4 OPINION Page 4 Sunday, September 11, 1983 The Michigan Daily Gary Hart: A candidate with By Dave Kopel Isn't it time for a president who isn't a failure? Everyone wants a successful president, but some people, looking at recent history, fear that the job is simply too big to be done well. But the problem isn't that the presidency is too big; the problem is that our recent presidents have been too small. Every one of the potential Democratic presidential nominees would work hard at being a good president; each is at least moderately intelligent. Any of the potential nominees would make a far better president than Ronald Reagan. But only one candidate possesses the vision to lead America into its in- creasingly complex future. That candidate is Colorado Senator Gary Hart. During his nine years in the United States Sedate, Hart has established himself as one of the- most innovative thinkers in American politics. IHLITARY REFORM is one of the many iss ies on which Hart has moved beyond the old cliches to propose novel solutions. Hart believes that the defense debate has mistakenly focussed on how much money to spend. Instead, Hart, a member of the enate Arned Services Committee, has asked what we are spending the money on. Unlike Ronald Rd4gan, who tries to solve our national se4urity problem by throwing money at it, Hart safd, "More spending on a military that doesn't wdrk just buys a bigger military that doesn't wdrk." For the vital task of defending Europe, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger buys I the high-priced M-1 tank, which breaks down an average of every 43 miles. And to defend the oceans Weinberger puts all of our eggs into a, very shaky basket - 13 large aircraft carriers - which are easy targets for tactical nuclear missiles. Instead of enriching defense contractors by buying super-expensive and unreliable weapons, we should purchase weapons that will work, and purchase them in larger quantities. -. by more than the size of one's arsenal. Although the Reagan-appointed Scowcroft Commission concluded that there is no feasible basing mode for the MX missile, Reagan plans to drain tens of billions of dollars from the Treasury to build this destabilizing boon- doggle. HART LED the Senate fight against the MX, and will continue the battle until the missile plan is killed. Hart is also the Senate's expert on nuclear non-proliferation and a sharp critic of plutonium exports. Hart has opened new avenues in other areas as well. In fiscal policy, for example, he is a proponent of the Tax-Based Incomes Policy (TIP). TIP would impose tax penalties on any of the 2,000 largest corporations that exceed wage/price targets. Unlike wage-and-price controls, TIP would stop inflation without creating a cumbersome, new bureaucracy. And unlike Reagan's tight money policies, TIP would not throw nine million people out of work. On some issues though, Hart could not be more traditional. According to the League of Conservation voters, Hart has done more for the environment than any other Democratic candidate. Hart's concern for the environment links him with a bipartisan tradition dating back to Theodore Roosevelt. Hart also believes that if America is to be a great nation it must be a just nation. While Ronald Reagan doles out American dollars to tinhorn Latin American generalissimos, Hart argues "We are foolish if we try to bottle up the anger of abused people by fortifying regimes that have ignored them for decades. Our, natural allies are people who want food, vision shelter, medicine, and hope." An opponent of every aspect of Reaganomics right from the start, Hart feels that the president's job is to inspire the nation, not to justify trickle-down greed and selfishless. One budget debate highlighted the difference bet- ween our current president and our next one. In the Spring of 1981, Reagan slashed school lunch budgets. Hart proposed cutting back business tax deductions for entertainment, and using the revenue to restore school lunches. Hart is undeniably a dark horse. But so was Jimmy Carter, so was George McGovern (whose campaign Hart managed), and so was John F. Kennedy. For that matter, how many people expected Ronald Reagan (a radical ex- tremist if there ever was one) to be elected president? Hart lacks the money and the name recognition of the other candidates. But he has by far the strongest grassroots organization, especially on college campuses. And as Lyndon Johnson found, out the hard way in 1968, dedicated students can topple a president, even a president who was elected by a landslide. The recent Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial march on the nation's capitol showed the world that America is abandoning com- placency, that the "Me Decade", is behind us. Gary Hart can lead America to a greater future. 4 4 4 4 THE PENTAGON bureaucracy, which rewards paper pushers instead of military strategists, is another target for Hart's military reform program. Hart's new approach to defense spending will save taxpayers $17 billion in the program's fir- st year alone and, more importantly, may save American lives in combat. In sharp contrast to President Reagan, Senator Hart realizes that security is measured Kopel, a second year law student, is working for the Gary Hart Presidential Campaign on campus. } A P A Ediedb ithyig an t Edited and managed by s tndenr s rat The University of Michigan Stewart Vol.XCIV - No.4 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor MI 48109 Editorials represent n maIority o.,ion of the Daily's Editorial Board Ronnie, can you hear us?' AIE3rf~~ SOITODR .-A1 ARE'. " RfbY AND ACTION,' the director ordered. Immnediately, tho tense actors began executing their limos and movements. The scene depic- te a wartime battle of some sort. At o4 point, a gun went off near the ear of one of the actors. The sudden noise sl htly damaged his hearing in his ri t ear. he actor was none other than Rnald Reagan, who currently is plying the role of President of the U ted States. And that minor injury recently forced the semi-retired actor to get a hearing aid. But now that Reagan has overcome his physical hearing difficulty the question becomes: Can science come up with a device to help him listen bet- ter? Reagan's hearing problem - the physical one - had been getting worse in the past few months. So he unveiled his new hearing aid at a press conference late last week. It is capable of picking up the higher- pitched sounds he has trouble hearing. The device rests inside his ear, almost r completely out of sight. If only there were a listening device that could make Reagan understand what he hears, then he could better comprehend why women think he is a chauvinist. He could become more at- tentive to the plight of the poor. He could make out more clearly the soun- ds of danger coming from Central America. And he could grasp what it means to be unemployed and have a family to support. Alas, such a device could be invented only in the movies and Ronald Reagan lives in a dream world of his own. Perhaps those who think the president will improve his listening as he has his hearing are living in a dream world as well. Ronald Reagan, with hearing aid or without, remains a man of rigid ideology. There is little room for com- promise or even compassion within those ideals. Maybe that's what Simon and Gar- funkel meant when they sang, "Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." + t k FM ,qw, U;11 'I 4 a 1 r } i. ' //- .. 1/ VII .Students love this homework,, _ By Joe Nathan ST. PAUL, Minn. - Imagine children eagerly spending hours on homework, using math, writing, and research skills on weekends. It can happen - and is, across the country - with courses in- volving community problems. Students in overwhelming num- bers report they both enjoy such courses and learn more from them. The projects are as modest as the results are dramatic. In New York's South Bronx, for example, students and staff from Inter- mediate School 139 created a program called GUTS (Gover- nment Understanding for Today's Students). OVER several years, and over- coming many obstacles, these students created and maintained a community garden on aban- doned land. Several of the school's classes now use this gar- den. English students write about its history, home economics classes develop recipes for its nrn., -;nnnn ef,,a chir. ,, na it they set up their own "Consumer Action Service" and worked on more than 250 problems brought in by adults in their community with a 75 percent success rate. AT Philadelphia's Simon Gratz High School students and staff working with the local Tuberculosis and Health Association developed an in-* novative program using puppet shows, comic books, posters and cartoon strips to reach elemen- tary students on health matters. The school was almost over- whelmed with requests for the program. Such projects can have significant effects on the larger community, according to Jonathan Sher, assistant dean of North Carolina State University. He has helped start "school- based community development. corporations" in which young people provide services while improving their own skills, ear- ning money for their school and trying out possible careers. One group of students opened a much-needed day care center in thir . high o nnl Tt w nni- Eliot Wigginton, an English teacher in rural Georgia, found his students were poor writers and uninterested in drills on grammar. He decided to change his approach and started a magazine about the arts. Students interviewed long-ime residents, took pictures, and generally learned how to produce a magazine. The result, "Fox- fire," now has been sold throughout the world and has in- spired teachers to start similar magazines in dozens of other communities. This approach to writing not only gives meaning to student assignments, it also builds com- munity pride. Writing assign- ments rarely have such import. Worse, they are often boring or assigned to fill time. No wonder recent studies show almost half the nation's children say they are not challenged by their course ,work. ALTERNATIVE "youth par- ticipation programs" have other virtues. They can reflect an in- dividual teacher's expertise and interets sn manv eduaonrs find offering a variety of ex- planations. The programs do require more effort on the part of teachers and administrators. And few teachers are trained in these methods, because, in part, most university instructors have little or no experience with them. Some educators also fear that parents will not accept such programs but will insist on drill and practice for their kids. Nevertheless, when participation programs are offered as an op- tion, parents have been ex- tremely supportive, especially after they see their children come home enthusiastic and excited about course work. The National Commision on Excellence recently joined the chorus of demands that schools assign more homework. But the term "more homework" alone doesn't differentiate between an hour spent on work sheets and an hour spent on genuine com- munity concerns - between an hour that is no different from what has been tried and failed and an hour that moves children into new educational ground. ipuLxlt qff-,W m - I