Poge Ten
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Thursday, February 7, 1957
THE POLITICALSCENE
Political Science Courses Naively Ignore Dirtier Aspects
By JAMES DYGERT state level. Just before last No-
T CAN be said, and las ben, vember's election, the Republican
that the only thing dirtier thanPaty of Illinois was embarrassed
butiness is politics. n nby the discovery that its state
bUnerunise p olitd sn treasurer had found a way to
Unfortunately, one does not
learn this fact in school The benefit from high taxes. Illinois
l ti cn co o mDemocratsoyous and g over
political science course is primar- ti idalo apinmtr
ily designed to acquaint the stu- ,this indfall of campaie mater-
dent with the theories involved il were all the more chagrined
in government, the laws that sup- wn s eo in of their
posedly govern governments, and toyn was exposed in Cook Coun-
the intricate organizational de It's all too obvious that there is
tails through swhich they pete. ittle protection against collabora-
The democratic form of govern- tion between government officials
sent, of course, is emphasied.:to:bten.oe.ma ffca
and the private concerns with
Predictably enough, very few ° - which they must do business.
political science students become Some mples: road builders can
politicians. This is mostly because use inferior materials, saving ten
hardly anything they learn in times as much as they pay offi-
political science is applicable to cials to overlook the shortcom-
politics. Paradoxial? Yes. It's ings; an official whose election
paradoxical that a science exhi- ! was won on extensive financial
bits such little knowledge of its help from a certain businessman
subject matter. CRACKING THE BOOKS can hardly turn down that man's
.. no path to paradoxes, special interest groups business, regardless of price; state
SUPPOSEDLY. a study such as owned land can be sold at low
political science is not neces- In order to understand that vi- fact, this writer would stake his Even to think of power poli- prices, so that officials can secret-
sarily intended to prodic re- tal part of life known as politics, income for the next ten years tics only in terms of special inter- ly share in the profit when resold
sourceful politicians, but is con- one must be aware that there on the proposition that if a poll est groups, whether they be dairy at market value. Not only are
idered successful if it merely im- are only few exceptions to the were taken, it would show list lobbies or sovereign nations,- is these possible, but they have been
Pasts to its student. infoimation general rule that men in politics less than 20 per cent of them to be superficiaI. Most politicians done; and they are but a micro-
sufficient to guide him through are there only to advance their know what the word means. It's are not as itere.ted in what they scopic sampling of the possibili-
the complexities of being a voter own interests. If all they want is not your principles that matter, car do for their special interest ties.
and contribute in part to his gen- fame, there's comparatively little but how many hands you can groups as they are in what their
eral understanding of life's vital danger. But these, too, are few. shake, what connections you have special interest groups can do for HERE are the same opportuni-
processes. With most of them, it's a case of and how you reward support. them. ties in local governments.
It' xrml ifcl o-
Even in these goals, political money seeming greener on the Ask Andrew Jackson, if you It' extremely difficult to ac~ Building insectors can pocket
science is an incredible failure. other side of the law, either civil know a good spiritualist. He came way t potical sce any tidy sums by ignoring building
In order to vote wisely, one or moral. right out in the open with hisde contributes to ankind when-it code violations which save big-
must be able to see throuh the Political science shrugs off this patronage system. That was a drsaing of .iius hen ri time developers hundreds of dol-
subterfuges, hypocrisies and mo- phenomenon with a paragraph or long time ago, too long ago for ties of politics. Perhaps the pro- tars per house. And o on.
ives that lie behind issues and two on special interest groups, all Itoday to remember, evidently; be fessors know better; but if so, It's bad enough that men whom
candidates. One must also know very theoretical. cause there seem to be few people they're not letting on. the voters elect betray their trusts.
the possible ways to fortune an around who realize that almost very often, because of numerous
office holder can find in his pub- RNHE NEXT paradox is that few all those who are active in poli-poli te fraud methods and even
ic trust in order to eliminate ei- politicians think about theory, ties arc working primarily for HTAtso l st.onheama cthatpe len-
her the ways or the office hold- let alone write their own speech- that job or favor they'll get if
rs who find them. es. The rhetoric is just that. In their side wins. - There have been many national defeated. Throw in the political
.- ---- - - _--------- scandals, which anyone with a machines and the one-party sys-
..- --_ -. - - - - conversational knowledge of his- tems in certain parts of the
tory can recall. The most recent United States, and the democrat-
fad is the defense contract. Fur- ic cystem begins to seem some-
thermore, it would take a person what undemocratic.
with supernatural naivete to be- Of course, there are some hon-
lieve that those scandals which est men in politics; but it's quite
have been uncovered exhaust the a task to determine who they
acts. are. Too often the ones who seem
'There are also plentiful oppor- most honest turn out to be our
tunities for curruption on the biggest mistakes. The wisest ap-
proach is keep a steady eye on all
of them, even though none of us
The Better Haircuts has time for that.
This is not to say that nothing
you expect, you will good comes from politics. On the
contrary, politicians are forced to
always get at - turn out good things periodically
in order to save their hides from
- j 4 i ai'ttei'4 other politicians. And even the
l w l n r o ones that are dishonest and cor-
715 North University rupt are not completely so. It's
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