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OPINION

Page4 Tuesday, November 2, 1982 The Michigan Doily

4 Eie m digan 'r'
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

Sinclair

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Vol. XCI[I, No. 47



Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board

They know who they are
IN HIS CLOSING election appeal the White House 'fessed up. Who took
y yesterday, President Reagan away prayer from schools?
rewrote a little history. During a "Liberals," said Reagan spokesman
nationally-broadcast address, he Larry Speakes.
charged that "big spenders" had for- It's more comforting to imagine that
ced prayer out of public schools. Reagan merely made another blooper
Yes, the president set those con- than to believe he meant what he said.
stitutional whizzes straight who Perhaps he got page two mixed up with
thought a Supreme Court ruling did the page three again. Perhaps he wanted
trick. After blaming "big spenders" to say prayer was driven out of schools
for inflation, he bemoaned, "They even by "big thinkers" who could clearly
drove prayer out of our nation's distinguish the separation between
classrooms." church and state. That, at least, would
Reagan, of course, tempered him- make some sense.
self. He stopped short of blaming the The president, however, is not in the
spendthrifts for the football strike, the habit of making sense; he's used to
San Andreas fault, and crabgrass on defying logic. He's also smart enough
the White House lawn. not to bring some really big spenders
The White House press office to the public's attention-the
declined to identify the "big spenders" Republican committees who shelled
at first. "They know who they are," a out $450,000 for his air time.
press officer said with all the charm But money can't buy everything. For
and subtlety of Joseph McCarthy. But all their big spending on campaigning,
after someone suggested that Reagan the Republicans may wind up big
was referring to Supreme Court losers this year. After all, with a leader
justices-who ruled in 1962 that prayer like Reagan, who feels like casting a
in schools violated the Constitution- "big" Republican vote?
The Daily's endorsements
H ERE, AGAIN, are our choices in today's elections:
Opponents: Richard Headlee, Republi-
ov ernorccan; James Phillips, American Inde-
Our choice: James Blanchar d, pendent; Dick Jacobs, Libertarian;
Democrat. Tim Craine, Socialist Workers;
Martin McLaughlin, Workers League;
Robert Tisch, Tisch Independent Citi-
zens.
Opponents: Philip Ruppe, Republican;
U.S Senator Daniel Eller, American Independent;
our choice: Don Riegle, Democrat. Bette Erwin, Libertarian; Steve
Beumer, Socialist Workers; Helen
Halyard, Workers League.
U.SO Representative"pponents: Carl Pursell, Republican;
. S- RBarbara McKenna, Libertarian.
Qur choice: George Sallade, Democrat
Opponents: Roy Smith, Republican;
State Senate Kevin Osborn, Libertarian; William
Our choice: Lana Pollack, Democrat. Witowski, Tisch Independent Citizens.
State Representative Unopposed
Our choice: Perry Bullard, Democrat.
University Regents Opponents: Rockwill Gust, Republican;
Ellen Templin, Republican; Anthony
Oatr choices: Sarah Power, Democrat, Giamanco, American Independent;
Thomas Roach, Democrat. Geraldine Santuci, American Indepen-
dent; Louis Goldberg, Libertarian;
Alan Kurczynski,_Libertarian.
... and the proposals
" Proposal E:- 'Yes'
Proposal B: 'No' Proposal E:. 'es
You complain about lots of Proposal E is the nuclear freeze
speeding tickets now? Wait until proposal; if passed, it will be a step
Proposal B makes the State Police a toward ending the insanity of the

co-equal branch of government.- nuclear arms builup.

LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Of power, peace, and the silent majority

To the Daily:
After reading the set of letters
published in the Daily on Oct. 26,
I feel it is about time for some
views from the other side of the
spectrum.
Peter Ford made some very
good points in his article ("Fall
Fashion: Protesting Military
Research," Daily, Oct. 20), only
to be rudely cut down by the
quartet of Joseph Stern, Marc
Grandsard, Mark DuCharme,
and Jon Weiss.
These four typify the 1980s ver-
sion of the "flower child"-make
love, not war, etc. They, along
with a few others on campus, are
members of the "anti-
everything" faction-they oppose
without thinking and offer few
workable solutions. Ted Kennedy
and Jane Fonda also are mem-
bers of this group. They hop from
one cause to another, protesting
whatever it is "in" to protest
against.
Like leeches, they latch onto
something and hang on until it is
dead; then they look for
something else to latch on to. This
season it is the military, ip
general, which is catching all of
the flak.
Stern and Grandsard speak out
about the dangers of technology,
yet it is that very technology
which separates our military
from that of, say, Ethiopia.
DuCharme cries about his tax
and tuition dollars going for this
research. Fine, if he doesn't like
it, it is his prerogative to go to
another, more "suitable" univer-
sity. He quotes Billy Frye, the
vice president for academic af-
fairs, out of context, misinter-
prets U.S. history, and attacks
the development of the stealth
bomber because it is a first-strike
weapon.
Mr. DuCharme had better
realize that we are in a power
struggle with the Soviet Union.
We have no choice about being in
it or not ... we must keep up lest
we face the consequences of get-
ting too far behind.
Since we have to play the game
we might as well play to win.
I acknowledge the typical
response of "no one wins a
nuclear war," yet we are living in

an age where new technologies
can make a total difference (i.e.
development of the laser for anti-
ballistic usage).
Weiss's letter was dripping in
so much sarcasm that it would
seem more appropriate on the
pages of National Lampoon or
Mad than in a newspaper and it
hardly deserves the mention I've
given it.
The Daily even had an editorial
about the "harassment" of vocal
opposers to draft registration.
These idiots who parade around
announcing to the nation that
they've broken a law deserve to
be brought to trial-on the basis
of stupidity alone. We are not
drafting, just registering for the
draft, and these people still
whine. How would our founding
fathers view them? "Cowards" is
a word which comes to mind.
"Wimps" is a more modern
term.
A final problem in the "Nuclear
Arms Freeze"-Proposal E on
the Michigan ballot. I'd be the
first to agree that it would be
great if the nations of the world,
especially the United States and
the Soviet Union, totally disar-
med themselves of all nuclear
weapons; the stumbling block is
enforcement of it. Can we trust
the Russians?
Also, if you take the time to
read all of Proposal E, you'll see
that it recommends the transfer
of nuclear weapons funds to
civilian use, but this is not con-
ditional to a U.S./Soviet
agreement. Hence, we could be
stuck in a terrible dilemma-
no nuclear arms freeze and no
money for nuclear arms. We'd be
forced to freeze our production
but the Russians wouldn't have
to. Isn't that what they really
want?
There is a growing wave of
pacifism in the free world and
this is very alarming. We must
keep our guard up. Apparently
the world didn't learn enough
from the policy of appeasement
prior to World War II.
There's an old saying which
says, "If you don't learn from
your history, you'll be forced to
relive it." I hope this isn't the
case with the Soviet Union. Oc-

tober marks the 20th anniversary power-ook to Rome and the ra)

x

of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I only
hope that if we are faced with this
situation again we have the
backbone and the resolve not to
give in-and the power to back up
our decisions. This must be done
through the military.
I think it's time the "silent
majority" started voicing its
opinion; I'm really sick of
reading the garbage written by a
few naive idealists who envision a
utopian society-a totally
peaceful world. I wish someone
would wake these people up and
bring them back to reality.
Peace is achieved through

Romana for that. The military is
a vital cog in our society. Without
it, we would be hanging a ham-
mer and sickle on our flagpoles
instead of the stars and stripes.
There is only one sure way to
avoid war and that is to surren-
der. I'm not ready to do that just
yet and I doubt if most
Americans are either. I can't
speak for the "flower children"
of our generation, but I know that
I don't want to live in a world
where the Soviet Union is number
one.
-James Frego
October 27 .6

A call to the polls

To the Daily:
Sometime last summer I had
an idealistic thought that I paid
little attention to at the time. But
upon returning to Ann Arbor and
realizing again how important
and influential the votes of
University students could be, I
became determined to make my
idealistic thought a reality.
With the help of the Michigan
Student Assembly and many
hours on the phone, the following
statement was distributed to 800
teaching assistants throughout
the University with a request for
them to encourage students to
vote. The letter was addressed to
all students and reads as follows:
"On Nov. 2, the decision of who
will lead Michigan in the coming
years will be made. You, as a
voter, can take part in this
decision. As adults,,it is your
right and responsibility to vote.
"We, the undersigned, urge
you to vote for the candidate of

your choice. Help shape the
future of Michigan and the
nation. Your vote does count;
make sure you use it.
The letter was signed by Amy
Moore, MSA president; Nancy
Kibic, chairman of Students for
Blanchard; Barry Rosenfeld,
r chairman of Students for Riegle;
Tim Flynn, chairman of Students
for Headlee; Felice Oper, chair-
man of Students for Ruppe; and
Mary Rowland, president of
College Democrats.
The signers are far more im-
pressive than the statement.
These six individuals, all
recognize the importance of
voting. They were willing to sup-
porteand sign the letter, and
thereby make my idealistic'
thought-a bipartisan get-out-'
the-vote letter-a reality. I want
to thank them and those students
who exercise their right to vote.
We are the future.
-Amy Peck
1 T..: ..s is7

November 1
Unsigned editorials appearing on the left side of
this page represent majority opinion of the Daily's
Editorial Board. Letters and columns represent the
opinions of the individual author(s) and do not
necessarily reflect' the attitudes or beliefs of the Daily.

Proposal C: 'No'
This proposal-intended to fight
high mortgage rates for homeowners-
would actually make mortgages har-
der to get and more expensive.

Proposal G: 'No'
Proposal G would make the Public
Service Commission elective. In the
process, it would lengthen Michigan's
already ponderous ballot and set the
cause of good government back sub-
stantially.

Wasserman

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