4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 27, 2004 OP/ED fte LM-adjigmi &rpokdb lg 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com opinion. michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 LoUIE MEIZLISH Editor in Chief AUBREY HENRETTY ZAC PESKOWITZ Editorial Page Editors 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. NOTABLE QUOTABLE " All the leaders of the CIS are (expletive) in their pants ." - Russian President Vladimir Putin to Georgia's acting president, Nino Burdzhanadze, speaking about his peers in the Commonwealth of Independent States, as reported by The Washington Post. r I 1 0 7.2 ._. IN AP4OYPaD gFtof OsA1. 7,t -I) COLIN DALY THE MICHIGAN DALY -V "' -, 'W ~tvr" 'Yeeeagh!' a tale of love and loss AUBREY HENRETTY NEUROTICA residential cam- paigns are often discussed in terms of romantic conquest: "courting" key voting <{blocs, "wooing" the skep- tical, etc. It's a useful metaphor. Political parties do vie for the affections of voters in much the same way that individuals vie for the affections of other individuals. But the metaphor-wielding political commentators always get the gender stuff backward - to sim- plify, they speak as though the political entities were the male and the Vote were the female of this arrangement. Wrong and wrong. Here is what I mean: The media pounced on Howard Dean last week after that immortal Iowa-caucus yelp, crit- icizing him for being too aggressive, too violent, too intimidating-in-a-scary-manly-way, like he might beat us and call it love if we elected him. In fact, Dean's outcry was not threatening nor even masculine in nature - it was simply a log- ical outgrowth of the Democratic Party's jilted- lover recovery process. It started all the way back with President Clinton. Remember Clinton's final hours? Unemployment was low, morale was high, the economy was shiny - it was a great time to be a Democrat. The Democratic Party thought the Vote would be with her forever and ever. So she got a little lazy, didn't fawn all over him the way she used to. Maybe she flirted a bit with the other guys - the young, the old, the poor - thinking it was all in good fun and the Vote would understand, would know that she still loved him best. And then it happened. The Republican Party slinked in the side door in a slinky black dress and black stilettos and red, red lipstick that even the heterosexual and female Democratic Party had to admit was totally hot. As the Democratic Party looked on, startled, the Republican Party struck up a conversation with her beloved Vote ("Hey, handsome, you wanna see my tax cut?"), and soon the two left, holding hands. A walk, the Vote said. Just a walk. "Just a walk," of course, is never just a walk, and this one was no exception. It would inevitably lead the Democratic Party to the first stage of this mess: shock. The morning after the 2000 presidential election, the Democratic Party woke up in an otherwise empty bed and found a note taped to the TV that said, "There's some- one else and I think you know who. Thanks for nothing." Though she probably deserved this, she was floored. Unsure of what to do with her- self, she stumbled numbly around for a few months, staring at her hands, babbling to herself, blinking slowly. Sept. 11, 2001, snapped her out of it. All at once, she realized that her beautiful economy was ruined and that the fear of terrorism and unemployment had brought the Republican Party and the Vote closer together than ever. They were inseparable. They were sitting in a soda shop, splitting a milkshake with two straws and a cherry on top and he was paying. This was bad. This brings us to stage two of the Democratic Party's failed romance: heartache. The Democ- ratic Party disappeared into her bedroom with a pint of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brown- ie and wouldn't come out no matter how hard her friends the Liberal Independents begged. They pounded on her door, desperate to be heard above the alternately blaring 1980s rock ballads and songs from Tori Amos's Little Earthquakes, pleading with the Democratic Party to go back to work ("Honey, you can't stay in there forever - and the president's about to nullify the Fourth Amendment. Come on out, okay? We need you"), but she wouldn't budge. Two years later, when the dust had finally settled in the chasm where the Fourth Amend- ment used to be and the Liberal Independents had finally given up, the Democratic Party final- ly poked her head out into the hallway, a changed woman. Stage three. She still loved the Vote more than anything, but she knew if she was going to get him back, she'd have to be bril- liant enough to stop the Republican Party mid- sentence and stunning enough to upstage those stilettos. And she was angry. Furious. On her way out to find the Vote, she practiced what she'd say to him: "Remember when you used to care about poor people and gay people and pri- vacy and not having to work at McDonald's when you're 75 because Social Security no longer exists and your brand-name prescription drugs are outrageously expensive? Don't you see that wench the Republican Party is ruining you? She's got nothing on me, I tell you - nothing! Yoooouuu neeeeed meeeeee!" Which is what Howard Dean was trying to say last week when he said "Yeeeagh!" after the Iowa caucuses. He was just a little tongue-tied. Such is the terrible reductive power of a lost love. Here's hoping the Democratic Party pulls herself together before it's too late. Henretty can be reached at ahenrett@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Christians, like everyone, not exempt from acts of doing wrong and sin TO THE DAILY: I am writing in response to Jordan Genso's letter (Reader: Christian faith 'prejudiced' against others 01/26/03). First, those were valid points, and I do think they need to be addressed - not in an insulting manner, as you feel that you have been insulted, but out of love - and that is what I will try to do. Genso stated that Christians think he deserves to go to hell. The truth is that Chris- tians deserve hell as well. Everyone deserves eternal punishment. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's not one person who hasn't done wrong. We've all lied and acted selfishly; no one's perfect but God. It is by faith that Christians believe they are saved - not by treating others with kindness or doing good - and faith saves because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross pay- ing the penalty for our sins, we've done noth- ing that makes us worthy of heaven. Still, I too am tired of Christians who make it a point to emphasize others' condem- nation without mentioning their own. It's unfortunate that religion is often an offensive topic, but it is difficult for it to be anything else. It is a very personal topic. After all, one's beliefs affect how he will live, not just in this life, but in all of eternity. I'd like to think that Christians don't have a prejudiced system, for we have been called not to judge, but to love the world. JOSH CALHOUN LSA sophomore Christian community diverse, attacks should stop TO THE DAILY: At this University, I often find myself offended by what I think is a lack of respect for religion by liberal minds. While reading yesterday's issue of the Daily, I realized that offense is not due to my thin skin, but rather a continual barrage of attacks that rarely con- sist of any logic. Jordan Genso (Reader: Christian faith 'prejudiced' against others 01/26/03) has taken great liberties with the Christian doctrine by assuming all Christians assuming that all Americans supported uni- lateral action in Iraq. I do not support Chris- tians forcing their beliefs where they are unwanted, and in turn expect that I will be able to pick up a school newspaper at a secu- lar university without my faith being slan- dered. So I offer Mr. Genso a challenge: Find me a practiced religion that does not attempt to make its way seem best. Until then, find solace in the fact that even though some Christians believe you are going to hell, you don't believe in it anyway. ERIK HELGESEN LSA junior Abstinence is illogical, unpopular alternative TO THE DAILY: After trumpeting his virginity on the Daily's editorial page, alumnus Matt Schaar implores someone to explain how his logic of abstinence until marriage doesn't make sense (Abstinence education is a logical way to stop the spread of STDs, 01/23/04). It may make sense for him, but it is not a choice the majority of people make and doesn't translate into sound policy. Indulge an analogy: Automobile accidents claim thousands of lives each year. Most of these people were in cars at the time of the acci- dent. What would be the only 100 percent effec- tive way to prevent these tragedies? Ban cars. Now why wouldn't that work? People aren't going to stop driving. And a fundamental knowledge of evolutionary biology, human psy- chology and 21 st-century cultural mores indicate that people just aren't going to stop having sex outside of marriage. So we acknowledge these realities and use seatbelts to reduce automobile fatalities and condoms to lower the probability of STDs and unwanted pregnancies. Abstinence makes sense for some and should certainly be encouraged, but censoring discussion of the health benefits of contracep- tion for those who choose to engage in sexual activity is reckless. Abstinence-only educa- tion is an irresponsible use of our limited health education funds. SHARON GREENE Rackham Efforts to continue diversity critical to ' success Washington, similar initiatives, worded almost exactly the same as the MCRI, have passed and outlawed affirmative action for women and minorities in education and employment. Increasing segregation and inequality has been the inevitable result in these cases. In fall 2002, only one black first- year student enrolled at University of Califor- nia at Irvine Medical School, and only two black first-year students at the Davis and San Diego medical schools. The number of women faculty in the California system has also decreased by 22 percent since the imple- mentation of Proposition 209. Affirmative action has been the only effec- tive means of desegregating higher education and opening up schools like the University to minorities as well as women. There is nothing democratic in voting on the rights of minori- ties to equal, quality educational and decent jobs. If the MCRI succeeds in getting its proposition on the ballot, these opportunities will become even more narrow as Michigan, already the nation's most segregated state edu- cationally, becomes even more segregated. The reason O'Brien slanders BAMN with the label of "thugs and hooligans" (pandering to racist stereotypes of black youth) is because BAMN has been the most effective leadership in mobilizing tens of thousands of people, par- ticularly black and other minority youth, around the country into the streets to defend affirmative action. From building the move- ment in California that led to the reversal of the University of California Regents' ban on affir- mative action in 2001 to mobilizing more than 50,000 people from around the country to march on Washington last April 1 to win our case at the U.S. Supreme Court, O'Brien is right to be wary of us: We fight to win. CYRIL CORDOR AND KATE STENVIG LSA seniors BAMN organizers LETTERS POLICY The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from all of its readers. Letters from Universi- ty students, faculty, staff and administrators will be given priority over others. Letters should include the writer's name, college and school year or other University affiliation. The Daily will not print any letter contain- ing statements that cannot be verified. Letters should be kept to approximately 300 words. The Michigan Daily reserves the i ..