4 OPINION Page 4 Wednesday, September 12, 1984 The Michigan Daily 4 I Thi By Jonathan Boyd Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. -Samuel Johnson, 1775 President Reagan has given new meaning to Samuel Johnson's maxim on scoundrel-hood. Reagan has not only proven his skill with patriotism, but has been trying his hand at morality as well. If Mr. Reagan wants to win the election and our hearts, with perhaps a few souls thrown into the bargain, he needs a few tips in good, old-fashioned Judeo-Christian morality. By lying to us about morality with his conser- vatism, he is losing at his own game. First off,-the truly moral man doesn't raise himself up so that all can see his "piety" as he prays., Mr. Reagan, however, has made such ostensible "righteousness" the very basis of his campaign. People are all abuzz over the carnal Democrats who must all be God-haters because they aren't Republicans. Not only has Reagan claimed that religion and government are necessarily connected, but he has also made such a claim self-fulfilling prophecy; no politician dare speak against religion, any religion, now. In- deed, the truly moral man does not need his politics to be conspicuously e pre connected to any religion. H are already moral and just en BUT THAT'S the rub. policies aren't moral enougI own. He needs to rely on atively petty issues of anti- ti-abortion, and pro-praye schools to cover up his shofitc the other, more critical ar needs to learn that, while thel make a distinction between] females (as does any Biolog also asserts that the worker his wages, whether he be female. Reagan needs to re an underground, bargain abortion is far more hazards legitimately supervised one. to be reminded that, as a C will pray wherever I damn w even in the presence of min (and schoolteachers), thank y It is in the moral issue proportions that Mr. B-mov falls short. The truly moral n cerned for his world: his i collection of individuals, asz environment, and as a we munity. Sadly enough, the also has received nothing1 from the Reagan administrz elimination and severe cu economic assistance progra feed, clothe, and house m Americans is a travesty Reagan's self-proclaimed r Jesus didn't wait for his bli "trickle down" to the indivi acher and the scoundrel is policies on high; he went straight to the leper, ough. the beggar, the hungry, and yes, even Reagan's the tax-collector. h on their The moral man, appreciating true the rel- beauty, cares for his physical en- ADD 1E B R ERA, an- viroment. He recognizes the treasure Sin the to be found in sea shores left pristine, omings in unsullied with government leases, and eas. He the blessings to. be shared when Bible does families with small children have pure males and water to drink. The President, y text), it however, has shown contempt for deserves America and her natural richness with male or the appointment of incompetents and ealize that the toleration of inefficiency. He ap- -basement parently missed Jesus when he spoke in ous than a respect of his natural environment. He needs Finally, and most emphatically, the hristian, I moral man is concerned for his world ell please, as a community of men. He properly e enemies places great priority on warm relations you. with his neighbor, whether he lives s of epic across the street or over the North Pole. ie himself Indeed, he is instructed to leave his nan is con- place of worship to clear up any dif- A world as a ficulties before resuming his prayers. a physical Tragically, Reagan's only street map of orld com- Moscow is in the War Room. individual This is not to say that all candidates but scorn for public office must subscribe to ation. The Christian morality. May it never be! It-back of But if Ronnie says he's a good boy, he'd ims which better be. So, don't refuse to vote for pillions of Reagan because he doesn't really live of Mr. up to Christian standards. Refuse to morality. vote for him because he's a liar. wommommoppp- I 4 essings to dual from Boyd is afreshman in LS&A. 4 I -_ die b s tdan o a n Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan High-tech futurism in the GOP Vol. XVC, No. 6 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Attempted escape F or the fifth time in eight years Ai tax repeal proposal will appear on the Michigan ballot. Once again a group of anti-tax fanatics are trying to take power away from the duly elected state legislators. What will the men and women elected to represent this state find to do if Proposal C passes? Should the proposal take effect, tax measures-which are always the most unpleasant things legislators must vote on every year-will no longer be solely in their hands. State senators and representatives can rest easy at night if a required four-fifths vote of the legislature is not met. The issue would then be placed in the hands of the citizens, the burden of the measure's impact placed on their heads and off of the heads of the legislators. The proposal would un- doubtedly drop state and non-voted local property taxes to their December 1981 levels. State representatives would neatly escape responsibility for the negative effects of this reduction. They won't have to worry about being ousted by angry single-issue voters anymore. Just let the citizens decide. That's government by the people, right? Wrong. While legislators may be caught up in sometimes unproductive partisan battles and plagued by special interest commitments, they do happen to spend their working day studying the needs of this state and have a broader outlook than the average per- son. Joe and Suzie citizen just know that taxes take a big bite out of their already meagre income. They neither have access to the information that their legislator sees regularly, nor do they have a broad enough interest in issues above and beyond their own personal finances. And this is to be expected, not everyone has the desire to be a state senator or representative. There were very important reasons why the U.S. constitution was not drawn up to include direct popular voting on an issue by issue basis. For one, it simply takes too long. Elections are costly to run, and the public is often extremely apathetic and uninformed on the issues-as awful as that is to admit. Democracy isn't perfect. But so far it has worked having a representative government. The people of this state hire their representatives to do a job. Let's let them do it. Proposal C would set this state back by not only $1 billion, as the Citizen Research Council of Michigan estimates, but would ruin philosophically the very foundation of checks and balances provided by good government. Legislators should be held accountable for the difficult decisions facing them. The wisdom of this state's individual representatives is the only guarantee of a government guided with the best interests of the people always in mind. By James Ridgeway Once again the most audacious political thinking in an election year has come roaring out of the conservative wing of the Republican Party-setting forth a bold new philosophy which should not only dominate debate in the GOP for years to come but is clearly intended to appeal to neo-liberal Democrats as well. It is a heady blend of high-tech futurism, conservatism, and populism, which is also anti-tax, anti-welfare state, and strongly anti-communist. THE MOST visible proponent of these new ideas is Congressman Newt Gingrich from Atlanta, who already is at- tracting the sort of following that grew up around Jack Kemp in 1980. Gingrich is founder of the Con- servative Opportunity Society, a group of 15 or so young GOP congressmen who have waged guerrilla warfare against House Speaker Tip O'Neill. They are ideological and confrontational.' "A period of tremendous change," says Gingrich, calls for "the driving force of ideological vision." Gingrich played a major role in drafting this year's Republican platform. "What we do now," he says, "will determine whether the post-Reagan Republican Par- ty is a dynamic, conservative vehicle or whether it reverts to a moderate, defeatist GOP." CLUSTERED around Gingrich are Vin Weber, the young congressman from Minnesota who chairs the society's meetings; Daniel Lungren of California, who presses fortough crime bills; Connie Mack of Florida, a former Democrat tur- ned Republican who sponsors legislation to balance the budget; Mark D. Siljander of Michigan, who argues for the flat 10 percent tax rate; Toby Roth of Wisconsin, who wants to limit trade in high technology to protect national security and argues for com- petitive bidding in military con- tracts; Barbara Vucanovich of Nevada, who backs merit pay in school and reduced federal con- trol in education, and Robert Walker of Pennsylvania, a keen advocate of commercialization of space. The spine of the new Conser- vative Opportunity Society-as outlined in Gingrich's book, "The Window of Opportunity," and in a series of briefings by him and others at Dallas-is space com- merce. This begins with Reagan's manned space station and grows to encompass tourism, the industrial revolution, provide thousands of new jobs and jolt the economy forward. AT THE SAME time, society itself will be rekindled by adherence to conservative ethics and a spare, decentralized government that emphasizes hard work and free enterprise. A few examples: -More prisons should be built for hard-core criminals. Within these prisons, the convicts must work to pay for their keep. -The information revolution allows work to be decentralized and returned to the home, which will strengthen the family. -Adolescence, a concept devised to remove children from the mills and mines, will become outmoded. Rather, teens will en- ter the workforce as apprentices laboring for a modest wage. -Education must become a lifelong pursuit focused on lear- ning. Here, reward is the key. Gingrich suggests as an ex- periment offering "a $500 bonus for any child who enters the first grade reading at a fourth grade level. "If we combine that with an October 'Achievement Sunday' in some local churches at which the bonus winners are recognized, we would have created a social and economic reward system that can have real impact in poor neigh- borhoods and change the reading habits of entire communities." But Gingrich offers some real surprises when it comes to welfare reform. "Individuals, families, and poor communities should receive cash and credit card vouchers directly," he has said. "These services going to the neediest should be seen as state charity and should be generous rather than stingy." THE DISABLED elderly should be helped outright, but younger, able-bodied adults should work or study if they wish to receive aid-including unem- ployment insurance. Tax laws should be changed to exempt working poor parents. Public housing projects should become condominiums which can be acquired through sweat equity. "We should consider a nutrition program which makes the most basic foodstuffs-flour, cheese, rice, red beans and a dozen similar items-available free or at a nominal cost in grocery stores," he argues. "This would cost far less than the current $12 billion annually for food stamps. There would be no food stamp fraud, and there would be no popular fury at seeing luxury goods paid for, on occasion, by food stamps." 4 54 4 A Associated Press Ronald Reagan: Herald of the new conservative populists. Gingrich and the others are strongly supportive of the family. "I am divorced and remarried," Gingrich told a Republican audience in Dallas. "I still believe very deeply in the family. I believe that male sexuality should be tied directly to paren- thood. One of the great destruc- tive factors of the welfare state is that it separated males and made them irresponsible." HE CLAIMS that mothers are in poverty "because they let the males walk off. So let us bring back together at a minimum the economic relationship and I suspect you will find that it in- creases the likelihood of the psychological relationship.". Conservative Opportunity Society politics represent another bold move to forge new bridgeheads against the Democrats. The language is positive and meant to appeal to adherents of high-tech, sometimes referred to as Atari Democrats, who lined up behind Gary Hart's campaign. These activists also appeal to those environmentalists who see space as the key to a new- era based on renewable energy. There are strands here strongly reminiscent of Jerry Brown. At the same time, Gingrich at- tacks modern environmental politics head on by dismissing the very idea of limits to growth as a negative, stagnant idea of the liberal welfare state. Similar at- tacks stood Ronald Reagan in good stead in 1980. But Gingrich fits into no con- venient slot. He appears to have taken over portions of the proposals for social reform argued out within the Democratic Party during the mid and late '60s. Indeed, his emphasis on decentralization, his attacks on bureaucracy and his proposal for giving away farm commodities, etc. sound almost as if they might have come out of the New Left Port Huron statement. I I AGED RAIN4 IT'It.1AVE '( D Ridgeway wrote this article4 for the Pacific News Service.