Page 4-Friday, August 1, 1980-The Michigan Daily
Opinions
The Michigan Daily
Ninety Years of Ed oil (Fred in
Edited and managed by students
at the University of Michigan
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HE EVIDENCE has been presented, the argu- '' '
E ments put forth, and the verdict is in: Ann Ar-
bor will not be receiving any federal assistance for LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
the damage it received in a severe storm which
ripped through the city July 16. With a budget that
is already tight, and with no excess to work with, i er a
the city will be hardpressed to pay for the clean-up,
which is expected to continue for another two
This county was one of the hardest hit in the
state. The storm did an estimated $10 million To The Daily:
damage to public and private property, left Barry Conmoner's assertion Republi
thousands without power for several days, and that the Citizens' Party is to the to sacr
downed hundreds of trees and power lines. It has I Democrats "as the Libertarians halfwa3
been estimated that the cost of the cleanup will be are to Republicans" was false larger
as high as $13,000. and misleading.While it is remove
as hih as$130000.possibly true that most C.P. politici
Already the storm has taken a b ig chunk out of members are disaffected busine
the city's budget. Nearly one-third of the forestry Democrats, it is hardly true that interest
department's annual allocation has been exhausted most Libertarians are former vocate
by the storm clean-up. The Washtenaw County Republicans. In fact, Liber- libertie
Road Commission estimates it will spend over Repusbicans socialists, ad side i
$125,000 to clean up the roads, which will imperil course, lifelong Libertarians. We Friedr
projects such as road maintenance. do not appeal to only one band in beliefs
Governor Milliken has proclaimed the state a the political spectrum; we offer conduci
disaster area, and by doing so, has made state an alternative to all the worn-out terfere
assistance available to storm-ravaged cliches and dogmas of the con- of othe
temporary statist political elites, coercio
municipalities. But Milliken also states that the and those attracted to liberty with th
state, by itself, cannot provide all the help needed come from every persuasion. (In coerced
by local communities. passing, I mention that the L.P.'s the par
The cost of cleaning up after the storm will reiental candiate used to be such a
severely strain the city. And it is distressing that The vision that serves Liber- ciples
there will most likely not be federal monies coming tarians is not an extreme form of alys-
from Washington to help offset the costs of Republican ideology (as if either logical
Tuesday's storm. Unfortunately, the city must suf- the Republicans o Democrats Thus
fer because, as one federal official said, the ha ideology). The Republican
probem cn b "sovedlocaly. Party has paid lip service to a
problem can be "solved locally." free economyand the right of the
i________________________ individual to Jive his own O
life-and ditto the Democrats.
But Republican freedom has J
meant subsidies to chosen cor-
porations and government-enfor-
ced monopolies, and the
j "freedom" to live one's life in the To The1
way that the state-legislated Read
morality permits: en famille, discove
Christian, patriotic, blooper
heterosexual, and unstimulated. Mayb
The Democrats differ mainly in cheek, 1
allowing slightly more moral County
leeway, and in being busy lightly.
throwing money at the poor to You:
keep them in line, rather than op- its Ann
ting for the Republican police- Actuall
worship. Commoner is right that Lakes F
there is a link between his sup- for the
porters and the Democrats; the really q
Y1) link is that he too wants the Com
political control of almost Michig.
everything, but with special em- diana,
phasis on the economy. in this
The Libertarian Party ad- year).
vocates the-" thorough saw con
-,d n ,depoliticization of life, the taining
removal of state intervention glass-b
from our personal, social, and metal c
economic transactions and of ma
relations. We do not advocate logging
HR vwe f60 SND IpRE REarIl4-M.161* uS(;0em$A.4 .frfite&goverrnntetlintervention 'through
' ' ; ± r11/1P,! i toCti ( 1 111 o . ;: r" ."ji +
rians are not
Republicans
ie economy. as the
icans do (always willing
ifice even this economic
y-house for the sake of a
defense budget), but the
al of political power from
ans and their favored
as, union,tand special-
t group leaders. We ad-
the full extension of civil
s, the elimination of out-
nterference in the in-
al's life, We believe that, in
ch Hayek's words, "moral
concerning matters of
t which do not directly in-
with the protected sphere
r persons do not justify
on." Few Republicans,
eir now-apparent zeal for
d, legislated morality (see
rty platform) can claim
stand, or even the prin-
which would support any
stand, and Democrats
seem to fail to take it to its
conclusions.
the Libertarian vision,
which is an enriched version of
19th-Century Liberalism (and the
philosophy of the American
Revolution) is not a derivative of
Republican conservatism or
Democratic liberalism. Rather,
these two are splinters from a
libertarian whole, united to a
virulent conformism and collect-
tivism. Commoner takes
liberalism one step further to
"economic democracy" (where
the elected tyrants are all
liberals or socialists, rather than
liberals and conservatives).
Libertarians reject the garrison
state and the levelling welfare
state-in the end, we reject the
State, and work for its
separation,dnot just from the
church, not just from morality,
but from the entire sphere of
voluntary human activity. Let
power-lovers play among them-
selves-and laissez-nous faire!
-David Stewart
July 30
A
A
scoda County
ooper corrected
Daily:
ing your paper today, I
red in "Our Art Fair" a
'I would like to correct.
be it was said tongue-in-
but to the people of Oscoda
, it would not be taken
said, "Oscoda County has
nual Tree Trunk Heave."
y, it's called "The Great
Forestry Exposition," and
size of the community it's
quite impressive.
panies from all over
an and parts of Ohio, In-
and Wisconsin participate
annual even( (the 21st this
It has log-burlers, chain-
ntests, display booths con-
old fashioned weaving,
lowing, horse-shoeing,
rafts, quilts, etc. All kinds
chinery pertaining to
and timber are on display
out the Oscoda County
Park, where the Expo is held.
The finale is on Saturday night af-
ter dark when a parade of lighted
floats pass down the river which
can be viewed from a choice seat
(on the ground) along the river
bank.
Thanks for taking the time to
read this.
-Joyce Dusseau
Former Oscoda County
Resident
July 25
Cartoons frequently
appear on both the left
and right side of the
page; they do not
necessarily represent
Daily opinions.