41 OPINION Page 4 Tuesday, October 28, 1986 The Michigan Daily Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Build a workers-party C Vol. XCVII, No. 39 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. Stop re( IGNORING ISSUES of importance to his constituents, incumbent U.S. Congressman Carl Pursell (R- Mich.) has called his Democratic opponent, Dean Baker, a socialist. The race should be decided on the basis of the candidates' abilities and stands on the issues, not in reaction to name calling. Pursell uses as the basis of his attack the fact that Baker received the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The DSA is a group which endorses progressive candidates primarily within the Democratic party. Candidates it has supported in the past include such well known radicals as Walter Mondale. As was reported in the Daily last Friday, most socialist organizations don't support Baker. They take the sensible position that if Baker was a socialist he would run as a socialist and that since he has been nominated by the Democratic party, he is a Democrat. The endorsement of the DSA may well suggest that Baker is a Democrat who supports some socialist principles but this does not make him a radical as Pursell suggests. By declaring simply that an endorsement by the DSA makes Baker an unacceptably "ultra- liberal" candidate, Pursell is in effect writing off his iAnn Arbor constituents who widely support DSA endorsed candidates. These" include state Senator Lana Pollack (D-Ann Arbor) and State Rep. Perry Bullard (D-Ann Arbor) as well as Democratic city councilmen Lowell Peterson and Jeff Epton. The implementation of Pursell's strategy has an d- baiting underhanded and sneaky aspect to it which suggests that Pursell knows his charges lack validity. He made his charges in his final remarks during the candidates' debate at a point when Baker had no opportunity to respond. He sent out a flyer addressed to "fellow Americans" on which Baker's picture appeared with the caption "endorsed by Democratic Socialists." This flyer was not sent out to Pursell's Ann Arbor constituents but has been distributed here by the Baker campaign and, ironically, has proved to be an effective tool against Pursell. Though Pursell's strategy throughout the campaign has been to paint Baker as an extremist, Baker's support actually comes from a wide base of volunteers. Ann Arbor Democratic chairman David DeVarti calls the Baker campaign the most effective mobilization of grassroots support he has seen since the 60s. Baker has received such wide and energetic support because he has run a populist campaign based on issues such as* ending U.S. intervention in Central America, preventing further cuts in student loans and social security, keeping jobs in the district and relieving the plight of the unemployed, and ptotecting the rights of winen and minorities. Besides the ISA," Baker has been endorsed by the AFL and the UAW as well as local chapters of the National Organization for Women. Pursell's redbaiting campaign indicates that he has nothing to say on the issues. Voters should take this into account November 4. Though he hasn't been given much press, Workers League candidate Martin McLaughlin will be running for governor in the upcoming election. He may not get the majority of votes, but McLaughlin, a former student government president at the University in 1969-70, hopes to send an important political message around the country that there are people concerned with building a third party alternative based on the working class. He spoke about his views with Daily Opinion page editor Karen Klein. Dialogue McLaughlin: First of all we're not claiming that the election of one individual is the way in which everything is going to be changed. The main purpose of our campaign is to build up support for a labor party. We're talking about a completely different policy and program; that requires a struggle by the whole of the working class. We believe that billions of dollars should be put into education and the social services, into rebuilding the cities, and repairing the enormous damage that's been done by the economic crisis and the slump in the auto industry and so on. Funding should come from the military budget, from taxing big business, from expropriating corporate profits. We're putting forward a Socialist program; we're saying that the auto industry should be nationalized under the control of the workers in the UAW and should be run on that basis. Daily: There is a perception that President Reagan has brought economic growth. How do you respond to this? M: If you judge Reagan even by his own rhetoric before he got elected, he denounced Carter for massive deficits and high government spending. A $200 billion deficit is not a sign of economic prosperity. Democrats and Republicans 'will have to attack social security and any remaining social programs to pay the government's bills. They've been holding back on those programs geared toward the middle class such as guaranteed student loans and medicare. There will be major military moves. The Democratic party shift this summer on Contra aid demonstrates a consensus in Washington for military action in Central America. Some sort of big provocation will take place and they'll announce that a terrorist has killed an American in Central America and we're going in. D: What is your opinion of Washington's recent South African sanctions bill? M: While the senate and house have show dissatisfaction with the two party system but Socialism can't come in through the ballot box. The choice between the Democratic and Republican parties is illusory, particularly over the last few years with the worsening of the economic position. The Democratic party controls the House of Representatives; if they wanted to obstruct Reagan's policies, they could. The reason they haven't is because they basically agree with him. They voted for the tax cut; they voted to cut social programs; they voted for the military budgets, to fire the air traffic controllers. The senate recently voted not to allow any rehiring of the air traffic controllers. This is after five years. If you're an air traffic controller, there's only one place you can work, in an FAA control tower. D: How has the air traffic controller decision affected policy toward unions? M: It has set tones for policy toward union recognition in the labor movement. Failure to take a stand against Reagan was a disaster from which unions haven't recovered. It sent the message to every employer that union leadership wouldn't oppose destruction of the union by the federal government. Now the same thing is taking place in the steel industry, where steelworkers have been locked out since Aug. 1. I cgn imagine what would happen in Michigan if Ford said, we're not going to talk to the UAW any longer. The issue that we're raising is that trade union officials don't represent toe interests of the rank and file; there is a need for new leadership, within the unions. Everyone knows the CIO was built by socialists and communists. Unions are not just the bureaucrats; that's a common misidentificaton. Labor is a mililion auto workers in this country. It's a half million steel workers; it's coal and auto workers; it's all your public employees. And there's a difference between the leaders of the union, which is a privileged bureaucracy, and the worker who has to struggle every day to make a living. And the saddest part of all this is that there's a whole younger generation of the working class without choices. What kind of a future do they have? McDonalds? Going into the military and ending up as a corpse in Beirut or Nicaragua? Permanent unemployment? Martin McLaughlin: Workers League candidate passed a very mild sanctions bill their real position toward the struggle in South Africa is better shown through the vote on aid to Jonas Savimbi in Angola, who is a right wing guerrilla working under South African control. Congress claims they are for sanctions to dismantle apartheid but they are providing military aid to an anti communist campaign organized by the South African army. They're doing the same thing against the government in Mozambique. We are for a revolution in South Africa. The only way that system can be changed is through armed overthrow of the apartheid state by the blacks. D: Is voting a significant way of changing things? M: A vote for a Socialist candidate will I I Worthless penalty AT THE GOVERNMENT and corporate level, the rush is on to violatecivil liberties in the name of cracking down on drugs. The Daily has written a number of editorials on the subject (e.g. 10/2/86, 9/26/86, 9/22/86) and a few readers have written to say that the Daily stance is soft on drugs. On the contrary, it is the Reagan administration and Congress that are soft on truly dangerous drugs, such as alcohol and heroin. Only a positive program that improves life in the schools and at work and gives opportunities to the unemployed and ex-convicts will really solve the drug problem. The Congress has considered legislation, which Nancy Reagan favors, to establish the death penalty for drug-dealers. Yet, the government shows that it is unwilling even.to criticize some of the world's leading drug-dealers including many heads of government (see Daily, "Allies' drug habit," 10/2/86). Even on its own terms the death penalty is ridiculous: considering the cost of the continual appeals process, the death penalty is significantly more expensive than incarcerations. This policy would focus on retaliation rather than rehabilitation. For example, an agent of Salvadoran death squad leader and Constituent Assembly member Roberto d'Aubuisson was caught soft on the Contras, the head of Panama and the Afghani rebels, who are all heavily involved in drug trafficking. Each year the Afghani rebels alone are responsible for producing the raw materials necessary for producing six times -the annual heroin consumed in the United States. While undermining the civil liberties of U.S. citizens and letting a handful of millionaire and billionaire drug-dealers get away, the U.S. government and some corporations hope to stop the drug problem at the user end. Perhaps the current crop of anti-drug crusaders wants to put a few million users in prison; but putting people in prison treats the symptoms, not the causes of the drug problem. There is every possibility that such an attempted solution would only make the problem worse. It is impossible to really get tough on drug abuse without addressing the causes of the drug problem. Boredom from unfulfilling jobs and schools, despair caused by unemployment, cynicism born in youth from witnessing a hypocritical government in action, political passivity and alienation encouraged by an atmosphere that restricts civil liberties and the aspirations of minorities and a penal system that merely punishes without reforming or offering its prisoners 7}{6 INCUM~ENT ACCUSED RIS O?oNNTS fcDS OF LYING MoUT XI1 LIES 01 o o , ' 0I - - - .. TNT CIALLEN6E.2 CLAIMS ~H LIES HAVE 9E.104TA(EN OUT of C0NTEXT Wan I I tSN'T T1R1EE A$INLE ZEA~L ISU IN T7915 ELECTION~? SHOULD TH4ERE BE A MAND4ACoPY PERTI PENALTY FOR CAAIGN CNULTANTS? I~ yEII, 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Iii LETTERS-*. " """. Dorm and library users should quiet 4 To the Daily: Studying in the libraries on campus is nearly as difficult as studying in the dorm. - As we all know, the UGLi is notorious for noise. It is more of a social club than a library. Now I ask the library be the scene for social gatherings? There are places designed for just that. Try meeting friends at the Union. There's food, sometimes entertainment., and even some nice and fairly quiet spots if you want to study and socialize at the same time. Or, why not go back to your dorm room? There is loud music, a packed fridge, and above all the convenience of your own room. My appeal to all dorm loud- stereo-players and library-social gatherers (and that includes each one of us at one time-or another) is this: Please be considerate and thoughtful c f your neighbors' needs and requests. -Michelle Doyle October 5 question: "Why must the I I A r I-1 -1 - & 1,4 =