Page 4-Friday,.January 25, 980-The Michigan Daily

Jerry Brown, CED could go all the way to New

York


Jim Spencer looks hopelessly out of
place in Des Moi nes, Iowa. Sitting in
the one-room Brown for President
ltadquarters in downtown Des Moines,
Spencer dresses and speaks Califotnia
mellow. The bleached-out blond hair
end moustache, the cowboy boots and
designer jeans, and the California
colloquialisms like "crash" and
,mellow" are all more suited for the
hest coast than the cornfields of the
'Middle west.
4Spencer is one of a core of Califor-
ians who are spearheading the
residential aspirations of the state's
young governor, Edmund Gerald
'rown. Brown's Iowa campaign
!manager was from the California lobby
group based in Washington D.C. Spen-
cer, a San Franciscan, is one of the top
organizers of California's Campaign for
an Economic Democracy-CED.
CED HAS NOT officially endorsed
Brown's candidacy, but the presence of
Spencer and other CED heads in Brown
offices all over the primary states
makes any official announcement a
mere formality. CED is backing
Brown, nd the non-partisan lobby
group'and its army of volunteer
laborers may be enough to keep the
governor's faltering presidential cam-
paign from folding before convention
time.
Campaign for- an Economic
Democracy is the organization largely



left over from activist Tom Hayden's
losing bid for California's U.S. Senate
seat back in 1978. The organization is
now a network of mostly volunteer
laborers, working for liberal causes
and candidates coast to coast.
But CED's greatest and most visible
successes have been in its home base,
California, where the group has put its
liberal network to the stump for rent
control measures and the campaigns of
local liberals in school boards and coun-
ty seats across the state.
THE CAMPAIGN FOR AN Economic
Democracy derives much of its success
from the personality of its mentor,
Tom Hayden, and the box-office draw
and financial resources of Hayden's
wife, actress Jane Fonda. But in
politics, power is influence,and it is
here where CED has succeeded where
other liberal lobbies have faltered.
CED's power in California politics is
derived; from its access to Jerry Br-
own, and so the Campaign has
made it their vested interest to see that
Brown is governor for a long, long time.
That explains why CED-a liberal,
left-wing organization by almost any
barometer-would back, and work en-
dlessly, for a presidential candidate
who has called for a constitutional
amendment to balance the federal
budget.
That would also explain why CED, a
lobby group used to being on the adver-

By Keith Richburg


sarial side of California politics, would
break rank and principle to campaign
for one of the politicians they've been
lobbying against for two years.
SPENCER EXPLAINED succinctly
but candidly the symbiotic relationship
between CED and Brown that sent him
and other group members into the cor-
nfields of Iowa and the snow of New En-
gland: "Jerry Brown is the only

cer has suggested that CED may
mount an all-out effort, and virtually
deluge the state with some of Califor-
nia's best and most effective CED
organizers.
In supporting and working for Jerry
Brown, CED is trying to accomplish on
a national scale what they have already
done in California - influence the
shape of policy by getting a

CED 's power in California politics is derived from its access to Jerry
Brown, and so the Campaign has made it their vested interest to see
that Brown is governor for a long, long time.

support Jerry Brown over any other
candidate. Brown has been a consistent
believer in "no-nukes," and has expan-
ded his own state's investment in solar
power as ail alternative.
And Spencer recalls how at a meeting
of pro-Kennedy gay rights activists, he
had to plead with them to look at the
governor's# record on gay rights in
California. Brown is one of the few
politicians anywhere to openly court
the gay vote.
Brown has recognized CED's influen-
ce in the state, and has likewise courted
their support. The group has won
several important liberal appointments
to, local posts, and Spencer insists that
when CED talks, the governor really
listens.
Part of this comes from the frien-
dship thathas developed between
Brown and Tom Hayden, the former
street activist of the 1968 Democratic
convention. The relationship between
the two was originally an adversary
one, a lobbyist and the politician he was
trying to pressure. But Hayden and
Brown have developed a friendship
based on respect and, in some ways,
mutual convenience. Hayden is the
governor's link to California's large,
and politically liberal community.
Jerry Brown is Hayden's lin'k to the
political establishment, to the Califor
nia executive authority. As. long as
Brown is governor, Hayden-and his
CED-will have access to the gover-
nor's mansion (or the bachelor apar-

tment, as the case may be).

BARRING SOME unforeseen event,
like a nuclear attack, no one really ex-
pects Jerry Brown and his outer-space
platformto win the 1980 Democratic
presidential nomination. But when
Spencer says "Jerry Brown is in this
race tostaysall the way to the conven-
tion," one can only believe he is right.
Brown enjoys being the odd-man-out,
addressing the issues that other can-
didates are ignoring, and offering his
alternative policies for the future. If not
in 1980, then possibly 1984 or 1988. . . As
Jerry Brown is fond of saying, in the
year 2000, he will be younger than
Ronald Reagan is today.
That strikes a chord remarkably
similar to the slogan of Tom Hayden's
1978 Senate race-"The Radicalism of
the 1960s has become the common sense
of the 1970s."
Brown's platform-"Save the earth,
protect the people, and explore the.
universe"-now sounds "flakey," like
the prelude to Star Trek. Maybe the
flakiness of the 1970s may find a sym-
pathetic audience somewhere down the
line in the '80s or '90s. But as long as
CED is around, the issues Jerry Brown
addresses will never just fade away.
Daily Editorial Director Keith
Richburg just returned from Iowa
where he ,covered the Iowa
Caucuses.

*0

politician I can call on the telephone,
and he actually listens to me-to me!"
CED put two members in Iowa to
prop up the governor's token campaign
there. In New Hampshire, where
Brown has made a more concerted ef-
fort, there are a dozen CED members
organizing the state for Jerry Brown.
And in Wisconsin, the one state Brown
has boldly predicted he will win, Spen-

sympathetic ear in the oval office. CED
is willing to overlook Brown's stand on
the balanced budget, concentrating in-
stead on those areas where their views
are compatible.
ON NUCLEAR power, for instance,
Spencer insists that anyone who has
ever spent an hour of their week
working against nuclear p.ower must
4


&b 340Igan 4a1I,
Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom
Vol. XC, No. 94 News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

RC Ck FEGG~R 'Z 1560P-

-MEw SHAH!
O~F C-00

~AMATNT'
/ F1 3Cfttll}AR i
OF CeOr',


/CAe1e is Wi~
g~~ATOF
'A1At~)
3 y

_.

tR 1w11+'7

12-30

~plbomitr Awfllel ,M15 (

No registration

SE-UJt7TAPS'P-
' K)PME, A t )6W HD.

_TW
3k cWiv6
AM1 "f) W.O

IT MAY NOT seem very surprising
that a student newspaper on a
college campus should oppose
registration for the draft. Indeed,
among many students, the immediate,
almost knee-jerk reactions to any
suggestion that 18-26 year olds be
required to register for the selective
service system are fear, outrage, and
resentment.
There are, however, several com-
pelling reasons - not rooted in
emotionalism - why draft
registration, as called for by President
tarter Wednesday night, is not
dIesirable.
: Registration is a major step toward
resumption of the draft: Although
there is some physical distance bet-
ween registration and actual service -
to t'egister names in a computer is
rather easy; to initiate training is far
miore difficult - there is a much
smaller philosophical distance bet-
ween the two. Once the selective ser-
yice systen is in place, it would be only
4 small jump for any hawkish gover-
11ment advisors to urge the president to
,initiate a draft program and even a
war.
After the' experience of Vietnam,
finany Americans are justifiably
hesitant about any draft program or
military initiatives. It can be assumed
that most citizens in this country would
favor a draft, and possibly war, if they
perceived a clear and present threat to
the security of this country. The
problem with Carter's registration,
plan, however, is that such a threat
does not yet exist.
Clearly, the Soviet Union has
demonstrated in recent weeks an un-
settling aggressiveness, and no doubt
much of this bold adventuring is the
result of the perceived weakness of the
U.S. Yet, the people of this country,
who seem to be behind renewed defen-
se efforts, must consider whether it is
worth going to war over Afghanistan,
or Pakistan, or even Iran.
In many respects, the question will
come down to oil. If the Soviets 'are in-
tent on eventually taking over the
Mideast oil fields, then the U.S. might
very well be compelled to enter a war.
Yet, there is an increasing sentiment,

point is that there is not now an im-
mediate threat to the oil fields.
The U.S. should wait until there. is
such a threat -- which may not even,
develop - before it moves to re-initiate
registration for the draft.
Many consider this registration plan
a political and diplomatic move - it is
intended to show that the U.S. is not
weak, and will not stand for Soviet
aggression. -
, However, such a gesture is in reality
quite impotent. Because registration
will not significantly spee up
preparedness of troops in an emergen-
cy; because volunteer forces are suf-
icient to stave off any present threat;
and because the Soviets could well
laugh at any U.S. move short of
renewed draft and deployment of
troops, the costs of registration are not
worth any benefits.
For-the time being, the U.S. infusion
of military and economic aid to
Pakistan is sufficient. It is hoped that
the Soviets will be deterred from any
further aggression by this show of-sup-
port and the numerous sanctions and
outcries fron around the world. If and
when the Soviets decide to move into
another country, and thereby threaten
the balance of world power and the
precious oil fields, the registration and
draft programs could be considered.
"Wait and see" may be a frustrating
strategy for those anxious to reassert
U.S. strength, but it may prevent
World War III.
EDITORIAL STAFF
Sue Warner .. .........................EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Richard Berke, . Julie RoVner.......... MANAGING EDITORS
Michael Arkush, Keith Richburg. EDITORIAL DIRECTORS
Brian Blanchard...................UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Judy Rakowsky ..........................CITY EDITOR
Shelley Wolson................... PERSONNEL DIRECTOR
Amy Saltzman ..........................FEATURES EDITOR
Leonard Bernstein..................SPECIAL PROJECTS
R.J. Smith, Eric Zorn ...................... ARTS EDITORS
Owen Gleiberman, Elizabeth Slowik.... MAGAZINE EDITORS
STAFF WRITERS-Sara Anspach, Julie Brown, Richard Blan-
chard, Mitch Cantor, Sefany Cooperman, Amy Diamond. Mari-
anne Egri, Julie Engebrecht, Mary Faranski, Joyce Frieden'
Greg Gallopulos; John Goyer, Patricia Hagen Marion Halberg,
Alison Hirschel, Steve Hook, Elisa Issacson, Paula Lashinsky,
Marty Levine, Adrienne Lyons, Tom Mirga, Mark Parrent,
Beth Bersky, Beth Rosenberg, William Thompson, Charles
Thomson, Howard Witt, Jeff Wolff, Tim Yagle.


Contrary to popular belief,
there are no compelling reasons
for people to go, hungry, yet
people throughout the world are
starving to death at the rate of
15,000 a day.
What explains the world
hunger probelm? To answer that
question, one must understand a
vast interconnected system
established world-wide over the
past centuries. At its core is
capitalistic enterprise.
The fact is, there are culturally
sufficient land, human and other
input resources to feed every
man, woman ans child on earth
an adequately nutritious diet. But
these resources are not con-
trolled by the people they might
feed; they are controlled by rich
multinational corporations and
super farmers who are concerned,
only with adding weight to their
already very fat wallets.
IN THE UNITED States, over
half of all cultivated farmland is
owned by 5.5 per cent of the far-
mers. These farmers (actually,
in most cases they are businesses
such as Standard Oil, Ralston
Purina, Southern Pacific, Bank
of America, Dow Chemical and
John Deere) continue to increase
their power and push small
family farmers out of business.
Over the last 20 years small far-
mers have been going out of
business at the rate of 1900 a
week. The American
Agricultural Marketing
Association estimates that by

Why are people
starving to death?
By Doug Herring

1985 agribusiness giants will con-
trol 75 per cent of all American
food production.
In underdeveloped countries
where hunger is often a major
problem, land resources are just
as poorly distributed. A 1971
study of 83 underdeveloped coun-
tries by the Food and Agriculture
Organiztion (FAO) found that 3
per cent of all the landowners
controlled 80 per cent of'all the
farmland. Not 9nly do the small
landholders together own a frac-
tion of available land-a majority
of farmworkers own no land at
all. According to a ,Cornell
University study, the landless
make up the majority of the rural
labor force in undeveloped coun-
tries. In many Asian and South
American countries they
represent 80 to 90 per cent of the
labor force.
It might not seem like such a
problem for a small group of
people to control food-producing
resources. One would even think
that they could be more efficient
producers, considering the large

scale they operate on. (Actually,
large farms are less efficient per
acre than small farms,
sometimes as must as 15 times
less efficient.) But a problem
arises, particularly in un-
developed countries, when these
producers choose not to grow
grains and vegetables for human
consumption, but rather cotton or
tobacco, because they are more
profitable. Or they grow
carnations, strawberries, or
asparagus for export to foreign
luxury markets, such as the U.S.
This often occurs in fertile
valleys whose inhabitants are on
near-starvation diets. '
PROFITABILITY, not human
needs, determines what is grown
and who gets it. This type of
twisted morality allows elites to
drive Mercedes and live on plush
estates while millions die each
year for lack of enough to eat. We
must rearrange our priorities if
this is to change, because even
improvements in food-producing
technologies, which should

provide more food for the hungry,
serve only to further enrich the
large agribusinesses.
The .hunger issue is more com-
plicated than this article
suggests; it is, however,
definitely much more of a
political problem than a
technological problem. The
Committee Concerned with
World Hunger is a student
organization attempting to un-
derstand, this problem more
thoroughly and make the com-
munity more aware of the causes
of hunger and starvation.
We are planning a two-day Con-
ference of Infant and Child
Malnutrition to be held on cam-
pus April 2nd and 3rd and have
tentatively scheduled a benefit
concert by Harry Chapin. The
conference will feature lectures
.by experts in nutrition and the
politics of hunger. Frances
Moore Lappe, author of Diet for a
Small Planet and Food First, is
one of the speakers scheduled.
In addition to independent ac-
tion groups the Committee Con-
cerned with World Hunger meets
bi-weekly to plan and coordinate
activities. Anyone interested in
additional information about our
group or world hunger may con-
tact Pat Gallagher (995-1978) or
Doug Herring (995-5455).

0. _


Doug Herring is a member
of the Committee Concerned
with World Hunger.


Letters to the Daily

To the Daily:
I read with great interest your
article in Sunday's paper in
which Earl Greene claimed he
had eighty pleded and eagerly
waiting volunteers for his cam-
naign. Were I a cynic. I might

Mr. Green to reveal the names of
his hidden workforce. On behalf
of the concerned voters, I urge
him to do -so. In the words of a
great poet:
Much, under the cloak of

in Iran. As members of Rackham
Student Government, we would
like to state that these views are
Mr. Milbrath's personal opinions
and do not express the position of
RSG on this matter.
During the last RSG meeting,
Mr. Milbrath proposed a

To The Daily:.
The - Daily seriously misunder-
stood Michael Harrington's
statement on wage and price con-
trols. Never did he allude that
"price controls, as opposed to
wage and price controls were the
root of stagflation in the
economy". Rather he stated that
wage and price controls need not

1

BUSINESS STAFF

IIA CULBERSON..........................Business Manager