4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 24, 1993
G1je Airbiguu i ail
ar asTos b imLse
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed
by students at the
University of Michigan
JOSH DUBOW
Editor in Chief
ANDREw LEVY
Editorial Page Editor
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Daily editorial board.
All other cartoons, articles and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
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91
Pursuing success
To the Daily:
Just exactly what it takes to
become a successful person in
today's highly technical and ever
complex world is really much
simpler than most people think.
Never think of success as
something distant and elusive, but
instead something that can be
achieved by anyone including
yourself. What it takes is not a
mystery either, but a formula that
can be outlined in a clear and
concise manner which can be
easily understood. First, be a
person willing to work hard and
take action. Anyone can just think
they can do something, but you
must go further and take concrete
steps forward. These steps forward
must be continual and not be
deterred by any setbacks that can
occur. Second, make every
possible effort to know the subject
matter you are involved with. Not
only know the major details but
the minor details as well. Be smart
and realize knowledge is not only
power, but it allows you to
anticipate beforehand what is
going to happen in the future.
Thinking ahead is definitely a must
for an individual to become
successful. Third, have an open
mind and be amenable to any
suggestions that can enhance your
know-how and performance.
Experience is an important factor
to success and the longer amount
of time you have been in any
endeavor the more likely you will
be able to make logical and smart
choices. Anyone offering you
advice may just be that person who
has the necessary experience that
can provide advice. Fourth, do not
try to do things overnight but
realize that the goals you want are
going to take time to achieve. Be
more content with continual
progress over a long period of time
rather than any immediate success.
Fifth, exhibit flexibility and make
an effort to mold yourself or
connect to different circumstances
that may work. Never be narrow
minded but instead be willing to
pursue different avenues and
realize you may have to look in
more than one place to find exactly
what you want. Last, be hopeful
and optimistic, how you think is
going to determine what type of
action you will be taking.
Becoming a person who cam
overcome adversity, achieve his or
her goals and become successful is
not something that is impossible or
even difficult. It is a simple
procedure that can be grasped by
anyone who is willing to take the
necessary steps. This anyone also
includes you.
PATRICK DWYEL
Williamsburg, Va.
Gun control doesn't
help stop violence
To the Daily:
The editorial on gun control,
("Florida tourist murders," 9/22/93),
was off base. The author states that
the murders of the Florida tourists
illegal means such as theft or the
black market, and not through
licensed firearm dealers. (U.S. Dept.
of Justice survey of Felons.) Most
proposed gun control laws focus on
the only element the government can
control, the legal sale of guns to law
abiding citizens. The Brady Bill for
example. Thus these gun control
laws do little or nothing to prevent
criminals from obtaining guns.
Further, in contrast to the
author's assertions that the Florida
tourist murders are an example for
the necessity of more gun control
laws, Florida had recently passed
one of the nations most liberal
concealed carry laws. Under the
law, any law-abiding resident of
Florida can carry a concealed
firearm for defense. Since the
enactment of this law, the homicide
rate has dropped 20% while it has
risen nationwide. (FBI: Uniform
Crime Statistics.) Meanwhile, the
targeting of tourists, whom the
criminal knows will be unarmed,
has risen markedly. Thus the
author's use of the Florida tourist
murders as an argument to further
restrict the ability of the law-
abiding citizens to legally obtain
firearms is flawed.
DOUG CLARK
First year Law student
Banning firearms
helps criminals
To the Daily:
This letter is in response to the
opinion column regarding gun
control ("Florida Tourist Murders,"
9/22/93).
In the United States, a criminal
is generally regarded as someone
who breaks a law. Laws in this
country forbid, for instance, crimes
such as rape, murder, robbery, and
thousands of others. If someone
murders another person, the murder
becomes a criminal-they have
broken the law. Suppose then, that
laws are made that forbid the
possession of firearms by private
citizens. Those who obey the law
will no longer possess guns-they
are law abiding citizens. Yet,
criminals are called criminals
because they break established
laws, and will not, therefore,
simply decide to no longer possess
guns because the law forbids it.
Laws against murder do not stop
criminals from killing people, and
laws prohibiting the possession of
guns will not stop criminals from
possessing firearms, either. The
only people who would be
disarmed are the law abiding
citizens. Thus, banning firearms
will only help the criminals; for
those who use them unlawfully will
continue to do so regardless of
whether or not legislation dictates
that they cannot. Criminals will
always have guns-and with the
knowledge that those on which they
prey cannot defend themselves, the
criminals will find crime extremely
easy.
Laws already exist dictating that
intended merely to protect us from
the British Army, is quite
unjustified. Whatexactly did our
founders feel the importance of the
right to keep and bear arms was?
James Madison said, "(The
Constitution preserves) the
advantage of being armed which
Americans possess over people of
almost every other nation ...
(where) the governments are afraid
to trust the people with arms." Or
how about Thomas Jefferson, who
said, "Laws that forbid the
carrying of arms ... disarm only
those who are neither inclined nor
determined to commit crimes ....
Such laws make things worse for
the assaulted and better for the
assailants; they serve rather to
encourage than to prevent
homicides, for an unarmed man
may be attacked with greater
confidence than an armed man"
(quoting Cesare Beccaria). Or,
closest to the point at hand,
Samuel Adams said, "The
Constitution shall never be
construed ... to prevent the people
of the United States who are
peaceable citizens from keeping
their own arms." One must never
underestimate the absolute
necessity of the people of a free
society to possess ans in order to
defend their liberty. For without
arms, the people of a free society
are helpless against the will of an
armed government.
CRAIG HALSETH
LS&A sophomore
The economies of
Mexico and Los
Angeles are not.
S
0
comparable
To the Daily:
In its editorial pages of Monday,
Sept. 20, the Daily displays a
critique against the anti-NAFTA
speeches recently held by former
independent presidential candidate
Ross Perot. The editorial also
shows a pro-NAFTA position
arguing that, as the 300 economists
did in their letter to President
Clinton last week, the agreement
not only will be good for both
Mexico and the United States but
also that it will have a minor effect
in the short-term upon the
American economy. Moreover, the
editorial says that those "who claim *
that Mexico, which has an economy -
roughly equal in size to that of Los
Angeles, will somehow absorb the
entire American job base are guilty
of misleading the public. An
economy like Mexico's is simply
not big enough to produce a
disastrous effect here."
What this editorial is doing
through this latter statement is
precisely misleading the reader in
comparing the Mexican economy to
that of Los Angeles. If, as the
editorial argues, Perot is exploiting
the "workers fears" in his position
about NAFTA, this editorial is
exploiting the badly assumed
ignorance of the Daily's readers. It
is difficult to believe a priori that
Mexico's economy is "roughly
t^thr fT AnnS
UNICEF reports deficient child care
By PETER ADAMSON
The industrialized world is enter-
taining an age of doubt about material
progress. Many of its citizens are ex-
periencing what the economist Robert
Heilbroner has called "the startled re-
alization that the quality of life is
worstening ... that people who are
three or five or 10 times richer than
their grandparents do not seem to be
three or five or 10 times happier or
more content or more richly developed
as human beings." Coinciding with
such doubts is the gradual realization
the world, material progress has very
different connotations. It holds out
the hope of adequate food, clean wa-
ter, safe sanitation, decent housing,
reliable health care, and at least a
basic education. This is a definition
of progress which remains entirely
valid. And it is one with which the
rest of the world must keep faith.
In the 1960s and 1970s, hopes
rode high that national and interna-
tional efforts would soon enable all
people to meet these needs. But over
the last decade, such hopes have been
replaced by widespread disillusion-
about10 percent of all international
aid for development has been spe-
cifically devoted to these purposes.
This means that many governments
of the poor world have been spend-
ing less on meeting human needs
than on meeting military bills and
debt-servicing obligations. And it
means that the total amount of aid
being given for the specific pur-
pose of meeting these most obvi-
ous and basic of human needs is
less than the amount that the people
of the industrialized world spend
each year on sports shoes.