The Tar Heel Thursday, June 18, 198713
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EdotoirpaB
.Reagan
lostie Msowmffo
President Reagan many times a
hypocrite.
During his nationally broadcast speech
Monday night, Reagan claimed he has
presented a responsible budget to Congress,
but Congress has failed to enact it.
Reagan's responsible budget includes
enough smoke and mirrors to please Harry
Houdini.
Reagan forecasted a growth in gross
national product that far exceeded all other
projections. The increase in GNP has not
even approached Reagan's projection.
Reagan also underestimated the inflation
rate, while most economists were forecasting
a sharp increase in it. Inflation greatly
exceeds Reagan's projection.
Reagan and his advisers painted a rosy
economic picture as a means to increase
revenue projections and decrease expendi
ture projections. This is how Reagan
reached the deficit target mandated by
Gramm-Rudman-Hollings.
That is Reagan's responsible budget.
Reagan's primary target during his speech
was not the budget deficit, however. It was
the Democratic Party. Reagan blamed
Democrats for the budgetary mess. Reagan
described Democrats as profligate and
undisciplined big-spenders motivated by
partisan concerns.
What Reagan failed to mention was the
petulant and irresponsible behavior of
congressional Republicans. The Republi
cans, instead of working with the Democrats
to forge a consensus, are sitting on the
sidelines hoping the Democrats will stumble.
Is this the representation their constituents
want?
After blaming Democrats for the budge
tary morass and ignoring the intransigence
of congressional Republicans, Reagan
asserted a need for a balanced budget
amendment and a line-item veto to control
wasteful spending. If Reagan wants to show
fiscal responsibility he should first submit
a balanced budget to Congress, which is
something he has never done. Once he does
that, let him ask the American people for
.Off the Record
a balanced budget amendment and a line
item veto but first he needs to meet the
problem head-on.
The problem is the deficit. No one,
including Reagan, Congress, and the
American people, has been willing to deal
with one simple fact military spending,
Social Security and Medicare, and interest
payments on the national debt nearly equal
annual revenues.
Interest payments are the only part of the
budget that are untouchable, but if Congress
and Reagan continue to regard military
spending, Social Security, and Medicare as
untouchable, only three options remain to
balance the budget.
The first option would be to eliminate
all other federal programs. This would
include the FBI, Environmental Protection
Agency, Coast Guard, Drug Enforcement
Agency, Food and Drug Administration,
and dozens of other essential agencies and
programs. What would this option do to
national security and economic growth?
The second option would be to substan
tially increase taxes. Walter Mondale's
presidential campaign demonstrated the
popularity of this idea compared to Rea
gan's simplistic call for staying-the-course."
The third option would be to decrease
spending for all but the "untouchable"
programs and to increase taxes. On the
surface this appears to be a sensible
approach, but it would still entail gutting
numerous essential programs and a huge tax
increase.
The only sensible approach to the deficit
is to cut defense spending, reform the
entitlement programs, cut non-essential
spending, and moderately increase taxes.
Reagan may spend weeks asking for a
balanced budget amendment and a line-item
veto, but neither of these smokescreens will
reduce the deficit by a penny. If Reagan
is serious about balancing the budget he will
get off of his duff and present a balanced
budget to Congress. Until he does so, his
criticism of congressional Democrats is
merely partisan hyperbole.
Sally Pearsall Editor
Stephanie Beard Managing Editor
Lisa Lorentz News Editor
Ron Crawford University Editor
Mike Berardino Sports Editor
Joanne Gordon Arts and Features Editor
Steve Matteson Photography Editor
Staff
Tom Ballus, Chip Beverung, James Burrus, Susana Dancy,
Eric Fullagar, Sarah Glowacki, Alecia Holland, Michael
Jackson, Lauren Joyner, Gary Kayye, Tamara Majors, Alex
Marshall, Krista Matthews, Laura Patterson, Kim Orr, Paul
Russ, Karen Smiley, Sherrie Thomas, Marie Thompson,
Nancy Waldrop, Wendy Widener, Judy Wilson.
Letters
Trust is integral to honor code
Youth and the Klan: a sad combination
The American Negro College
Fund uses the slogan, "A mind
is a terrible thing to waste."
Ironically, this phrase easily
could apply to the dozens of
Klan members who proudly
paraded their ignorance and
outdated ideals down Franklin
Street last Sunday afternoon.
The existence of extremist
organizations like the Ku Klux
Klan is a pathetic example of
what happens when peoples
minds are so wasted by ignor
ance and hatred that they cannot
accept different races, lifestyles
or beliefs.
But the saddest waste evident
in Sunday's march was the
presence of young boys in the
ranks of the marchers. These
children were too young to fully
understand the evil that they
represented.
Their minds have already been
poisoned with hatred and racist
ideas by the adults they trust.
Instead of opening these young
minds with education and under
standing, the adults in the Klan
have stunted these children's
intellectual growth with bigotry. ;
Because they were endoctri
nated into the Klan's warped
ideology at such a young age,
there is little hope for these
youths to escape a life of prej
udice. They are trapped into a
stagnant world where they can
never have friends of a different
race or religion, and they can
never tolerate new ideas.
But worst of all, these young
children insure that the Klan will
have at least one more generation
of racial violence and
intimidation.
Fortunately, the Klan and
their supporters represent only a
very small minority.
This was evident Sunday when
many local children and teenag
ers joined adults in protesting the
Klan's presence. While their
protest was not organized and it
probably changed few if any
opinions, it did show that in the
future there will be even less
support for the Klan and its
activities.
To the editor:
When a student enrolls at
Carolina, he or she becomes a part
of a long-standing tradition of
student self-government as embo
died in our honor system. More
than a century ago, this honor
system was instituted at Carolina
to protect the pursuit of academic
interests at the University. Broader
goals of the honor system include
its part in the University's mission
to prepare its students for their
future lives as responsible citizens.
Unlike a proctoring or monitoring
system, which places responsibility
with an external authority, the
Honor System makes each person
responsible for his own honorable
conduct we monitor ourselves.
As Seneca said 2,000 years ago,
"It goes a long way toward making
a man trustworthy to trust him."
A faith in this fundamental axiom
underlies our system, and it is the
responsibility of each of us as
students at this University to make
our actions and our lives an
exemplification of its truth.
This University presupposes a
commitment by each student to
the ideals expressed in the Code
of Student Conduct (Article II of
the Instrument of Student Judicial
Governance), composed of the
Honor Code (II.A.) and the Cam
pus Code (H.B.).
HONOR CODE: It shall be the
responsibility of every student at
The University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill to obey and to
support the enforcement of the
Honor Code, which prohibits
lying, cheating or stealing when
these actions involve academic
processes or University, student or
academic personnel acting in an
official capacity.
CAMPUS CODE: It shall be
the further responsibility of every
student to abide by the Campus
Code; namely, to conduct oneself
so as not to impair significantly
the welfare or the educational
opportunities of others in the
University community.
The Instrument further states
that "the discovery and dissemi
nation knowledge through
research, teaching, and learning is
the fundamental activity of this
academic community. Intellectual
honesty is integral to that enter
prise. Academic dishonesty in any
form is unacceptable, because any
breach in academic integrity,
however small, strikes destruc
tively at the University's life and
work (IA.G.)." Consequently,
for academic cheating, suspension
for at least one semester and a
failing grade in the course involved
is the normal sanction for the
initial offense (II.D.l.a., III.B.2.,
H.B.5.).
Students at this University have
an unusual degree of self
determination and responsibility
for self-governance in the regula
tion of their conduct. However,
these greater rights and freedoms
engender responsibilities. Certain
of these responsibilities are specif
ically enumerated in Item I.A.6.
of the Instrument and appear in
all University notebooks. Each of
us must uphold these responsibil
ities to ensure the continuation of
the tradition of self-determination
at UNC.
Here are a few notes of practical
advice. If you are unsure of the
requirements of an assignment or
the degree of collaboration
allowed, ask. Make sure you know
how to document your sources.
Starting work ahead of time is the
best way to avoid the last minute
crunches when you can make a
rash decision. And it's always
better to turn something in late
than to risk plagiarism to turn it
in on time. And finally, if you have
any questions about the judicial
system, please feel free to call the
- Summer Court at 962-5505, the
Student Attorney General's office
at 966-4084, or Beth Furr, Assist
ant Dean of Students, at 966-404 1 .
John Fox
Summer Honor Court Chair
Doug Thomas
Student-Attorney Gf;aeral