Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Oct. 14, 1993, edition 1 / Page 2
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Editorials October 14,1993 2 Viewpoint THE MAKING OF A PRESIDENT Drunk driving is still one of Elon's biggest problems It couldn't possibly happen to me! It couldn't happen to anyone in the Elon College "family" either. Wake up folks...it CAN happen | and it did. Two years ago, Chad Macy chose to drink and drive and lost his life as a result of this action. From the recent crime box statistics in The Pendulum, students here still think it can't happen to them. Why do they choose to complain about crime statistics being published when drinking and driving is still a problem? That is probably the reality check this campus needs. Why would you choose to drink and drive? I realize everyone wants to party and have fun, but that is why Safe Rides was created. Become a part of Safe Rides, and give up a few nights of partying so that your friends get home safely. But even if you can't. give up a few nights of partying, you CAN be responsible enough not to get behind the wheel of a car. It can happen to you. It is sad to have to write this letter in hopes that students will wake up and see the reality. Please, be responsible. We don't need another tragedy to strike the Elon College community. Let one lesson be enough. The Pendulum Serving the Elon College community Editor Tonya Taylor Managing Editor Erick Gill Asst. Managing Editor Sheila Kendall Arts Editor Lori Haley Sports Editor Paul Longworth Photographer Bill Harvey Office: 102 Williamson Ave., Elon College, N.C., 27244. 584-2331 The Pendulum, founded in 1974, is published by Elon students. The Pendulum welcomes your opinions with 'etters limited to 250 words. Letters must be signed with a phone number for verification. Deadlines for ^submisionis5p.m.Fn^y^ Reporters Heather Anderson Amy Logerwell Tandie Ebrahimi Tara Ann Graytock Rick Grimes Ashley Stone Advertising Sarah Mitchell Graphics Editor Rob Mancuso Adviser Joey Senat I’m not sure if you all noticed. I It happened sometime last week, in-between the math test on Tuesday and that first downed beer for the weekend. All of you who were paying attention last week might have noticed. Last week Bill Clinton became the President of the United States of America. He is now our leader, not just some fool who happens to be sitting in the Oval Office. President Clinton actually showed the courage of leadership last week. A month ago Defense Secretary Les Aspin refused a request from the U.S. forces in I Somalia to send armor to the [ region. He was afraid that that would set off major opposition in iCongress. That is a basic 1 violation of foreign policy. Whenever troops are in harms way and they make a request it should be automatic to grant it. If, for whatever reason, you cannot fulfill the request, you I must bring every soldier home. As we all know, 13 Rangers I died because a raid went bad last week. Now, having armor there I would not have prevented all of I the deaths but they probably would have prevented the capture of the helicopter pilot and at least some of the deaths. Having U.S. soldiers pinned down for nine hours is just plain wrong. It was necessary to coordinate actions '' Scott I Miller • with a couple of other countries who had the armor to get in to the affected area and pull off the rescue mission. Aspin’s decision to cut off support to U.S. soldiers because of political reasons is bordering on immoral. When the first polls came out saying that 60 and 70 percent of the American people favored an immediate withdrawal from Somalia I thought that that was what was going to happen. I thought that there was no way that Bill is going to hurt himself politically. He has Senator Robert Byrd pressuring him for immediate withdrawal from the Democrats and Newt Gingrich doing it from the Republican side. Congress was probably a reflection of what the American people thought, if not even more on the side of the “cut and runners.” A million people are now alive that would not have been had George Bush not made the initial decision of intervention last December. (By the way, for you folks who were screaming about no blood for oil in the last crisis, there is no oil in Somalia. The people in Somalia are black. The country has no strategic post-cold war value to the United States... and George Bush still gave the order. I guess that not all decisions that Republicans make are based on race, money or strategic importance. Maybe it’s all just about helping out another human being. Republicans.'., think about it.) If the president had given the order to cut and run we would be giving the Aidid militia the chance to dominate Somalian affairs and take away the chance to live that our soldiers have given the Somali people. He did not give that order. Instead, he admitted to the awful mistake of Secretary Aspin and corrected it by sending in enough troops so that they can protect their own comrades. Clinton did not listen to the cries for isolation and self- absorbtion. America is, and always will be, a leader. When the Europeans do not want to do something America steps in and docs it. That is the price of leadership. Let us use our might to lead. We have done so in the Persian Gulf and Somalia. To Bill Clinton’s credit he has “stayed the course” and made America’s place in history that much greater. A Rescue From the Darkness “Darkness at the break of noon. Shadows even the silver spoon, The handmade blade the childs balloon. Eclipses both the sun and the moon, to understand you know to soon. There’s no sense in trying.” "Bob Dylan It is words like these that lead me to the subject of the stagnant pond of which we arc all citizens. The once rabid dog of capitalism has been subdued by the hard workers from across the big sea. This is not all, the country seems to be self destructing with events from the increase in homelessness to the insurance scams of which we arc all victims of. Where is our Nero? Who is the true reason for this decline in our greedy society? The fact is that there is no face behind the luminous ‘They”, and to blame any problem on “Them” is inexcusable. Of course, to deny that our den of vipers is doing anything but waning in these last few years is ignorant. Although our presidency has changed hands, and parties, the country seems headed in the same direction as before. The only reasonable step of late is the apparent socializing of medicine in Bill and Hillary’s health proposal. These are the first steps since since Nancy Reagan’s ever so fruitful “just say no” campaign that affect the citizens. Of course Mr. Bush had an excellent foreign policy, but it is at home that we need the help. We all know hundreds of people without insurance. Were some major accident to befall them, they would have to put their meager earnings into the pocket of some doctor. With this health plan we would all be taken care of. True, it is a mild form of socialism, one of the dirtiest words in America today, but our preent state is so sad that perhaps it is time to dispell some of the paronia and reach for a system that will work. We need to back away from the greedy capitalist swine that are only inerested in their own fat pockets and go to work for the common people, people like you and I that deserve to be taken care of instead of being forced into a system that is perpetuated by greed. While it is doubtful that Bill Clinton can do anything about this, we need to keep the Republicans from doing any more harm. These Republicans multiply like rabbits so it may be necessary to shoot them like vermin. —by Marc Gentile
Elon University Student Newspaper
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