Monday, May 14, 2007
4 PThe Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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IMRAN SYED
EDITOR IN CHIEF
GARY GRACA
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other
signed articles and illustrations represent solelysthe views of theirauthors.
The green mile
Fuel standards are good for everyone
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
That's my air in that cafe, not yours."
- Minnesota state Rep. Bud Heidgerken, on his opposition toa state law passed last week banning smoking
in all restaurants, including his own, as reported yesterday by The Associated Press.
TRAVIS SCHAU
we'd like to unveil our new strategy to combatglobal warming...
The "Open Doors Initiative" is something everyone can be a part of.
(we recommend codnesse vel S.)
-
Rogers & mte
Students must overcome apathy, stand up for voting rights
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J n eany effort to decrease car-
bon emissions, it seems like
a no-brainer to do some-
thing about gas-guzzling cars.
And that's exactly what a bill
under consideration in the Senate
attempts to do by increasing the
average fuel mileage of new cars.
But with American car compa-
nies mobilizing in opposition, it's
about time that Michigan's Con-
gressionalleadersstoppedblindly
supporting the auto industry and
realized that increasing mileage
standards is not only good for the
environment, it's also a wake-up
call that the Big Three needs to
remain competitive.
The new bill, which will come
to the Senate floor in early June,
would increase the average fuel
standard to 27.5 mpg for cars and
22.2 mpg for small trucks by 2008.
Following this, the bill intends to
continue increasing the standard
by 4 percent each year until at
least 2020. By 2020, the average
mileage would be 35 mpg, equal to
the current standard in Europe.
Considering that Americans
own 30 percent of the world's cars
and are responsible for 45 percent
of the world's carbon emissions,
this small increase in fuel efficien-
cy would substantially reduce the
world's total carbon emissions.
Despite these benefits, the
automotive industry and Michi-
gan politiciansremainopposed to
the bill and preoccupied with its
short-term impact. Sen. Debbie
Stabenow (D-Mich.)hypothesiz-
es that it would "cost American
jobs" as more consumers turn to
foreign companies like Toyota
and Honda to purchase vehicles
with higher fuel efficiencies.
Yet, this has already become a
tangible issue for American car-
makers as exorbitant gas prices
force an increasing number of
consumers to seek higher mile-
age cars. Amazingly, it is not fuel
standards that are crippling car
companies right now; it's the lack
offuel-efficient cars.
Carl Levin, Michigan's other
Democratic senator, believes that
these standards would halt tech-
nological developments like fuel
cells. But the new requirements
would only complementnewtech-
nological developments. Tougher
fuel standards would force com-
panies to delve into other fuel-
saving options, further improving
the mileage of the vehicles and
restoringthe reputation of Ameri-
can car companies as innovators.
Instead of seeking the long-
term solutions that might help
solve the automotive indus-
try's problems and also reduce
the impact of global warming,
Michigan's leaders are pursuing
short-term, electorally-friendly
strategies that are embarrassing
to their constituents and counter-
productive to their goals.
It's time for Michigan's lead-
ers to do what they should have
done 10 years ago: impel the
American auto industry into
being competitive.
I
n a country that has spent
211 years fighting to make
voting as accessible and
fair as possible, you would think
that discriminatory voting laws
are a thing of the past. But, in
Michigan a number of state laws
have effectively disenfranchised
student voters, and state Rep.
Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor)
is working to repeal one of them:
Rogers's law. But for her efforts
to be successful, students must
raise their voices in opposition
to the laws that unfairly and ille-
gally restrict their voting rights.
When it was passed in 1999,
Rogers's law was conveniently
sponsored by then-Republican
state Sen. Mike Rogersbefore his
highly contested Congressional
bid in 2000. By requiring Michi-
gan voters to match their driver's
license address with the address
on their voter registration card,
the law made voting unneces-
sarily difficult for students, who
are more likely to have multiple
addresses. The intent was to keep
college students,whotendtovote
Democratic, from the polls.
And thanks to the new law,
Rogers won by a grand total of
111 votes.
But Rogers's Law has other,
more sinister, consequences
as well. Many students could
be jeopardizing their health
insurance if they change their
address to vote in their local
precinct. If students do not
share a common address with
their parents, health insurance
providers could claim that they
are no longer dependents and
deny them coverage.
Recognizing these injustices,
multiple attempts have been
made to reverse Rogers's law. In
the most recent effort, knowing
that Rogers's law and another
state law that disallows first-
time voters from voting absentee
place an unfair burdenon student
voting, Warren is attempting to
eliminate both of these hurdles.
But Warren need look no fur-
ther than the city of Ann Arbor
to find more examples of stu-
dent disenfranchisement. In
Ann Arbor, the gerrymandering
of city wards splits the student
vote in order to minimize the
voting power of University stu-
dents - who make up a third of
Ann Arbor's population.
Also, the primary elections
in Michigan are held in early
August before most students
return to campus. In one-party-
dominated places like Ann
Arbor, where the primary basi-
cally determines who wins the
general election, students are
unable to choose who will make
the laws that directly affect
them. Along with that, first-time
voters cannot vote using absen-
tee ballots, which further dis-
courages students from voting.
But politicians are not the
only ones to blame for these
laws; Students deserve a share
of the blame too. When students
let their rights get walked on by
politicians, it is no wonder that
devious politicians like Rogers
take advantage of that apathy.
While students may not need
to organize a Million-Man
March to protect their voting
rights, they must respond with
the letters, phone calls and dem-
onstrations that inform state
legislators of their opposition to
Rogers's law.
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Editorial Board Members: Mike Eber, Brian Flaherty,
Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Wagner