4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 9, 2001 (rfe rbigrtn Daig I trusted Nader and now I've got ... John Ashcroft? 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 daily. letters@umich.edu Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan MIKE SPAHN Editor in Chief EMILY ACHENBAUM Editorial Page Editor 'm arrogant, perhaps even egotistical. I'm not quick to admit that I'm wrong about anything, so the following confession is going to involve much humbling on my part. I was wrong. Ouch, that hurt. I was wrong and let me explain why. When the candidates Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. were out candidate- ing, I was busy talking about Ralph Nader. Shun the status quo, screw the two-party system, don't "waste your vote," ignore the whole lesser-of-two- evils theory. Vote your conscience, do what you think is right, don't sell out to politi- cal pressures. Sweet mother of God, I was wrong. A friend of my father's saw me recently, at one of those lovely family I Manish Raiji More can be done to make Ann Arbor safer magine it's two o'clock in the morn- an interest in student's safety instead of x ing, you are on your way home when just inanely busting parties and arrest- you begin to sense footsteps behind ing underage drinkers. you. Suddenly the footsteps overtake On the University's side, cheap taxi you and a man demands your wallet. and free bus services are offered. DPS Recently, situations like this seem to be provides escorts when the other options Democrats and Republicans had become cen- trists and that their political ideologies were largely the same. I was being progressive, I was being conscientious, I was being socially aware. My man wasn't going to win, but I was a fond believer in the idea that there were no real differences between Bush and Gore. I've never been so embarrassingly wrong before. I had everything factored in, or so I thought. What I failed to take into considera- tion was the colossal stupidity of George W. Bush. Physicists forget about friction for a while, economists assume away inflation, and I overlooked the supreme idiocy that is George W. I showed weakness; I broke a rule that I have always promised not to break - never trust a politician. No, I didn't trust Gore or Bush, I trusted Nader. And I forced myself to believe that he wasn't a politician. He is. He promised me that Bush and Gore were two sides of the same coin. He promised that the country would be no better or worse for having either of them lead us. He promised that the lesser of two evils is still evil. I believed him. Bush won. Regardless of how slimy the victory was, regardless of what kinds of fraud, coercion and deceit factored into this election, he is the President-elect. When I first found out, I chortled, still believing that the minor ideological differences between Bush and Gore weren't worth getting upset over. Regardless of who sat in the Oval Office, this country would follow generally the same path. But then Bush started naming his cabinet and all of my optimism crumbled. John Ashcroft? Linda Chavez? Spence Abraham? Gale Norton? There is no doubt at this point that Gore, "the lesser of two evils," would have selected a far superior cabitet. He would have surrounded himself by better people. I still believe that Gore would have done what every CNN correspondent promised; he would become a centrist presi- dent who didn't do much of anything. I thought Bush would do the same, but now I'm seeing how horrifyingly wrong I was. He isn't playing the centrist game; he's playing the right-wing, good-old-boy, white-male- American game. All of this and he hasn't even been inau- gurated yet. He's still the President-elect; what is he going to do when the suffix get dropped and he becomes President? I caW/ help but shiver thinking about how he's going to stack the Supreme Court. I think of how gleefully cocky I was before the election; talking about centrist politics and the need for neo-progressivism. "Gore will lose the elec- tion because he's an impotent candidate and it has nothing to do with Nader." I still agree that Gore lost due to his own incapabilities, but I'm realizing that I should have over- looked those incapabilities and fought myw hardest to ensure that Bush stayed in Texas. Nader promised that his candidacy woulE push the Democratic party back to the left it appears as if the only thing it did was push the Republican party farther to the right. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. I know this isn't my fault; Gore won Michi- gan and its electoral votes, so the whole debacle in Florida really had nothing to do with me. But it does have to do with people like me, who blinked for perhaps a second toe long and missed the fact that Nader is only a politician. Maybe that makes him a great politician; he tricked me into believing he was human. happening more fre- quently around cam-' pus, with the robbery of a Subway shop on South University Avenue and several armed robberies in surrounding off cam- pus areas While stu- dents were away from campus during winter vacation, bur- glaries also rose around town. And although Ann Arbor is a safe city, no place is immune to crime. Students have several options to increase their safety. But the University INFORMATION TO KEEP YOU SAFE. The University Department of Public Safety is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call 763-1131 for assistance. For a fixed fee of $2 per person, a Night Ride cab will pick you up and take you to your destination. The service area is limited to the city limits of Ann Arbor. Night Ride operates 7 7ights a week, between 11:00 p.m. and 5:45 a.m. Call 663-3888 for service and information. Nite Owl Bus Service 7640661 for ride information SafewaIk (for walks in a 20-minute radius from the Shapiro Undergraduate library) 936-1000f Northwalk (for walks in a 20-minute radius from Bursley Residence Hall) 763-WALK are unavailable. But students' safety can- not be left solely in the hands of the University. Safewalk and Northwalk are worthwhile free pro- grams that students should take advan- tage of when they are walking home late at night. It seems students are often hesitant to use these . resources because they think they are unneces- sary. Yet, people who are walking alone at night are targets for attackers outings that involves a lot of talk about one's goals for the future followed by several hours of political rambling. He turned to me and said, quite bluntly, "it's your fault that Gore lost." I tried to put up a fight, bringing up vague notions of the loss of Tennessee, of Arkansas, of stupid Gore supporters who can't punch ballots. Although I still don't agree that it was my fault, per se, I do see the folly of my ideals. I had it all planned out, and that's what is so frustrating. It was very precise and scien- tific - I would vote for Nader and fulfill some moral obligation to do what I thought was right, and either Gore would win or Bush would win. I was wooed by the political pun- dits who explained with serene verbosity that - Manish Raiji can be reached via e-mail at mraiji@umich.edu. n ill 'obviously, It's flattering to hear one's name on such a list. I continue, however, to be very happy in my work here at the University of Michigan.' - University President Lee Bollinger responding to his candidacy for the presidency at Harvard University. i. and the city of Ann Arbor can explore many initiatives as well. Police say it is normal for crime to rise deng vacations because it is well know n ihat students go home for the holidays. Burglars know that students often do not take very strict safety mea- sures to protect their belongings. There- fore, it is comforting that the Ann Arbor Police Department patrols those areas, though more could always be done to protect neighborhoods around campus. It's a consistent trend that crime rises over winter break, so increasing the level of community patrols is an effec- tive means to dissuade would-be crimi- nals. It is nice to see the AAPD taking and there is safety in numbers. These programs were created specifically to ensure safety to students who are forced to walk home alone after dark. Many of the residential neighbor- hoods and streets surrounding the Uni- versity are poorly lit and often seem deserted at night. Although there are more than 70 "blue light" phones located on campus, the University has neither the legal responsibility nor the authority to implement such safety measures off campus. Because of the large numbers of students living off campus, the administration shoulders a large degree of responsibility for their safety. Lives over petgnes State lines should not affect organ donation Election proved need for a working class political movement TO THE DAILY: Though there were several limitations to the editorial "Republican Coup" (1/04/01), the Daily was correct in point- ing out the attack on democratic rights involved in the selection of George W. Bush as President. The election itself involved a series of irregularities, followed by an extensive campaign to prevent a recount, and con- cluded by a Supreme Court decision which argued that United States citizens do not have the constitutional right to vote for the President. Upon recognizing this attack on democ- racy, one must ask the further questions: What is the basic cause of this attack? And upon what basis must a defense of democ- ratic rights be built? American society is characterized by extreme social inequality, where a tiny minority of the population owns the vast majority of the nation's wealth, while the majority lives with constant material pover- ty or insecurity. This wealthy elite forms the social basis of the Republican Party, and its attempts to carry out its increasingly right-wing agenda is bound to run up against popular opinion. Democracy is a barrier to its aims. At the same time the Democrats and the liberal establishment, which in the last analysis rest on the same social base as the Republicans, have proven themselves inca- pable of leading a campaign in defense of democracy. The capitulation of Gore is pathetic but foreseeable. In order to defend democratic rights, the Democrats would be forced to rally the working class and this they are organically incapable of doing. If this election has demonstrated any- thing, it is the urgent necessity of building an independent political movement of the working class with the aim of abolishing social inequality and the economic system that creates it, thereby creating the condi- tions for genuine democracy. JOSEPH TANNIRU LSA JUNIOR PRESIDENT, STUDENTS FOR SOCIAL EQUALITY Concealed weapons will promote safety To THE DAILY: Does the Daily really understand what the new concealed weapons law is going to do ("Safety Under Fire," 1/5/01)? Does the Daily truly believe that.the law-abiding citizens who are most likely going to be using this new law are the ones that are going to be out committing crimes? The people carrying guns on the streets these days are not the ones using them for crimes, but the ones most likely using them for personal protection and safety. This new law has provisions requiring gun safety classes and training. If I was a criminal walking the streets with the intention of harm- ing someone or robbing them I would certainly think twice about it if I thought they were carry- ing a gun. As a matter of fact, if I suspected 4 person was carrying a gun I absolutely would not use them as a target. If you want to talk about "urban crime rates, escalation of other- wise simple fights ..." why don't you study the crime rates of European countries like London where the police don't even carry guns. The crime rate per 1,000 people is tremendously higher than in the United States where guns are protected in our Constitution. If our founding fathers didn't keep arms and put the provision into the Constitution, do you" think we would even have a free country today or would we still be taxed without representa- tion and controlled by the King? We blazed the trail for more freedom even in their own coun- try so think twice about taking away the rights we have as cites of this great country. KEVIN HoGLE ENGINEERING JUNIOR THOMAS KULJURGIS TENTATIVELY SPEAKING Zm! -Tk- Wc lt 4i1 -PAol i' PO su lc,? O1 ne of the medical miracles wit- nessed in the 20th Century was that of organ transplants. Injury and illness that once intoned certain death can now be treated. However, there remains a criti- cal shortage of organs; approximately 5,000 people die while on waiting lists each year. The fundamental problem remains a shortage of organ donors. While organ shortages are the root problem, politics exacerbates the problem as organs are divvied up with geographi- scal restraints. Rather than simply using r medical criteria to evaluate which patient receives an available organ, artificial boundaries determine, to a degree, who receives an organ. For instance, a patient in New York could have expected a medi- an 511-day wait for a liver or moved to New Jersey and cut the expected wait to 56 days. The federal government has correctly taken initiatives to limit the effect of geography on who receives an organ. This effort should be applauded and extended until donated organs are used to save the maximum number of lives. An exclusively medical paradigm should be used when deciding an organ's fate. The opponents of such reform exist and have sought to block organ sharing measures. The initial objection is that organs cannot "survive" long enough to be taken across geographic boundaries, yet with current medical technology and efficient transportation, organs can be transported vast distances. Some have claimed that donated organs fall under states' rights, though one would have to overlook the $2 billion that the federal government gives toward organ donation and transplantation. Others have stated that it would require large amounts of effort and politics to change the system and that reform would hurt the profit of thriving transplant centers in organ rich states. Neither of the above arguments is remotely sufficient to justify jeopardizing lives. The optimal solution would be to have sufficient organ donors to discontinue wait lists. Numerous ideas have been pro- posed: Switching to a presumed consent donation system, in which organs will be donated automatically unless otherwise specified; giving a small "paid gift" toward the funeral expenses of a deceased organ donor; and even commuting death sentences for inmates willing to donate a kidney. While the ethics and implications of these methods remain in question, cer- tainly using geographical and political consideration when distributing organs remains an odious practice. a. -v.ss 'ar. r"." . E W S ONLINE lilCl ua .------ fosTAGE RAT-'s - t t w RF-ASE r r Winter in Ann Arbor: igloos and snow angels Gray skies, brown slush coating the sidewalks and the smell of soy sauce all remind me of winter in Ann Arbor. I am originally from about 30 minutes outside of Ann Arbor and the winters never seemed nearly so dreary there. The University is ' in its own little bio- Q dome of torture -A2, better known as the frosty hell. The last time I remember there being this much snow was when I actuallys wanted it to snow - when I was little. Erin When you were McQuinn little snow was fun. One year for Christ- igloo, that kid would always bring up the idea that if you had a TV and some blankets you could spend the night. And for some strange reason, everyone always agreed. This idea was always abandoned at about the same time that everyone's fingers went numb. The closest we ever actually got to this perfect snow igloo was a side- ways snow mound that later collapsed on me. But it wasn't like I ever even got that many chances to achieve my igloo utopia. Parents were the self-proclaimed snow experts. They saw that excited look in your eye when the ground was covered in white. That look that only kids can get after a snow storm. Parents never felt that way because they knew the pain in the ass that snow really is. They knew they would have to scrape their cars off and shovel the driveway only snow has lost all purpose. You don't even see saucers anymore. Have they gone the way of the slap bracelet? I haven't seen one since 1987. Ate least not the old school ones that had rope handles. Those were the best. They were a lot better than those roll-up sleds. The sleds that never fully unrolled so you had to go down the hill in a big plastic curl until you finally wiped out halfway down anyways. Sledding would never last that long since there was no chair-lift or tow-rope to bring you back up to the top. You'd always be bundled up to be sledding for the next 48 hours, but end up in a tired sweaty slump at the bottom of the hill after 20 minutes. Building a snowman had to be the least exerting of all winter activities - so there- fore it's the only thing that college kids will JASON POLAN UM ... nn1