4A - Tuesday, October 12, 2010
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ELAINE MORTON
JACOB SMILOVITZ
EDITOR IN CHIEF
RACHEL VAN GILDER
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
MATT AARONSON
MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations representsolely the views of their authors.
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A healthy verdict
Courts should uphold federal health care reform
.S. courts have been in limbo for months debating the
legality of federal health care reforms. But last week,
some of the legal squabbling that still surrounds the
reforms was hushed. A U.S. District Court judge in Detroit
released a decision supporting the federal government's right
to implement the health care reforms signed into law in March.
This is written consent that validates the reforms. Though the
law is still controversial, it's a valuable effort to make health care
available to people who desperately need it. The recent district
court decision addresses legal qualms and should be considered
s a precedent for future lawsuits.
On Thursday, the Detroit Free Press and 19 other attorneys general from across
reported that US District Court Judge the nation have also filed lawsuits against
0
George Steeh issued a decision that refused
to stop the implementation of the federal
health care reforms, which are sched-
uled to go into effect in 2014. Steeh is the
first judge to make a ruling on one of sev-
eral cases nationwide that claim Congress
exceeded its legal rights when it passed the
law requiring Americans to obtain health
insurance. Steeh's decision argued that pur-
chasing healthcare was a matter of inter-
state trade and is therefore within federal
jurisdiction.
Though the health care law may be con-
tentious nationally - some consider it too
extreme, while others think it lacks essen-
tial components - it is based in a dire
need to make health care more accessible.
According to an Oct. 8 Detroit Free Press
article, there are nearly 1.3 million Michi-
gan residents lacking health care coverage.
The federal health care law that was signed
into law in March will allow these residents
easy access to an affordable health care
system. Citizens have a duty to promote
and support policies - like the health care
reforms - that are socially responsible and
better the welfare of others.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox
the federal mandate of health care. The
lawsuits argue that the federal govern-
ment cannot force people to buy a good
solely because they are citizens. Many legal
experts contend that the central legal ques-
tion surrounding the law is whether the
Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution,
which states that Congress can regulate
trade and business between states, allows
the federal legislature to mandate that citi-
zens purchase health insurance.
Steeh's decision has set a promising prec-
edent, arguingthatthe health care laws are a
matter of interstate trade and therefore pro-
tected under the clause. His refusal to halt
implementation of the reforms reinforces
the constitutional legality of the health care
laws that are so necessary for Americans
who struggle to afford pricey health care
plans. Other judges must consider Steeh's
decision when determining an outcome.
The lawsuits currently being fought
across the nation are bound to have as pro-
found of an impact as Steeh's. This prec-
edent shouldn't be overlooked as the other
lawsuits are considered. Others should con-
sider Judge Steeh's opinion as a precedent
for federal health care reform lawsuits.
This past Thursday, the pro-
life campus group "Students
for Life" hosted Dr. Alveda
King - Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.'s
niece and a promi-
nent spokesperson
for the pro-life
movement - to
answer the ques-
tion "How Will
The Dream Sur-
vive?"
When I first saw LIBBY
the event adver-
tised in my class- ASHTON
room in Angell
Hall, I didn't
notice the "Hosted
by Students for Life" tag and thought
King was coming to speak about race
relations in the 21st century. Then I
made the connection and realized the
event was on behalf of the pro-life
position. I felt angry.
I resented Students for Life for
what seemed like a strategy to attract
people to the event who may want
to know how the dream - MLK Jr.'s
dream - will survive without the
implicit antecedent, "if we murder our
children," which King stated in her
speech Thursday. I resented King for
standing in the national light of her
uncle and his work while advocating
for a position that cannot - without
rigorous justification - be blanketed
under the moral rightness that besets
his Civil Rights Movement.
Leaders of the debate - assum-
ing their objective is to win a truth,
not an argument - have a duty to
make progress in our collective
understanding of the reasons behind
each side's position. I assumed King
would walk the audience through her
understanding of the relationship
between the Civil Rights Movement
and the anti-abortion movement,
beyond simply stating that there is
one. I assumed that, as a leader in
the movement and as someone who
flaunts her relation to one of the most
powerful orators in the last century,
she would tell me something I hadn't
heard before.
But she didn't. She told sto-
ries of her family history and reli-
gious awakening while walking us
through a PowerPoint presentation
that included statements like, "Satan
hates ... homosexual same sex ...
yuck!" She retold the story of Dred
Scott, the African American who was
told he couldn't sue in federal court
because he wasn't a citizen, and par-
alleled it to the status of the fetus as a
slave inside the woman's womb. Her
presentation was disheveled and her
logic was unsophisticated at best -
criticisms I make not because I want
to paint the opposition in a bad light
but because my expectations for their
arguments are high.
I don't believe that supporters of
the pro-life movement are too stupid
or too close-minded to understand
my position. And I hope they don't
believe that I'm too stupid or too sin-
ful to understand theirs. King appar-
ently believes that I, as an advocate for
choice, am in support of mass murder
that carries the same moral weight
as the Holocaust and the slave trade.
I, on the other hand, believe she is in
support of the mass oppression of the
rights of people on behalf of a fun-
damentally religious conviction that
Satan loves non-procreative sexuality.
I can't simply accept our difference of
opinions when the moral stakes are so
high. I feel a responsibility to probe
further to find the point at which our
convictions diverge.
I walked into King's event with
a strong sense as to the differ-
ence between slavery and abor-
tion. I walked in thinking she would
acknowledge that members of her
audience had considered the par-
allel before and may have come up
with some valuable reasons as to
why the parallel between civil rights
and abortion doesn't hold. As I left
King's talk, I resented her for failing
to acknowledge that her opposition's
argument is at least worthy of con-
sideration and a response - if for no
other reason than to strengthen her
own argument.
I think my resentment stems from
the dissonance I experience between
what I've been able to reason (which
is that abortion is not morally repre-
hensible) and the convictions of many
people for whom I have personal and
intellectual respect. I feel frustrated
by the debate because it seems that
highly intelligent and capable people
continue to throw around the same
arguments and maintain the same
misconceptions about the world-
views of the opposing side without
getting any closer to the crux of the
debate.
Pro-life advocacy
shouldn't capitalize
on MLK's fame.
I know supporters of the pro-
life movement can do better than
the talk King gave Thursday night
because I've seen them do better. I
hope that the pro-life supporters who
attended the talk don't excuse King's
flawed and blatantly religiously and
personally biased assertions sim-
ply because she and MLK Jr. stand
in the same family portrait. Leaders
of this debate - and others like it -
shouldn't get away with resting their
arguments on unqualified cliches and
bigoted references to scripture. So
let's hope the rest of us understand
the importance of uncovering the
fundamental truth at the core of this
argument, which will require a high-
er standard of debate than that which
King displayed.
- Libby Ashton can be reached
at eashton@umich.edu.
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ASHLEY GRIESSHAMMER I
Reevaluate job outsourcing
Will you protect this house?
As the Nov. 2 election date draws closer,
gubernatorial candidates Rick Snyder and Virg
Bernero have recently engaged in their first
side-by-side debate. The hot topic of conver-
sation? Outsourcing jobs. Bernero made some
heated accusations toward Snyder about his
past as president of computer maker Gateway,
condemning him as the "chief executive out-
sourcer," according to an Oct. 10 article from
annarbor.com. It seems that Michigan jobs
will be a prominent issue in this gubernatorial
race, as they should be. I can't help but won-
der, though, was Snyder's outsourcing of jobs
for Gateway really as horrific as Bernero makes
it seem?
Obviously, outsourcing jobs from the state
will never be a good thing. Michigan's unem-
ployment rate is a major problem that every
person in office wants to fix and I certainly
agree that it needs to be addressed. But I can't
blame the companies for doing what's best for
them. In many cases, these corporations are
forced to outsource jobs because their survival
depends on it.
Take Gateway, for example. Under Snyder's
watch, the company grew from less than 1,000
employees to about 10,000. However, when
sales started to fall in response to market com-
petition, the company was forced to outsource
jobs overseas in order to survive. While it's
unfortunate that this sales decline occurred
while Snyder was present and that he was
forced to make some tough decisions, he was
not wrong for doing what had to be done. As
a businessman, Snyder was willing to do what
was necessary for the well being of his com-
pany.
I'm simply using Snyder as an example here.
At this point in time, I don't endorse him or
any other candidate for that matter. But many
people are blaming the executives at big com-
panies for outsourcing jobs away from not
only Michigan but also other states, claiming
that these corporations only want to make a
buck. And I simply can't place all of the blame
on them. As high-powered executives, it's in
their job description to make tough decisions
for their corporations, and the best interest of
the company must always be put first. These
companies are in business to make a profit, and
they should do so using any means necessary.
Manufacturing jobs are the easiest jobs to
outsource to another country. They don't really
require any specialized skills, and most people
can be trained relatively quickly to work with
machinery. It's unfortunate that the largest
industry in Michigan used to be manufactur-
ing, and as the economy declines and compa-
nies are forced to make cuts, those are the first
jobs to go. It seems that the only safe jobs are
the ones that can only be performed by work-
ers here and those that require a high level of
education.
I also believe that our country, including its
economy, is founded on capitalism. Companies
are simply running their businesses using a
capitalistic model. And if we complain about
them outsourcing jobs, we are essentially
complaining about them being capitalists. If a
company is not always focused on turning over
a big profit, it won't be very successful. Out-
sourcing jobs is certainly not the most pleas-
ant way to keep a company afloat, but if cutting
costs is necessary, it's definitely effective.
So as the gubernatorial race continues to
move forward, I encourage people to think
about the topic of outsourcing jobs. Bernero
wants to keep jobs in Michigan under any cir-
cumstances, and while he has good intentions,
I wonder if he can ever accomplish this goal.
There is no denying that as we move forward as
a society, low-skilled labor will begin to leave
our job market to be shipped overseas. The
new focus here needs to be on education, in an
effort to train workers who will become irre-
placeable to their companies.
Ashley Griesshammer is an LSA freshman.
T hree in a row to Michigan State
- that might fill your head with
expletives. It might make you
think Rich Rod
should be fired
and run out of Ann
Arbor by an angry
mob with pitch-
forks and torches. 4
You might want to
charge the field and
replace our second-
ary defense because
you feel that you ERIC
would provide bet-
ter pass coverage SZKARLAT
than they do. And
you can think what
you like.
But don't you dare turn your back
on this House.
There are a few groups that always
stay until the very end of the game,
including the football team and the
marching band. You probably don't
come to see the marching band, butI
can tell you that as a member, we felt
the same pain and agony as you did
while watching the game on Satur-
day. I lost my voice for a week after
we played University of Massachu-
setts. I shudder to think when it will
come back after our team's perfor-
mance on Saturday. I was almost in
tears as I screamed, "Where was the
coverage? Where was it?"
But the marching band - by
implied mission statement - stays
until the very last second. And I
didn't like what I heard or what I saw
this past weekend. By the end of the
game, there were more Spartans in
the Big House than Wolverines.
And they cheered. They jumped up
and down and sang their fight song,
and it echoed across the stadium,
across the stands and through the
east side tunnel, bouncing between
the press boxes and lingering in our
ears. And what happened when we
- the Michigan Marching Band -
played "The Victors"? Maybe a few
people half-heartedly put their fists
in the air and put their hands together
to sing the best college fight song ever
written. This isn't a new problem. It
happened last year with Ohio State
too. Michigan fans were forced to sit
and listen to "O-H-I-O" echo through
the Big House. Our Big House.
But we don't need a win in football
to be the Victors. We are the Victors
when we win, and we are the Vic-
tors when we lose. Being the Victors
means more now than it did when
Louis Elbel wrote those words in 1898
and set them to that song. The Victors
are proud. The Victors are unshaken
by defeat. The Victors stay until the
last second of every game and cheer
their team on as it leaves the field.
The team, the team, the team.
We need a corollary to Bo Schem-
bechler's speech. Famously, he said
to the football team, "No man is more
important than the team. No coach is
more important than the team." But
I wish he had added, "No fan is more
important than the team."
What that means is that we are a
team together. The band, the fans, the
players, the coach - every last one of
us is a member of a larger team. We
are the Victors. The Leaders and the
Best. We are the Michigan Faithful.
The Wolverines. We are the Maize
and Blue.
Whether or not you think Rich
Rod is the best or worst coach to have
ever existed, or if you lie somewhere
in between, you are still the Michi-
gan Faithful. Whether you worship
Denard Robinson or think he's over-
hyped, you are the Michigan Faith-
ful. The fact is that it doesn't matter,
because the team is more important
than any coach or player.
No fan is
more important
than the team.
Those who stay will be champions.
Every embarrassing defeat wit-
nesses Michigan fans turning their
backs on the field and walking out of
the stadium. I'm sure even more fans
shut off their TVs at home and go out-
side to get some fresh air and relax
after the tension of our failures. And
because of this, our team, our program
and our winning tradition falter. That
Big House - our coliseum and our
home - falls to the green and white,
the scarlet and gray. And I believe it
begs the question, originally posed to
the football team and marching band
by Drum Major David Hines, Jr., "Will
you protect this House?"
We may be down. But we are not
out. We are never out. We are all in. If
you're turning your TV off or selling
your tickets because we're losing, you
can stay away when we're winning
too. If you take off the maize and blue
now, don't bother putting it back on
again. Riding in on the coattails of our
victory does not make you champions.
If you do not stay, even in the face of
ugly defeat, you are not a champion.
But I will stay. And I will protect
this House.
- Eric Szkarlat can be reached
at eszkarla@umich.edu.
0i
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Aida Ali, Jordan Birnholtz, Adrianna Bojrab, Will Butler, Eaghan Davis, Michelle DeWitt,
Ashley Griesshammer, Will Grundler, Jeremy Levy, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Emily Orley,
- Harsha Panduranga, Tommaso Pavone, Leah Potkin, Asa Smith, Laura Veith