NOVEMBER 1,1996 — THE DECREE — PAGE 5
American government is brain dead
By GRANT LONG
As I have written in my early
works this year, most Americans
continue to look at politics in an
increasingly cynical manner. If
you were to ask the majority of
the American population what
was going on in Washington, they
couldn’t tell you what was going
on Capital Hill, but they would
know that the Washington
Redskins are having a remark
able season.
Which is why I ask myself, is
politics in America a lost social
science or is it just dead? To an
swer that question we must ex
amine the political system we live
under, also look at the people who
run that system, and what prob
lems plague our country. Then
we must ask ourselves, does
American politics have a pulse or
are we just waiting for rigor mor
tis to set in?
First off, I can say American
politics are highly ineffective be
cause of all the bureaucratic red
tape that is involved. As most
people know, there are about a
million government agencies
which have to sort through and
enforce the laws that the Con
gress passes.
The DMV is just one of these
many agencies and most people
know from experience how bu
reaucratic this agency is. Who
enjoys spending half a day in the
DMV getting a driver’s license
or those personalized tags that you
want for your car or filling out 18
different forms just to get a little
piece of laminated plastic telling
you that you can drive. The sad
thing is that this is at the state
level, and government is even
more bureaucratic at the national
level.
For example let’s look at the
Environmental Protection Ag
ency. Sure it’s their job to take
care of the environment, but it’s
getting harder and harder to en
force environmental changes
when it is so expensive to correct
them. It cost billions of dollars a
year to focus in on environmental
changes such as clean air and wa
ter, not to mention fighting against
toxic waste and nuclear energy.
All these costs continue to mount,
but the money needed to make
these changes is not on the rise.
All this makes the EPA a token
government organization.
The environment is also
brought up in a lot of political
discussion, but nothing is being
done to preserve it. Clinton and
Dole are chasing the White
House, but what are they doing
about the water we drink and the
air we breathe? In 1994 Congress
passed NAPTA which allows
U.S. companies to move their op
erations places like Mexico and
pollute their environment, but
moving the problem to another
country is not a solution.
Another thing that is wrong
with the government is that it was
set up for the rich and not the
poor, but before you disagree with
me just let me prove my point.
Just think about who made up
this form of government —
SGA article misleading
Dear Editor:
I am writing to you in refer
ence to an article in the N.C.
Wesleyan College Decree news
paper published on Oct. 18.
The article “SGA proposes fall
ajlocations” written by a Mr.
James Bell may be misleading in
the last section of the article. It
states. “Some clubs were com
pletely cut from this year’s SGA
budget proposal. Clubs like Stu
dent Radio, Student Republicans,
psychology, and the freshman
class failed to receive any money
at all for the fall 1996 semester.”
This information is mislead
ing. These clubs were given the
opportunity to receive funds in
the given time constraints that are
outlined by the SGA constitution
and by letters and memos sent to
these organizations by the offic
ers of the Student Government
weeks before the budget dead
line.
Letters to
the Editor
Student Radio, College Repub
licans, the Multiculture Aware
ness Organization, and the Fresh
man class failed to summit a bud
get. The Psychology Club decided
to not submit a budget.
All SGA-recognized campus
organizations, except the indi
vidual Greek organizations, can
petition SGA for additional funds
if needed from the Student Gov
ernment Contingency Fund.
I do thank The Decree for the
continuous support of the SGA
and for its coverage of our meet
ings.
Scott C. Cuviello
SGA President
Opinion
people like George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander
Hamilton. They were during their
time some of the richest people
in America. They set up the gov
ernment to protect their land in
terest, not out of concern for the
people. Sure you read the consti
tution and you have the right to
freedom of speech, religion, and
the right to bear arms, but how
much else of the Constitution ap
plies to your everyday person?
The justice system was even
set up to protect the rich — case
and point O.J. Simpson. If our
founding fathers had everybody
in mind when they wrote the con
stitution then why did women
have to wait until 1920 to vote,
why did slavery exist until the
Civil War, and how come the
American Indians — who were
here centuries before the Pilgrims
ever landed on Plymouth Rock
— were not officially recognized
as citizens until 1924?
All this has rolled over into
modem day politics, because our
founding fathers wanted it that
way. The government has gone
through many changes since
1776, but it did not become a true
government for the people until
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s great so
ciety. Until 1933 all the govern
ment did was collect taxes, build
roads, and deliver your mail, but
as the Depression hit the nation
so did bigger government, it grew
under Lyndon Johnson’s in the
‘60’s and suffered under Reagan
in the ‘80’s.
Before we all congratulate
Reagan on his presidency, let’s
look at how he harmed our
economy. First, he cut taxes
across the board, but he shifted
the tax burden upwards instead
of giving the poor a tax break
like he should have. In 1981,
America was the biggest lender
nation in the world; in 1986 we
were the largest debtor nation,
thanks to Reaganomics.
Reagan’s economic policies
created a huge national debt that
our grandchildren won’t be able
to pay off. The election of George
Bush in 1988 did nothing to help
the problem.
When Clinton came to the
White House in 1992, he vowed
to fix America’s economic prob
lem, and with what he had to work
with he did a pretty good job. He
did raise taxes, but the tax in
crease helped the economy, which
is flourishing right now. Clinton
had many goals when he came
into office in 1992, but he
couldn’t get much done in Con
gress because the members of his
own party were against him.
So what does the American
public do to help him out? In
1994, they gave him a Republi
can Congress which just adds to
all the gridlock already in Wash
ington. So before anyone criti
cizes Clinton's presidency, just
look how much support Ameri
can voters gave him.
Another thing that is bad about
American politics is that if you
do not belong to a political group
or if you’re not able to contribute
to a politician’s campaign fund,
they treat you like someone who
has caught the Ebola virus. These
days ordinary people can’t gel
politicians to talk about legisla
tion that affects Ihein. Politicians
arc just conccrncd about all the
money they can get from Politi
cal Action Committees, which
basically just raise money for
campaigns. They do this instead
of finding shelters for the home
less, feeding starving children,
giving tax relief to those who need
it, and improving education and
increasing student loans.
We now know that the Ameri
can political system we live un
der is in a coma. More and more
people are getting fed up with all
of the bureaucratic mumbo
jumbo. The reason I say this is
because the system seems like it
is helping those who can afford it
instead of those who need it. If
America is supposed to be a great
country then why are people
starving, why are people unem
ployed, and why do politicians
take care of the people who can
donate to their campaign fund but
fail to represent the people who
put them where they are and pay
their salaries?
Government has become about
putting things off and finding tem
porary solutions to problems in
stead of permanent ones. That is
why we have our founding fa
thers to thank for the mess that
we are in because that’s the way
they designed our govemment. As
far as I am concerned, govern
ment is brain dead and on a respi
rator — and we should pull the
plug.
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