4 OPINION Page 4 Tuesday, March 6, 1984 The Michigan Daily Hart's answer to the Reign of Error 4 By David Kopel "Gary Hart is only staying in the race till January 1984, to pay off his debts with federal matching funds." "Gary Hart is really running for 1988." "People won't listen to a candidate who discusses the issues in so much detail." That's what the "experts" all said about Gary Hart in 1983. All the experts were wrong. Now the experts are saying that Gary Hart can't beat Ronald Reagan in November. Don't bet on it. A recent Newsweek poll showed Reagan decisively ahead of Mon- dale-but neck-and-neck with Hart. Small wonder that, according to U.S. News and World Report, Gary Hart was the one Democrat that White House in- siders worried could win in November. AS JIMMY CARTER and Walter Mondale demonstrated in 1980, just being closer to the political center than the opposition doesn't guarantee vic- tory. But if the Democrats nominate Gary Hart, the party can recapture the White House by appealing to the main- stream American values that the Reagan Presidency subverts. The American people want America's schools to be the best in the world. Ronald Reagan's response to our educational crisis is to cut aid to education, and to make speeches about school prayer. Gary Hart's response is the American Defense Education Act-to provide matching-funds to loeal school districts for math, science, foreign language, and computer studies. And as the Democratic nominee, Gary Hart won't have to face any charges that he is the mouthpiece of the teachers' unions. Nothing illustrated Reagan's ex- tremism better than his stand on the Equal Rights Amendment. An Equal Rights Amendment had been part of every Republican Presidential plat- form since 1948, until 1980, when Moral Majority fanatics and Ronald Reagan took it out. Gary Hart's presidency (unlike the Carter presidency) will put ratification of the E.R.A. at the very top of he agenda. Hart is the main Democratic sponsor of legislation to remove anti-female bias from tax, in- surance, and pension laws. His em- phasis on women's issues should come as no surprise, for he has more impor- tant female advisors than any other candidate. POLLS SHOW that over 85 percent of the American people support strong environmental laws, even if the laws increase costs for business. Only a tiny band of right-wing businessmen sup- port Reagan's anti-environmental policy. While Ronald Reagan's E.P.A. has ignored acid rain, Gary Hart has in- troduced legislation to reduce sulfer dioxide emissions. While Ronald Reagan's E.P.A. has been in bed with toxic waste dumpers, Gary Hart in- troduced the Hazardous Waste Management Act; by putting a steep tax on toxic waste, the Act would use economic incentives to discourage waste production, and would also raise the revenue necessary for clean-up of existing waste dumps. The American people over- whelmingly support a strong military. Ronald Reagan's military spending program weakens America on all fron- ts. His nuclear strategy rests on destabilizing weapons like the MX missile. And his conventional strategy prepares us to fight World War II all over again. For example, Reagan's naval strategy is built around 13 giant aircraft carriers-sitting ducks for a precision-guided missile. Naval Reser- ve officer Gary Hart argues that we should put our resources instead into many more smaller and less expensive carriers. Hart's "Military Reform Budget" would increase our military strength by procuring larger quantities of more reliable and efficient weapons, and would save $100 billion over five years by eliminating purchases of ex- pensive weapons that don't work. An expert on military reform since his election to the Senate in 1974, Hart is the Democrat who can beat Reagan on defense. Economics will be the most impor- tant issue this year. Reagan's economic fiasco will cost him the election, if the Democrats launch a powerful attack. Ronald Reagan promised us a balanced budget by 1984; he delivered a $200 billion deficit. From 1776 to 1980, the national debt grew to three quarters of a trillion dollars. In just four years of recklessness, Ronald Reagan has in- creased the national debt by over 75 percent. Even according to Reagan's own wishful predictions, a second Reagan term will leave us with a detailed plans to chop the budget deficit will appeal to the common sense of the American people. "JOBS, JOBS, and more jobs," was the Reagan theme in 1980. Now more people are unemployed than in January 1980, when Reagan declared we were in the worst economic mess since the Depression. And as technological leadership migrates to of special interest groups, Walter Mon- dale can offer the American people, nothing more than a different set of special interest groups to run the coun- try. Voters will prefer to trust the economy to Gary Hart, the first presidential candidate ever to refuse to accept any P.A.C. (political action commitee) donations. As President, Gary Hart will owe no favors to special- interest contributors. Ronald Reagan supports tax deductions for three- martini business lunches. Gary Hart wants to slash the tax deduction and use the revenue to restore the school lunch program. On this issue, as on so many others, Gary Hart represents the best instincts of the American people, and Ronald Reagan represents a selfish fringe. WHEN BIG businesses such as Chrysler and U.S. Steel come knocking, Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale always open the door. Gary Hart believes that government aid to in- dustry should be tied to industrial reform and modernization, and to worker retraining. And Senator Hart knows that whether you call protec- tionism "voluntary import quotas" (as Reagan does), or "domestic content" (as Mondale does), protectionism costs America jobs by provoking retaliation. Protectionism caused the Great Depression. The American people don't want another ounce of it. Gary Hart's response to the challenge of foreign competition is to beat the competition, not to retreat behind trade barriers. While the Reagan and Carter-Mon- dale economic records are stories of failure, Gary Hart's economic reform program will stimulate solid economic growth and restore America's inter- national competitiveness. President Hart will revise tax and regulatory policy to discourage "paper entre- preneurialism" and to encourage productive investment and moder- nization. One of the best of GaryHart's "new ideas" is to revive one of the most successful New Deal policies. To rebuild our decaying roads, bridges, and water systems, Hart favors a 15-year public works "In- frastructure Investment Program." To foster high technology industries, Gary Hart would remove regulations that impede venture capital formation. To preserve long-term international com= petitiveness, Gary Hart would raise government investment in research: and development to 3 percent of our G.N.P. Payment for these crucial in- vestments in our economic future would come from elimination of thousands of unproductive tax shelters, from elimination of the $28 billion nuclear and synthetic fuel subsidies, from repeal of the third year of the "trickle-down" tax cut for incomes above $50,000 from postponment of in- dexing, and from a corporate tax sur- charge. The strongest candidate the Democrats can put up against Ronald, Reagan is Senator Hart. With the ex ception of the 1964 Johnson landslide, the Democratic party has over- whelmingly lost the West in every Presidential election since 1952., Senator Gary Hart of Colorado can win the West back for the Democrats. As the primary and caucus results show, his appeal to independents is unmat- ched. Hart's intelligence and mastery of the facts will contrast favorably with, Reagan's lazy ignorance. Gary Hart won't lose the debates with discussions of his children's thoughts on, nuclear war. He will win the debates with his thoughtful command of the issues, his cool self-assurance, and his.. already-demonstrated media appeal. Gary Hart is the candidate one traditional American values: outstan- ding public schools, equal rights for all, a healthy environment, a strong and ef- ficient military, an economy second to' none in innovation or compassion. Gary. Hart is the candidate of the mostV traditional American value of all-a proud determination to find new ideas to meet the future's challenges. Ronald Reagan's Reignor Error is coming to'a close. Kopel is a second year law student. He is also a volunteer working on Gary Hart's campaign. Daily Photo by DEBORAH LEWIS When Gary Hart spoke to a group of University students ,last September there were a few other than himself who could have predicted his strength in the early Democratic primaries. national debt of over two trillion dollars. By soaking up such a huge amount of the available investment capital, the debt strangles economic growth. The resulting credit shortage causes a grossly overvalued dollar, which in turn has created the worst balance of payments deficit in American history. Senator Hart's Japan, we are losing the innovative edge that has been the basis of prosperity. Reagan calls all this a "recovery"! Walter Mondale can't successfully at- tack Reagan's economic disaster because Walter Mondale was a key ar- chitect of the failed Carter policies. Having received money from hundreds i aestThaU eailty Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Stewart Vol. XCIV-No. 122 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 IVE HEARD OF BEING "SmOKE-OUT" BEFORE, BUT NEVER "NON-SMiOKED-OUT" 4 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Overdue dues T HE GRADUATE Employees Organization has suffered from a lack of support among the teaching assistants it represents since the union's creation in 1973. The recent protestations of non-unionized TAs angry over mandatory dues required by GEO underscore this lack of sup- port and reveal the need to view more sympathetically what the union has accomplished for University teaching assistants. Difficulties in leadership_ have brought the union some tough times during the last ten years-membership during 1981 fell to anall-time low of 38. But the gains won for teaching assistants should not be ignored. In November of last year GEO won a five percent pay hike, a guarantee that there would be a net gain between salary and tuition next year, health benefits, limits to class size, and recommendations for the development of training programs. Most importan- tly, the union has succeeded in establishing the position of teaching assistants as legitimate employees of.' the University. The administration for too long viewed TAs as nothing more than upper-level students participating in a financial aid program. Any student who has taken a large lecture course would recognize, however, that the TA plays a fundamental role in the education process at this University. They should be treated accordingly. Add to this list of gains the continued efforts on the part of GEO to achieve full tuition waivers and affirmative ac- tion guarantees, and you've got a union 'that deserves the support of all the employees it has benefitted. Membership is, of course, not required of University TAs. What is required are minimal dues-normally no more than $25 a term -- that allow the union to cover expenses incurred in the process of organization and negotiation. The union's enforcement of payment by non-members in the past has been lax, but now the union is pressing for more consistent collec- tion. Angry non-unionized TAs have responded by petitioning for dues to be made voluntary. But in a very real sense, GEO dues have been voluntary for the last ten years. The union has shown a great reluctance to come down hard on those TAs who haven't paid, and has been rewarded with unpaid dues from a very large number of teaching assistants. Evidently some TAs think $25 is too much to pay each term for benefits that total far more. University teaching assistants should be appreciative of the gains that GEO has won for them. Coughing up dues once a term is an appropriate and necessary show of support for a union committed to representing its workers in such a constructive manner. 4 r it f/lr; 9 J i f!//ry11 4 ! i , "Op" 1. ,,ll I 11-1.1 1 .. M. , .7, 77777 .-- A LETTERS TO THE DAILY: GSTAs urged to support petition drive To the Daily: As a Graduate Student Teaching Assistant, I wholehear- tedly support the petition drive to revoke GEO's shop authority, as do most of my acquaintances. In recent years, GEO has been all but invisible to the average GSTA. It seems that the only time that contact is made between the union and its rank and file is when it's time to collect dues and representation fees. Even then, all we hear are threats and war- nings that failure to pay these dues/fees will result in a loss of our TA appointments. Is GEO completely unaware of what this type of behavior has done to its public image? In response to GEO's statement in Thursdays paper "Petitioners Protest GEO dues" (Daily, March 1), of course there are reasons why people might minimum, they should have already started a letter writing campaign. They've had plenty of time to do so! The University has already offered us emergency, no-interest loans to help us through any financial difficulties BLOOM COUNTY that these extra taxes may cause. It makes me wonder who is really protecting my interests. This petition drive has been a long time in coming. I've already signed the petition, and I urge all GSTA's who are tired of being forced to pay these dues/fees W seek out those who have organized this petition drive and join in their effort to give GSTA" a choice. -Mohammad Partovi: March. by Berke Breathed I - - "1[ WHO U5! THE I1 KR6KOCH5! 1N A'ARV TU.RN ITT0 TH ' ThE TAM" FoR rr.OR W '.4.PICK I AXM ONE UN5M~I -. tH6 N6~. IED DAY 7THf 5 YAR ANN 6.I PITY" 0A foot/ 1 004 .. yAH f1A!HA! GCER'! YI!\ . 4 BLOOM COUNTY by Berke Breathed f!1 to i n 1 cv t7 n nD/7 y' I" Or _ ,.nnrnr I PO YOU ALAYSRV 'AW Wad. MAYBEAWE. SHOO (' Ju6r OPEN Pel~T6 ON YOUR N05C I 1,111A' 7