4 - TheMichiganDaily-Tuesday,September_14,_2004 OPINION ;keofhdjjgrnt ~il 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com I I EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JORDAN SCHRADER Editor in Chief JASON Z. PESICK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE We're calling this our wildest dream season, because this year on the Oprah show, no dream is too wild ... " - Talk show host Oprah Winfrey, after giv- ing new cars to every member of her studio audience, as reported yesterday by the Asso- ciated Press LIZIZI COLIN DALY Ti K ;AN 1 2 Main t (. 44 w _..t"1 RETURNS NORUML.~ I I The science candidate JASON Z. PESICK ONE SMAiL VOICE h ough it may not be a meat and potatoes issue, science has sprung to relative prominence in the presidential campaign. Actually, John Kerry and his advisors have tried to force the issue and make science a political issue this year. It's not hard to see why. The word science doesn't threaten many people, the Democratic base likes it and Kerry hopes he can grab a few voters in favor of stem cell research because they have family members with terminal, debilitating diseases. The overlapping interests between one of those families, the Reagan family, and the Kerry campaign motivated the former president's son to speak at the Democrats' convention in Boston. But by deciding to give a speech promoting stem cell research, Ron Reagan not only inserted himself into the debate over who should be the next president, but also added his voice to the cultural debate Republicans have used to their advantage every time they face a Democrat too unwitting to see he can't connect to the Ameri- can people. Kerry is such a Democrat - the proof being his comment "Who among us does not love NASCAR?" At the convention, Reagan said, "Like all genera- tions who have come before ours, we are motivated by a thirst for knowledge...." And it's easy to agree with liberal claims that Republicans and conservatives don't believe in sci- ence. The Democrats like to view themselves as the party of the future, of progress, while Republicans represent a backward-thinking past. Just turn on the "700 Club" to see traditionalist, fundamentalist Christians stressing the power of God to heal. The hosts sit in a circle, healing viewers from physical ailments, and they recount stories of viewers whom God has healed. The implication is that you can trust God to heal you, not doctors. This is a very dangerous message, to say the least. These same conservatives believe that being gay is a sinful lifestyle - and a lifestyle people will- ingly choose. Then, these individuals use what has unfortunately become their de facto political arm, the Republican Party, to write the nation's marriage laws according to their irrational ideology. And the president himself has shown a disdain for the laws of science. He has of course refused to support stem cell research, refused to support scientists' claims regarding global warming and refused to listen to inde- pendent economists' recommendations. The White House even had its Medicare administrator threaten to fire the program's top actuary if he revealed to Con- gress the actual cost of the president's recent Medicare legislation. Bush has an aversion to facts; for instance, his claims that al-Qaida and Saddam were linked in any sort of meaningful way just won't go away. That's a pretty bad record indeed. And lucky for us, John Kerry has said some pretty ratio- nal, pro-science things. During his speech at the Democratic convention this summer, he said, "What if we have a president who believes in sci- ence, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem cell research to treat illness and save millions of lives?" But Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, only believe in an uninhibited search for pure knowledge in areas in which they see a political advantage in speaking the truth. To exploit the president's troubled and troubling economic stew- ardship, Kerry and his party have decided to play to the left of his party even though that requires that they ignore the teachings of a legitimate field of social science, economics. When the noted economist and chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, Gregory Mankiw, wrote thatoutsourcing"is probably a plus for the economy in the-long run," Senate Minority Lead- er Tom Daschle described the statement as "Alice in Wonderland economics." Mankiw may have been showing a lack of prowess on matters political, but he was stating a fact that economic modernization is a good thing. Surely Daschle wouldn't describe the painful economic dislocations that took place when the United States became an industrialized nation after being an agricultural nation that way. It may also be relevant that the New York Times columnist and Princeton economist Paul Krugman, who rarely misses an opportunity to criticize the administration, didn't critique this comment. Kerry has promised to create 10 million jobs in his first term as president. He plans to do this by changing the tax code so companies will not move jobs overseas. But according to the U.S. Labor Department, only 2.5 percent of major layoffs in the first quarter of this year resulted from jobs going overseas. That's about 4,600 jobs. If Kerry's plan is 100 percent effective in bringing back all of those jobs - many of which were probably in manufac- turing - he'll only have 9,995,400 jobs to go! Kerry and Edwards are playing to a skepticism of economics that exists in this country, especially on the left - a skepticism reminiscent of funda- mentalists' qualms with central tenets of biology, like the theory of evolution. But to be the science candidate, you can't choose which academic fields you're going believe in and which you're going to choose to ignore when it's convenient. Correction: In my final column of last year's win- ter term, I stated that many students stopped sup- porting the fall 2002 Daily boycott when many of the boycotters wanted press coverage of the confer- ence promoting University divestment from Israel. One of the boycott's leaders challenged my asser- tion and while researching his claims, I discovered I had no evidence to support my claim. I should not have made it, although I believe that the column's argument remains intact, with the most troubling assertions left unchallenged. Pesick can be reached at jzpesick@umich.edu. I 40 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Liberalism throughout campus not a 'fad' TO THE DAILY: The only thing that polluted my education this morning was the column The problem with fad liberalism (09/13/04). Liberalism is a "fad" because prior to 2004 the majority of college students were conservative? Ummm... yeah, I must have missed that Gallup poll. I found two things Lee wrote to be particu- larly revealing of the overall insulting nature o his column. First, " ... comments polluting the educa- tion discourse ... " if you believe that education should be a discourse, then, fundamentally, political comments whether they agree with your opinions or not, whether they use sarcasm to illustrate a point, are part of that discourse. Even if not necessarily on the topic of the class (God forbid someone makes a spon- taneous connection between U.S. politics and what they are learning in class). I would much rather wel- come a lively political debate any day over political apathy. Second, "Were there any issues that actually concerned them, or was it enough to put a 'War Is Not The Answer' bumper sticker on their cars and call it a day?" So for me, over 1,000 dead U.S. soldiers in Iraq is reason enough to grab a Kerry bumper sticker, pin, T-shirt, and lawn sign. But for you that doesn't even qualify as an "issue"? Certainly, as a woman going into medicine, I have plenty of other issues to get worked up about, but the betrayal, disgust and outrage I feel over this war is easily reason enough to want President Bush out of office. You begin your article with a student concerned about Bush's emphasis on the "sanctity of marriage" and end it with a hypothetical of a "fad" liberal dis- playing an anti-war bumper sticker. Hey, wait a min- ute, according to you, us college-aged liberals aren't even supposed to know what issues we care about! DANIELLE WROBLEWSKI Medical School 4 VIEWPOINT John Kerry talks domestic policy On Nov. 2, college students should not have a difficult decision to make. If you're interested in a robust economy, affordable education, a clean environment, and secure borders, John Kerry is your man. The purpose of this piece is to present Kerry's greater domestic agenda, the very plans that promise to benefit us as students, as educated young adults ready and eager to enter the workforce and as mothers and fathers of the next generation. We all have a vested interest in a strong economy. You need not be an economics major to realize that everything in economics is interconnected. Let's take the budget deficit as an example. In simple terms, because the federal treasury cannot manage such a large deficit, we must borrow from foreign countries. This means that they draft the proposals and set the interest rates. In simpler terms, we suf- fer because the ball is not in our court. The United States is not very popular, it's safe to say that we're not going to experience favorable rates based on past loyalties. So, how does the budget deficit affect us? In the present day, companies must curtail hir- ing or cut benefits to their employees because they are not receiving the critical federal assistance they need to stabilize their bottom lines. The federal government is too busy paying off its long-term rolt'h, ro--,- A- -alt - ..i ne1+mA tfiin Let's talk about providing prescription drug ben- efits to all our seniors, promoting equal educa- tional opportunity by fully funding "No Child Left Behind" and, dare we say, using this money to provide a tax incentive for companies to keep their operations in the United States so as to honor our solemn commitment to equal job opportunity. A vote for John Kerry in November is a vote for 10 million new jobs. Let's give him the chance. Over the past three years, tuition has increased by more than 35 percent, and 220,000 students have been cheated out of college because they can- not afford it. For those of us who are lucky enough to make ends meet and attend college, however difficult it may be, there are millions of Ameri- cans who could only dream of the opportunity to attend the University of Michigan. Whether these children are academically or financially prohibited from attending college, John Kerry has a plan to send more children to college. Most notably, John Kerry will offer a College Tax Credit of $4,000 per-year for every child who wishes to go to college. We, the College Democrats, applaud President Bush's willingness to sign No Child Left Behind into law. The only problem is that Bush's rheto- ric seems more sincere than his action. Since No CiaA I .Pf ehainA r Plaw in 9MI Precident The Bush administration fails to understand that enforcing environmental standards need not interfere with economic growth. In stark contrast, John Kerry believes that protecting the environ- ment is intimately connected to a strong economy. The League of Conservation Voters, The Sierra Club, Friends of Earth Action, and Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund all agree that John Kerry is the right choice for America. Here's why: First, Kerry will reverse the Bush-Cheney rollbacks to the "Clean Air Act" and plug the loopholes in envi- ronmental policy to stop acid rain, to hold global warming in check, and to make our waterways "drinkable, swimmable, and fishable." In the pres- ent day, only 45 percent of our waterways meet the CWA standards. Second, John Kerry will renew the "polluter pays tax," to hold reckless compa- nies and persons accountable for their actions. He will not sit by the wayside as companies trounce our national treasures for profit. And, finally, John Kerry will create environment empowerment zones to make sure that the areas of greatest need receive priority funding. A sound environmental policy will protect our national treasures for our children and, ultimately provide a springboard for economic advancement by cleaning up contami- nated areas whose job markets have suffered from their onvernments' hortsiohhterneCs 0 .. t . I. -- k,. . , ..: C ad