4A -Thursday, November 15, 2007

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KARL STAMPFL IMRAN SYED JEFFREY BLOOMER
EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
The Daily's public editor, PaulH. Johnson, acts as the readers'representative andtakes a critical look at
coverage and content inevery section of the paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor
with questions and comments. He canbe reached at publiceditor@umich.edu.
Misfire
Gun giveaway a disgrace; laws must be tightened
The College Libertarians gave one lucky student a chance
to take campus safety into his own hands on Monday. By
setting up a raffle for a $200 voucher to purchase a gun at a
local store, the group aimed to champion the Second Amendment
and stress the idea that firearms are necessary to ensure public
safety. Even looking beyond the fallacy of the College Libertar-
ians' argument about the most misinterpreted amendment of all,
advocating for more guns on college campuses is under no circum-
stances a defensible position. In the wake of recent shootings at
schools and colleges, including the one at Virginia Tech University
last April, such a position is nothing short of reckless.

You gave an aging suburban dad the
ego boost of a lifetime:'
- Academy Award winner Matt Damon on being named
People magazine's Sexist Man Alive, as reported yesterday by CNN.com.
he drinking dilemma

:I

T oday is Thursday, which means one hand, students who advocate it's likely that a broader coalition could
it's likely that you're going to against drinking discuss the immoral- be built around preventing egregious
Scorekeepers later on to drink ity of behavior that stemns from alco- social misconduct than around advo-
alcohol. Within hol consumption or the immorality of cating for temperance.
the past week, the breaking the law. On the other hand, Reframing our mindset on alcohol
Daily reported many students who drink regularly should also include a revision on alco-
twice about alco- argue - in accordance with John Stu- hol as a form of social capital. If we .
hol - the first story art Mill's harm principle - that most downplay the consumption of alcohol
about illicit beer alcohol consumption does not really to a social choice that happens in a
pong at Touch- harm others and that the legal drink- social context, then we ought not obli-
down's Bar, the sec- m.ing age of 21 is arbitrary and unjust. gate others to drink alcohol for social
ond about efforts to Focusing on legality or morality pre- acceptance. In other words, if drink-
curb binge drink-NEIL vents opposing sides from even start- ing alcohol is simply a social choice,
ing at universities ing a productive dialogue about alcohol
nationwide. I hope TAMBE because those frameworks are riddled .
the news reports with complexity and personal pas- Alcohol use is more
started some conversations about alco- sion. Furthermore, students know it's
hol in dorms, peer groups and among unhealthy to binge drink yet choose
the administration. However, to really to do so anyway, which makes appeals
make any mutually beneficial progress to health a difficult task because the g oda 1 a
towardgreaterunderstandingbetween approach is usually not persuasivea a
the University and students about alco- without the backdrop of a heart-
hol, we must change the way we think wrenching tragedy.
about the issue on college campuses. Instead of couching the issue in legal not drinking alcohol should be a choice
Instead of thinking about alcohol in or moral terms, we should think of that is equally legitimate and accepted.
terms of health, legality ormorality, we alcohol consumption as a social choice. Whether someone chooses to drink or
should address alcohol for what it is: a Our approach should be to advocate not shouldn't affect his or her ability to
social choice. for creating a positive social environ- socialize on campus. Alcohol shouldn't
There are several stakeholders in the ment and to intervene only to prevent be that big of a deal.
mix when it comes to alcohol: students the adverse social effects coupled with As a person who never drinks ille-
(who may or may not drink), the Uni- alcohol use - not to discourage the gally - I'm 20 and have been to Canada
versity and law enforcement officials. consumption of alcohol by appealing to just once - I've come to terms with the
Each group has different conceptual the law, morality or health. fact that alcohol consumption isn't all
framework for discussing alcohol. The To do this, students and adminis- good or all bad. Alcohol is celebratory
University and law enforcement frame trators could place primary emphasis just asit's sometimes avice. Sowhether
the issue in terms of public safety. The on raising awareness and conducting or not you like your orange juice with
University argues that "staying in the training to prevent the ugly social vodka, let's be merry. It is in our mutual I
blue" is good for student health, and externalities that sometimes come with best interest to create a stable, safe and
law enforcement authorities avoid alcohol abuse, such as sexual abuse, invigorating social environment.
intervention until laws are broken. physical confrontation or hazing. Fur-
Conversely, students seem to talk thermore, a social approach would be Neil Tambe can be reached
about alcohol in moral terms. On the more accessible and effective because at ntambe@umich.edu.
LISA TREUMUTH
Mastering the art of activism

Undeterred by state law prohibiting fire-
arms on campus, the College Libertarians
sidestepped barriers by raffling off a vouch-
er. This raffle comes on the heels of a simi-
lar event held by the group last April, just
weeks prior to the virginia Tech shooting.
The inspiration for the event was a spate
of similar events held at other universities.
Three years ago at the University of Illinois,
the staff of a conservative newspaper held
a multi-gun raffle, and last year a Clemson
University student newspaper gave away
two guns, including an AK-47, a semiauto-
matic relic of the Cold War that is today the
choice of rebel armies worldwide.
These gun giveaways on college cam-
puses reflect a disturbing ideology that
increased gun ownership promotes greater
personal security. Libertarians and Repub-
licans on some campuses argue that the
responsibility to use firearms safely lies
within the owners and refute the need for
stricter gun laws by pointing to the Second
Amendment. However, the Second Amend-
ment was never meant to be taken in the
literal sense that libertarians today insist
upon; anyone who bothered to analyze its
context would know that.
When the founding fathers conceived "A
well regulated Militia, being necessary to
the security of a free State, the right of the
people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be
infringed," they were writing in light of
King George and the army that responded to
him and not the people. As long as we have
an army that works at the pleasure of a dem-
ocratically elected government, the second

amendment is being satisfied. For example,
in a democracy, the people have the right
to rule, but that does not mean every single
person gets oversight on every single policy
decision. Similarly, the Second Amendment
refers only to an army of the people, not
every single person carrying a firearm.
Even if we were to go along with the idea
that everyone must be able to own a gun,
there is no viable logic that justifies legaliz-
log firearms on college campuses. Wouldn't
more guns just increase the likelihood of
tragedies like the one at virginia Tech? The
reality in this country is that our laws are
already too loose. Too often we allow guns
to be placed into irresponsible hands, and
the danger of that would only increase with
looser gun laws.
Instead of arming young adults and conse-
quentlyriskingthe possibilityoflecture-hall
shootouts or other misuses of firearms, a bet-
ter way to promote safety is taking preventa-
tive measures to address the root causes of
violence like inadequate mental health care.
This is an especially important issue on col-
lege campuses, where the stresses of college
life leave students prone to depression.
Pressing for easier access to firearms in
a country where there are already an esti-
mated 200 million guns in circulation is
suicidal. In April, a BBC news story cited
a 2001 Harris poll result showing that "the
risk of being killed by a firearm in the U.S.
is higher than in any other Western nation."
This shows that gun control - instead of
gun ownership - is what needs to be pro-
tected in this country.

Last month, New York Times col-
umnist Thomas Friedman called the
college-aged demographic "Genera-
tion Q" because we quietly act out
our idealism through service rather
than engage in political activism.
While service is a critical component
of creating a better world, it is dif-
ficult to create widespread change
without mobilizing people to become
involved in the political process
so that they can make their priori-
ties known to their leaders. Service
becomes more meaningful when you
can share your passion with those
who have the power to make policy
changes.
For as long as I can remember, I
have wanted to be able to contribute
to one particular injustice: ending
global poverty. It seemed so unfair
that I had everything I needed and
much more while thousands of other
children died of hunger every day.
However, this was too big of a prob-
lem and I was too small of a voice
to make an impact. I decided that I
would do my part by donating food,
volunteering and going on service
trips, but all this changed when I
became involved with an interna-
tional grassroots poverty group
called RESULTS.
RESULTS is dedicated to creat-
ing the public and political will to
end hunger and poverty. Its leaders
started by looking for key strategies
that could help solve some of the root
causes of poverty, such as providing
micro-credit loans to help impover-
ished people start small businesses
and assisting countries that want to
eliminate public school fees so that
all children can attend school.
Then, RESULTS leaders began
creating chapters all over the coun-
try and educating members about
poverty issues. They also trained

members in how to write effective
letters and get meetings with their
representatives in Congress so that
they can convince them of the tre-
mendous impact anti-poverty pro-
grams could have. In this way, about
200 members around the country
were able to getthe U.S. government
to spend millions of dollars on life-
saving anti-poverty initiatives.
After my first meeting with my
legislator, I was hooked. I had never
thought that an influential politi-
cian would listen to a regular citi-
zen like me, but he did. The facts I
presented and the stories I shared
about my experiences tutoring chil-
dren in Ecuador made an impres-
sion on him. I felt so empowered as a
citizen knowing that he would sup-
port anti-poverty legislation largely
because of our efforts.
University of Michigan students
have tremendous passion for social
issues. However, service without
involvement in the political process
still seems to be the norm for many
students. My advice is: Take service
to the next step.
Gather a group of students that
have passion and knowledge about a
particular issue and try to set up a
meetingwith alegislator. It may take
time and several phone calls, but
you can almost always get a meeting
with at least an aide, who has great
influence over which issues are at
the forefront of his or her boss's
agenda. Go into the meeting pre-
pared with facts, and don't forget
to include personal stories - they
remain in the mind long after num-
bers and statistics are forgotten.
Of equal importance is educating
the public aboutyour issues through
media like newspapers and radio.
Especially if you can get a local angle
on an issue, editorial boards of news-

papers may be willing to meet with
you and consider publishing an edi-
torial about your issue. Rallies and
educational events can be extremely
effective as well, especially on cam-
pus: You never know if a student
might have a light bulb moment of
inspiration at your event.
Once you can get the public to pay
attention to an issue, politicians will
have to respond. One anti-poverty
group that has been very successful
at putting global poverty on the pub-
lic'sradaristhe ONE Campaign. That
group
has This viewpoint
gotten
over 2.4 is the sixth in a
million series about the
Ameri- resent state of
cans to e
endorse student activism.
the
campaign, and now that it is sup-
porting specific poverty legislation,
it will have a billion-dollar impact on
the national political budget.
Lastly, it is critical to partner
with other groups that share your
ideals. The more people are working
on an event, campaign or lobbying
push, the more you can accomplish.
It is for this reason that I joined the
Michigan Student Assembly Peace
and Justice Commission and have
become a member of the newly-
formed Interhumanitarian Council.
It is also why the University chapter
of RESULTS has joined with ONE
Campaign members on campus. To
battle global problems such as pov-
erty, we must work together to cre-
ate lasting change.
Lisa Treumuth is a Pharmacy graduate
student, co-chair of the MSA Peace and
Justice Commission and a member of
the University chapter of RESULTS.

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40

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Emad Ansari, Anindya Bhadra, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Jon Cohen, Milly Dick, Mike
Eber, Gary Graca, Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels, Robert
Soave, Jennifer Sussex, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel
Van Gilder, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa
ALEXANDER HONKALA
Of course

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else?

BEENISH AHMED i '
Pakistan's state of emergency

0

Tuesday's front page article about
studentreactionstothe state ofemer-
gency in Pakistan (Reactions mixed
on Pakistani gov't crisis, 10/13/2007)
painted an all-too rosy picture of
what can only be described as a des-
perate leader turning into a despot
to maintain a semblance of democ-
racy, as President Pervez Musharraf
has done in Pakistan.
The views expressed in the arti-
cle claim that the emergency has
not affected the daily lives of people
- as though coups are an everyday
occurrence that Pakistanis have
grown accustomed to. While Paki-
stan has had a tumultuous politi-
cal history, a sudden and complete
overthrow of basic human and civil
rights is not something anyone is
willing to accept.
Usman Shahid, president of the
Pakistani Students' Association,
said: "Basically if you are living in
Pakistan, you won't be disturbed by
the suspension of the constitution.
You'll look at it and say, yeah, that's
wrong." Granted that it may be hard

to keep up the true state of affairs
due to the government's suspension
of all independent media, interna-
tional reporting has shown a great
display of opposition to Musharraf's
power grab.
Dismissing Pakistan as a third-
world country, Shahid contends that
Pakistan is somehow unequipped
for the Western models of democ-
racy, toward which it should strive.
While this seems like a noble
endeavor, history has proven the
difficulty of any post-colonial
democracy gaining credibility when
this form of government is imposed
upon people instead of emerging
through organic, internal processes.
Shahid claims Musharraf is working
to impart democracy on Pakistanis
by first eliminating any institutional
or ideological traces of it.
While U.S. officials have kindly
asked Musharraf to end the state of
emergency, they have largely sup-
ported and negotiated with him
since his decision to comply with
U.S. demands in the war against

terrorism. This support from
America comes despite the fact that
Musharraf has been a military dic-
tator in full regalia since his rise to
power eight years ago. This is not
sustainable foreign policy: America
has time and again supported the
rise of dictators, only to take up
military and economic sanctions
to overthrow them once they start
to cause trouble with all the power
America helped them attain.
The situation concerning Mush-
arraf and Pakistan is just one more
instance of how America is disguis-
ing itself as the arbiter of democracy
while promoting this end only so
far as its own utilitarian aims are
concerned. In holding democracy
as some contrived normative ideal
for the world that it fights to instill
but allows to crumble just as eas-
ily, America is practicing a type of
foreign policy that might as well be
considered a state of emergency of
its own.
Beenish Ahmed is an RC junior.

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