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I’ll let you in on a little secret.
Every morning when I pick up
a copy of The Daily Tar Heel, I
look at the front, then immediate
ly flip over to the editorial page.
And from what I’ve heard, so
do a lot of our readers.
It’s not that I don’t look at
what’s between the front and back
pages there’s a lot of important
information in there.
But the editorial page is one of
the only places in the newspaper
where you’re able to get insight on
the news of the day not from
the perspective of politicos or PR
Affirmative
action meant
to fix wrongs
Y ~T 'T+iether you agree or dis
\/\/ agree with affirmative
T V action, I urge you to
momentarily consider the ration
ale of the argument supporting
this policy and why the argu
ments against it do not hold up.
Those against affirmative
action argue that the policy is
meant to remedy past discrimi
nation, which they falsely believe
is nonexistent today. This could
n’t be further from the truth.
First, affirmative action is meant
to remedy past and present
wrongs. Many present social dis
parities exist because of past dis
crimination and are perpetuated
MELODY ROGERS
GUEST COLUMNIST
by those who don’t acknowledge
the intensity of racism today,
either because of its inconspicu
ousness or their ignorance of it.
Unconscious racism is the most
dangerous type because people
falsely believe there is no prob
lem, hence social growth is hin
dered.
Many opponents of affirmative
action compare all minority
Americans with an array of
migrant populations from past to
present; how'ever, one cannot
fairly draw parallels here. Those
who migrate here oftentimes dif
fer from those who arrived here
by different means.
Many represent the cream of
the crop financially, educationally
and even in terms of talent and
ambition. These people are erro
neously being compared to the
general population of other
minority races, not with the out
standing achievers of the minori
ties.
If we believe that all people are
created equal, then it should fol
low that other minorities could
achieve in the same manner. In
light of this, why would minority
Americans, specifically women
and blacks, still need policy con
siderations? One answer is the
simple fact that they have faced a
different type of oppression than
other groups.
Although some minority
groups suffered blatant unfair
treatment because of their eth
nicity, others suffered psychologi
cal and physical oppression. In
the case of blacks, after being
stolen from their continent,
deprived of a traceable heritage,
deprived of their dignity, cultur
ally raped, physically abused and
denied access to educational and
occupational opportunities for
hundreds of years, they’re asked
to live with their abusers with no
compensation for actions that
still have ramifications today!
In other words, blacks began
the race shackled and bound,
after 400 years of running, the
shackles are finally loosed, at
which point they are told that
they are now free to try to com
pete. How should they catch up?
Blacks have really only been in
existence since the Voting Rights
Act of 1.965, when they were
guaranteed the right to vote just
as any other American citizen.
In a sense, blacks had to learn
how to exist again: creating his
tory, rebuilding pride, developing
a distinct culture and erasing
inferiority myths from their chil
dren’s minds that society rein
forced. The least America can do
is allow them to improve their
state through access to quality
education, gained by their own
merit and through admissions
committees being conscience of
the suffering the people as a com
munity have been through.
The affirmative action debate
is the classic case of the haves ver
APRIL D. BETHEA
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR-SELECT
reps but from you, our readers.
It’s also one of the few places
where the average UNC student
can become a campus celebrity.
Applications for the fall DTH
Editorial Page staff are available
at the front desk of the DTH in
Suite 104 of the Student Union.
The deadline for turning in appli
cations is 5 p.m. April 21.
The names of students selected
to join the staff will be printed in
the April 25 issue of the DTH.
sus the have-nots. It’s natural for
the haves to defend the status quo
in order to maintain their privi
lege and natural for the have-nots
to want opportunities. To those
who say, “Minorities can do it
without affirmative action,” I
reply, “They can, but should they
have extra hoops to jump through
by default of their social status?”
Keep in mind that this is a
zero-sum game; for one group to
be advantaged, another group
has to be disadvantaged. In a sys
tem in which the balance is heav
ily tilted to one side, it takes extra
effort to rebalance the system.
Those who want colorblind
policies are idealistic and far
from realistic. Even with the
same education and credentials,
blacks aren’t as likely to receive a
job if employers know their eth
nicity before hand. This means
50 percent of job markets see an
equally qualified minority candi
date as inferior! Yet, in the job
force, minorities hired performed
just as well or above their coun
terparts. Until our society
becomes more equal, our policies
should only be as colorblind as
the society they are designed for.
One day we will not need affir
mative action, but the policy
should be amended gradually as
social inequality and discrimina
tion diminishes.
Fourthly, I once heard Felix
Lurye compare our education
system to the NBA, which is 75
percent black. The argument is
that no one complains about the
disproportional representation in
that arena. However, this argu
ment simply doesn’t hold water.
First, to be good at basketball,
one only needs natural talent and
practice. To be successful in edu
cation, however, one needs a lot
more than the natural talent of
intelligence —one needs
resources and equal opportuni
ties, which minorities simply
don’t have. Our forefathers made
school mandatory' for everyone
for one reason: No matter how
smart one is, if they don’t have
quality education, they are not as
likely to succeed. The entire socie
ty benefits from an educated pop
ulation and having the best and
brightest from all communities.
Next is the false idea that affir
mative action gives jobs and edu
cation to unqualified minorities.
Those who give jobs to minorities
and women because of their social
status are just as racist as those
who discriminate against them!
That is not affirmative action, and
minorities don’t need those jobs!
This policy does not give prefer
ence but equal opportunity'.
Finally, there is the “I didn't do
anything; Why should I have to
pay” argument. This argument
annoys me. I’ve seen few, if any,
members of a privileged popula
tion reject benefits they enjoy as
a result of their ancestors. They
accept the inherited wealth,
resources, networks and social
status built primarily on free
exploitation of blacks.
They reject, however, the
responsibility for the actions of
their ancestors. Our ancestors
left us with a great society, which
we benefit from, but they also left
us with imperfections and prob
lems we need to fix. Don’t take
the good and ignore the bad.
Support policies that have been
successful at remedying wrongs.
With inherited wealth comes
inherited responsibility, and
always remember, “To whom
much is given, much is required.”
Contact Melody Rodgers, a
senior majoring in public policy
and international studies, at
melodiva@email.unc.edu.
Viewpoints
We’re looking for several stu
dents to sign up for back-page
columnists, the DTH Editorial
Board and cartoonists.
Although no journalism experi
ence is required, strong writing
skills are a plus. No member of
student government is allowed to
apply for the editorial staff.
Each semester without fail, the
most popular and highly competi
tive spots on the editorial staff are
our five back-page columnists.
Whether it’s musing about a
relationship gone bad or taking
on leftists, our columnists always
War only helps corporate insiders
War is never profitable for
either the victor or the
vanquished nation. It
imposes various costs on the peo
ple of the combatant nations.
First, arid most obvious, war
costs some of them their lives and
leaves others permanently crip
pled and incapacitated.
War also imposes the cost of all
that had existed and is now
destroyed or damaged. Private
residences and workplaces are
reduced to rubble, along with
machinery in factories and per
sonal belongings. The resources
of society must be directed to
rebuild and replace all that.
Even when one of the combat
ant nations in a war is not itself
touched by invasions and bomb
ings, the war is not free in terms of
these material things of life. Every
man in the military is one man
fewer employed in the private sec
tor. Every dollar taxed away by
government to finance the war is
one dollar less in the pockets of
private citizens to spend in ways
reflecting their own hopes.
But doesn’t war generate pros
perity for many in the economy?
War is profitable for the defense
related industries that will have
to replenish the $1 million mis
siles and the $50,000 bombs that
Reform needed to make elections fair
In this season of student gov
ernment elections, young peo
ple across the country- are
being asked to vote for their stu
dent representatives. But many
times this plea is answered with a
more difficult question. “Why
should I vote? It doesn’t count
anyway.”
While sometimes seen as a
tired refrain of apathetic young
people or a lament about the lim
ited ambitions and powers of
some student governments,
examining this statement can
reveal a deeper political problem.
One of the basic ideas of democ
racy, that the people vote and
then receive representation in
government, is not being realized
by the current political system.
Rather than expressing apathy,
students are being realistic about
how much impact their vote can
really have.
Under the current winner
take-all plurality voting system
used in most U.S. elections, a
candidate who wins a bare 51 per
cent majority of votes can receive
100 percent of the representa
tion. This means that as many as
49 percent of votes do not lead to
a voice in government. For these
people, their votes truly do not
count.
But anew political reform that
have given readers something to
talk about although not always
in the friendliest of ways.
In the coming year, you’ll notice
a few changes with our columnists.
Beginning this fall, three colum
nist slots will be devoted to writing
news-analysis pieces mixing per
sonal commentary with hard-line
facts on University, town and state
and national issues. The addition
of these columns will help to add a
level of credibility to the page that
I hope will be evident throughout
the entire page next year.
Students hoping to apply for a
RICHARD EBELING
GUEST COLUMNIST
are being dropped on the oppos
ing country. War is also profitable
for the companies supplying the
uniforms, equipment and
weaponry for the armed forces in
the field or the rear areas.
But every one of the dollars
taken by the government through
taxes or borrowed from the finan
cial markets is a dollar less that is
available for all of those private
sector uses and productive
employments.
When the government uses
those dollars and the resources
they represent in the market
place, it uses them to manufac
ture weapons of destruction,
weapons that are consumed in
war and are, in addition, used to
destroy lives and the private pro
ductive and personal property of
those in the opposing nation.
War expenditures impoverish
people. War, w hatever its ration
ale and possible justification,
makes people on both sides of the
battle lines less well-off and
requires people to then try to
make up for all the lost ground
the conflict has taken away.
When the U.S. government
10HN RUSSELL
GUEST COLUMNIST
is gaining momentum on college
campuses can ensure that all
votes count and all voters are rep
resented.
Choice voting, a form of full
representation, was passed over
whelmingly last month by the
Associated Students of University
of California-Davis. Instead of
just marking one candidate on
the ballot, the system allows vot
ers to rank candidates in order of
preference.
These preferences are then
used to award seats in multi
member districts so that a major
ity of voters will elect a majority
of seats, but not all the seats. If
there are 10 seats to be filled, a
candidate needs the support of
about a tenth of students to win a
seat. If there are five seats, a can
didate will win with the support
of 20 percent of students.
Choice voting dramatically
increases the chance that a ballot
will lead to representation. If a
smaller group of like-minded vot
ers prefer a candidate, they can
win at least one seat. Also, if a
particular voter’s first choice is
not strong enough to win a seat,
their second choice is taken into
columnist position should submit
three 700-word sample columns
on topics of their choice and sum
maries for future columns.
Applicants will be invited to
schedule a 20-minute interview
with the page’s editors during the
evenings of April 23 and April 24.
Slots also are available for the
Editorial Board. The board tackles
a variety of issues both on campus
and beyond. Board members write
one editorial per week on issues
discussed during weekly meetings.
And what editorial page would
be complete without cartoonists?
begins the enterprise of remaking
Iraqi society, huge expenditures
will be forced on the American
taxpayer to cover the costs. The
global social engineers in
Washington, D.C., are finishing
the details on a SIOO billion post
war reconstruction project for
U.S.-occupied Iraq.
Iraq's major public sectors will
be rebuilt by American companies
given the government contracts to
do the work. Some lucky firms will
have the contracts to restructure
the Iraqi public school system.
Some fortunate American cor
poration is to receive the govern
ment contract to design and
implement a national health-care
system modeled more or less on
the British system of socialized
medicine, to be eventually man
aged by an Iraqi government
ministry of health.
The U.S government will pay
for five rebuilt or new govern
ment-owned airports in Iraq,
three for domestic and two for
international flights. The U.S. mil
itary will run all air traffic control.
And selected American com
panies will be contracted to make
every Iraqi a believer and practi
tioner in U.S.-style democracy.
Iraq, according to the blueprint,
is to be divided into 18 regions, in
consideration. The ranking of
candidates ensures that more
than 90 percent of ballots lead
directly to representation when
electing 10 seats.
This is especially significant in
the context of student govern
ments, where many times elec
tions are dominated by a particu
lar group on campus. The win
ner-take-all system currently
used at most schools allows this
dominant group to win a vast
majority' of seats. Under choice
voting, smaller student groups
can consolidate their support and
win representation. The typical
result is a more diverse student
government that represents all
views within the student body.
The benefits of choice voting
for student legislatures has been
recognized at several schools. In
addition its adoption by a 67 per
cent to 33 percent student body
vote at UC-Davis, Harvard,
Princeton, University of Illinois,
Carleton College and Vassar all
use choice voting or another form
of full representation.
Even more schools use winner
take-all variant of choice voting
called instant runoff voting. On
the international scene, the
United States and Canada are the
only major democracies that still
use winner-take-all exclusively
MONDAY, APRILI4, 2003
As the old saying goes, some
times a picture (or in this case, a
cartoon) is worth a thousand
words. Cartoons have a way of con
veying feelings that can’t always be
expressed through writing.
I invite any and all students
interested in joining the editorial
staff to fill out an application.
And who knows? Perhaps you’ll
be the next campus celebrity.
Contact Editorial Page Editor
select April Bethea, a junior jour
nalism and political science major,
at adbethea@email.unc.edu.
which hired legal experts will
prepare the institutional changes
and the groundwork for future
political elections.
Yes, the aftermath of war will be
profitable for those privileged
companies, corporations and pri
vate experts that are given lucra
tive contracts at taxpayers’
expense. But another name for the
planned projects in Iraq is “corpo
rate welfare.” And the use of this
term should make it much clearer
that what will be at work will be
large-scale income redistribution
from the U.S. taxpayer to the privi
leged few in the corporate world
who are well-connected enough to
obtain the multibillion dollar con
tracts from Washington.
Some will benefit from war
through the largess of govern
ment spending during and after
the military' conflagration. But
like all other forms of govern
ment redistribution, it will be at
the expense of many others in
society and will in the long run
make the vast majority in the
nations affected poorer than they
were or ever had to be.
Contact Richard Ebeling, an
economics professor at
Hillsdale College, at
richard.ebeling@hillsdale.edu.
for national elections, and nearly
all British universities elect their
student governments with choice
voting.
Although the low voter turnout
of 18- to 24-year-olds in national
elections is seen as a crisis, these
numbers are just as compelling at
the student election level.
Each spring there is usually an
article or editorial about whether
student government elections
really matter. This debate includes
many factors, including the legiti
macy and power of student-elect
ed bodies. If nobody votes, the
argument goes, then student gov
ernments don’t represent students
and therefore don’t matter.
But when we examine the win
ner-take-all electoral system, the
opposite is true.
Student governments don’t
represent enough of the students,
and therefore they don’t vote.
Implementing choice voting and
providing representation to all
students would be a big step
toward reversing this trend.
Winning a seat at the table is a
powerful incentive to care about
the decisions made there.
Contact John Russell, student
outreach coordinator at the
Centerfor Voting and Democracy,
atjohnr@fairvote.org.
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