey,
hey LBJ, how many kids did you
kill today?". I have not forgotten.

By DAN BIDDLE
JOHNSON is dead.

His presidency was seen by
many as a failure, a symbol of
what was and is wrong with our
government and our society. He
was the man who committed thous-
ands of American lives and mur-
dered thousands of Vietnamese in
the name of democracy.
And we never quite believed that
the reason for fighting was demo-
cracy. We saw through the ma-
chinery of the government and the
military and called our Vietnam
policy imperialistic.I
But to the end, Johnson seemed
to think it was right.
He looked like a ruined man
when he stood up, a little m o r e
than four years ago, and g a v e
his final major address as Presi-
dent.

His lips quivering, his face pour-
ing sweat, and, as always, h i s
whole presence visibly struggling
to say the right words, Johnson
ended his political career and set
about to end the, nightmare he had
earlier helped to further.
WE WERE shocked. The callous,
expedient politician was not meant
to admit mistakes or make sudden
reversals or previously established
policy.
That final message from the man
who had failed as President should
not have come as such a surprise.
A few years earlier, Johnson had
stood before a nation stinking of
racism and said words that a black
man had made famous:
"We shall overcome."
At that time, too, we doubted
him. Most presidents pay heavy lip
service to minority groups and
take it all back after Election Day.
Witness Richard Nixon.
But Johnson fought for things
that no self-respecting American
politician nowadays -- least of all
the one who now lives in the White
House - would fight for. He man-
aged to forge strange coalitions be-
tween men like Hubert Humphrey
and Everett Dirksen, and succeed-
ed in passing legislation that :com-
mitted the government to the rights
and the welfare of millions of
Americans.
But the horror of the dead bodies
in Southeast Asia quickly over-
shadowed the beauty of thousands
of black Americans finally protect-
ed in their right to vote.
JOHNSON once said that "it is
easier to want to do what is right
than to know what is right."
It may be that Johnson never
knew what was right in Vietnam,
but that must be said of nearly
every one of the men who have

iI

BILL ALTERMAN............. Associate Sports
BOB ANDREWS............. Assistant Sports
SANDI GENIS ................ Assistant Sports
RANDY PHILLIPS ........ Contributing Sports
MICHAEL OLIN.......... Contributing Sports
CHUCK DRUKIS.........Contributing Sports
JOEL GREER............Contributing Sports
Photography Staff

Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor

DAVID MARGOLICK ............Chief Photographer
ROLFE TESSEM.....................Picture Editor
DENNY GAINER ..................Staff Photographer
THOMAS GOTTLIEB.............Staff Photographer
KAREN KASMAUSKI ............ Staff Photographer
Business Staff
ANTSY GOLDING
Business Manager
STEV AEVSEFF .............Circulation Manager
SHERRY KASTLE.............Advertising Manager
PAUL WENZLOFP... Promotions Manager
DEPARTMENT MANAGERS. ASSOCIATES. AND AS-

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