The Daily Tar HeeiMonday, September 11, 19899
'Opinion-
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It has not been the best of rookie
years for George Bush. In spite of an
economy that has yet to sag, an agree
able Supreme Court majority, and a
general nod of approval from the
American public, these are uneasy times
for our leader. Reason: the long, dark
shadow cast westward by the Soviet
Union has all but disappeared from its
45-year occupation of the White House
lawn. The result is an ideological and
rhetorical vacuum Bush and his court
have been scrambling nervously to fill
since the first moments of hard fought
victory 11 months ago.
. Fortunately, all is not lost. The presi
dent has been in politics for more years
than most of us have fingers and toes,
and he recognizes an opportunity when
he sees one. Enter then "The Extra
ditables," the one-dozen magnificently
evil bad boys our president and his
press entourage teach us to love to hate.
; That the situation in Colombia resul
tant from the drug trade has reached a
crisis state is without doubt. The
Medellin Cartel possesses the power
and sophistication to both declare war
on a government and to carry that threat
out chilling evidence of a society in
chaos. The assassination of Senator
Galan is only the most dramatic in a
long series of violent acts. Since 1985
some 1,000 members of the left-wing
union Patricia have been killed, as have
aDDroximatelv 250 Colombian iudees
1 a w
and magistrates. The massacre of 43
But
O O
' There is a plague on the land. You
hear about it on the evening news. Your
president tells you it is the "gravest
domestic threat facing the nation to
day." He says that the name of the
plague is drugs and that your utmost
commitment and effort are required to
eradicate it. He calls on you to fight a
noble fight, a war on drugs.
. iThere is indeed a plague on the land,
but its name is not drugs, and you
cannot rely on your leaders to identify
and combat it, for they are its chief
advocates. The name of the plague is
statism. It is the belief that the interests
of the state outweigh the interests of the
individual.
' "Drugs are sapping our strength as a
nation," your president says. What does
he mean? Clearly, a number of serious
Leaders will fight
future tuition hikes
Many students returned to campus
two weeks ago to find an unpleasant
surprise awaiting them a tuition
increase of 20 percent for in-state resi
dents and 15 percent for out-of-state
students. Those percentages translate
into about $100 per year and $650 per
year respectively. While this news was
unexpected for many students, their
representatives spent a great deal of
time this summer speaking out on the
issue and lobbying against the increases.
Since recent editorials have criticized
the strong position taken by student
government we feel that it would bene
fit the university community to outline
the principles upon which our opposi
tion was based.
Too much, too late: The increases
were unprecedented in their size and
unanticipated by students when they
.left the campus in May. Thus students
and their families were not prepared to
' respond politically or financially and-
' the Office of Scholarships and Student
Aid was unable to budget for the wide
impact of the increases. The aid office
has only been able to fill students'
needs with loan dollars, adding to al-
. ready-staggering amount of debt bur
den felt by the students.
The cost to the University: Higher
tuition could very well cost UNC two
, things. One is a loss in the diversity and
, quality of our out-of-state population.
Carolina will lose one of its competi-
. tive advantages, making it a less attrac
tive alternative. We'll end up with an
out-of-state population that can pay its
. way but may not bring an equal amount
of talent with it. This will damage the
reputation of a university already slip
ping in national rankings.
The second loss will be the result of
the drastic rise of in-state tuition rates.
An increase of this nature can only
erode the cherished principle of a mini-
' mal cost university that is enshrined in
r the North Carolina Constitution. If our
' attitude today is "Well, it's only $100
and that's not so unreasonable" we will
: open up Pandora's Box for every suc
ceeding state budget process and this
can only lead to an ultimate desertion of
the very principle upon which the uni
versity was founded.
The funding of private education:
' The tuition hikes were especially ob-
jectionable in the face of the state's
'increased funding of private colleges
arid universities. The state maintains
two funds, one being a pool from which
'money is distributed on the basis of
financial need. The other fund is an
: across-the-board donation by the state
toward the tuition of each North Caro
lina resident at an N.C. private univer
sity. The bottom line here is that while
the resident North Carolinian got hit for
dissenters to the right-wing drug coali
tions in a half-hour spree in, Seqouia
last November is testimony to the ruth
lessness of those who wield power in
the drug industry.
Yet the issue at hand here is manipu
lation that is, how clearly and effec
tively the Bush team has capitalized on
the glamorous aspects of the "war"
being waged in Colombia. The New
York Times and Washington Post dis
play daily headlines and photos glori
fying the "let's get tough" attitude
Washington has adopted toward the
"drug kingpins." The in-action photo
the Times treated us to just one week
after the initial large-scale raids by
Colombian President Virgilio barco
Vargas is an excellent case in point.
President Bush, Attorney General Dick
Thornburg, Secretary of Defense Dick
Cheney, and of course Drug Czar Wil
liam Bennett an entourage we might
label "The Untouchables" are pac
ing in what appears to be a rapid man
ner across the drive of Bush's home in
Maine. We are certain high-level, no
nonsense talks will follow shortly.
But the question is when, if ever,
Bush, Bennett or anyone will address
the root causes of the dilemma causes
the Reagan-Bush administrations have
long ignored.
Recent articles and editorials have
spent a considerable amount of space
and ink reminding us that Colombia,
and in particular the Medellin Cartel, is
his war only fights against
problems are associated with illegal
drugs: drug users steal to support their
expensive habits; drug dealers fight
"turf wars" to secure exclusive "right"
to drug sales in particular neighbor
hoods; employees who use drugs are
less productive. But these facts alone
do not justify a war on drugs; in order to
solve any problem, one must first iden
tify its source.
Your president claims that he has
done so: the people responsible for the
problem are "everyone who uses drugs,
everyone who sells drugs, everyone
who looks the other way." This last
grouping is intended to be all-inclusive:
it means that you are responsible,
as long as you are not actively opposing
the use and sale of drugs. And make no
mistake you are being held respon-
LewisDavis
Guest Writers
$100 a year extra at public schools,
those state residents going to private
schools like Duke or Meredith were
given a raise from $1,100 to $1,500. If
you are sitting in Lenoir at a table of
four North Carolinians, congratulate
yourselves. You all just contributed the
extra $400 to "Biff' who goes to Duke.
If that is not shooting public education
in the foot, what is?
The lack of university control: The
current system of tuition is unfair to the
students and their institutions. Unlike
private school students, we aren't re
ally paying "tuition" our dollars go
to the General Fund of the state of
North Carolina, not to our campuses. In
truth, we are paying taxes. Our schools'
budgets come under intense scrutiny
and micro-management, whereas the
$1,500 per head going to the private
schools is essentially a carte blanche.
Increasing tuition has truly achieved
only one thing it has given $19
million to the state General Fund. And
where has it all gone? A few million
here for a basketball arena to N.C.
State, a few million there to build a
business school we didn't even ask for
and some $25 million in aid to private
school students. The student body here
in Chapel Hill and, indeed, students
across the state, have been used as a
cash cow, seen simply as a source of
revenue.
Student government believes that the
state of North Carolina could have
handled the issue more sensitively,
could have consulted those concerned.
This simply was not done and we were
forced to use the media to get our points
across. We will continue to keep this
issue in the forefront so that increases
of this nature do not become the status
quo. We believe that public higher
education in North Carolina ad all those
who benefit from it deserve better.
Our continued opposition is not based
on a selfish desire to squeeze every
drop out of the system that we can. It is
based on a respect and admiration for
the people of North Carolina and their
200-year commitment to public educa
tion. The recent tuition increase is an
affront and an-insult to that commit
ment. Brien Lewis, a senior political sci
ence major from Toronto, Canada, is
student body president. Gene Davis, a
senior speech communications major
from Raleigh, is the speaker of Student
Congress.
StrongAnthony
Guest Writers
responsible for the vast majority of the
cocaine shipped into the United States
each year. Many such pieces also dis
cuss the dramatically increased use of
cocaine and other drugs within the
United States. But rarely do we find a
news item combining these two very
well-known facts. Rarely, in other
words, is the point made that the drug
problem in Colombia is a direct result
of a drug consumption our government
has made only superficial attempts to
check over the past decade.
In an issue of the Wall Street Journal
several years ago, Alexander Cock
burn made several insightful comments
to this effect. "Drugs," he said, "are
useful in the subjugation and atomiza
tion of the dangerous classes, meaning
the potentially disruptive poor. A nar
cotized underclass can be comfortingly
defined solely in terms of addictions"
(Wall Street Journal, July 11, 1986).
Cockburn went on to describe a photo
that ran in Time magazine, which
showed a black youth spray-painting
an "X" on the door of an abandoned
building in Harlem used as a crack
house. The social disease, as he pointed
out, is identified as the drugs, rather
Harry Dolan
Guest Writer
sible. The punishment imposed upon
you is taxation, and the war is just
beginning to heat up.
Illegal drugs are a grave threat to our
society, but it is the illegal part, not the
drug part, that is the source of that
threat. Prohibition of the drug trade is
the source of most of the problems
associate with drugs. If drug sales were
legal, they could take place openly,;
violent turf wars would end. (How of
ten do you see the manufacturers and
sellers of alcohol and cigarettes in
volved in shoot-outs with the police
and with each other?) Moreover, drug
prices would drop considerably, since
it is the artificial scarcity and high
operating costs imposed buy prohibi
tion efforts that keep prices high; as a
result, drug users would not need to
turn to crime to support their habits. In
each case, prohibition is the root of the
problem,. A bigger does of prohibition
can only make the problem worse.
Yet that is what your president is
advocating. We are involved in a war,
he says. You have heard about wars
Appropriations, AIDS,
"We are now a world-class univer
sity. We won't be in 10 years if we rely
on state appropriations." Chancel
lor Paul Hardin, speaking to the Board
ofT rusteesonwhythe University should
seek more financial autonomy.
"Our mission is to provide the best
education for the least amount of money,
not necessarily to be a great univer
sity." - Board of Trustees member
John Pope on why he disagreed with
Hardin's proposals. Pope was the only
member to express serious reserva
tions with the suggestions.
"A lot of eyes bulge and there is a lot
of giggling." Laura Foster, chair-
than the surrounding squalor. "A drug
free society," Cockburn concluded, "is
a subversive idea."
A quick sampling of statistics sup
ports the notion that those suffering
most from the drug problem lower
income minorities are also those
receiving less and less help from their
government. In 1965 the poorest 40
percent of the population earned 11
percent of the total U.S. market in
come; almost 15 years later, the take
made by that same group fell to 8.5
percent. From 1945 to 1983, the par
ticipation of black males in the labor
force fell from 80 percent to 60 percent
(The Nation, July 21, 1984). As of
1984, black unemployment was twice
the level of white unemployment, while
poverty among blacks was three times
more common. Of black males who
were employed in that year, 60 percent
were concentrated in the spectrum of
the lowest-paid jobs (New Left Re
view, January-February 1984).
What does Bush want? To stop ille
gal drug use in the United States? Per
haps. But that is an expensive, difficult
proposition. How about assure his own
re-election in 1992? Yes. If we give his
ensuing three years a quick cost-benefit
analysis, we find he is far more likely
to succeed should he convince Ameri
cans he is darned well going to fight the
good fight. The "battle" for good (and
re-election) is far easier when in pos
session of a simply defined "evil;" this
before: wars on poverty, on illiteracy,
on AIDS. Perhaps you assumed "war"
was only a metaphor. It is time to recon
sider that assumption. The war on drugs
is for real. The shooting has been going
on for years in the streets of America's
cities. In Colombia, they are bringing
out the big guns: your money has been
confiscated in order to send military
supplies and advisers to that country.
Sending in troops is the next logical
step. Do not be surprised when it is
taken.
Colombia's president has said that
the drug habits of Americans have
created the largest criminal enterprise
in the world. Your president agrees
with him. Neither will admit that the
prohibition of the drug trade is the
source of the problem.
Do not be confused by the language
your president uses. There can be no
such thing as a war on substance. The
war on drugs is a war on people. And a
nation must undertake careful delib
eration before declaring war against a
group of people. A nation which recog
nizes individual rights will declare war
only in response to a violation of those
rights. But a nation which ignores indi
vidual rights, or considers them only
one factor among many to "weighed"
Week in Quotes
woman of the Union's Gallery Com
mittee, describing reactions to the
"Visual AIDS" exhibit, whichincluded
sometimes-explicit AIDS educational
posters from around the world.
I feel that the student vote should be
final. I'm not sure it's any congress
member's role to question that deci
sion. I don't think the merits of the rec
center should be called into question."
Carolina Athletic Association Presi
dent Lisa Frye, speaking before the
Rules and Judiciary Committee of Stu
dent Congress on a proposal to put the
L. Haw
is especially true when the evil is elu
sive and far away. In the next several
years, hundreds of millions of dollars
will be spent on battle garb fo a fight in
foreign fields, while comparatively little
will be allocated to intelligent, long
term preventative measures in our own
backyards. Bush's current plan short
changes such measures (i.e. medical
aid for the poor, along with jobs and
housing), in exchange for the theatrics
of short-sighted and expensive "solu
tions" such as vastly increased prison
capacity and international aid.
What is absurd about this? Number
one, in all likelihood the efforts to pre
vent cocaine from entering the United
States will fail. Number two, these same
failed efforts will provide the rhetoric
for re-election ideology that continues
to ignore the economic and social con
ditions within our own country that are
the root causes of the problem.
So if the Bush League isn't really
stopping consumption of cocainecrack
in the United States, what is it doing?
Consider our political arena as a circus,
complete with ringmaster, a super
fiendish lion to tame, high-wire gun
fights and a ready supply of clowns, all
leading through predictable acts to a
slam-bang finish early in 1992.
Remember the Golden Rule for
public relations: "Images unite, issues
divide." Any well-versed public rela
tions team will not allow Bush, Bennett
or anyone else to publicly address this
ondividlajiaE n
and "balanced," will act accordingly.
Your president attempts to justify
his actions by speaking the language of
rights. "Americans have a right to
safety," he says. This sounds reason
able enough. But safety could be se
cured in any number of ways: it could
be secured by rounding up and impris-
oning anyone who looks suspicious.
Surely your president does not mean
that. WHat he does mean is that Ameri
cans have the "right" to prohibit their
fellow citizens from engaging in vol
untary transactions when those trans
actions involve certain drugs, the use of
which "society" does not approve. This
is the premise of statism, the belief that
the interests of the state or of "society"
justify the violation of individual rights.
Your leaders are acting on the statist
premise now. They are using it in two
ways: to justify the prohibition of the
drug trade and to justify the seizure of
your wealth to enforce that prohibition.
You might suppose that in as diverse a
society as yours, someone of promi
nence would be opposing this statist
trend and defending individual rights.
Not so. Your leaders are united on this
issue; they differ only as to how much
of your money to throw away.
But they don't mention the word
streetcars and stress
Student Recreation Center to a second
referendum. The proposal was sent with
an unfavorable recommendation to the
full congress.
"Downtown Chapel Hill is not dead.
But we're going to make it livelier."
Chapel Hill Mayor Jonathan Howes on
the unveiling of the town's two new,
$150,000 teal trolleys.
"We shall prevail over the forces
that would destroy our democracy and
enslave our nation." Colombian
President Virgilio Barco Vargas, ex
plaining his hard-line stance against
his nation's drug traffickers.
complex problem with anything other
than hollow symbols and hefty rheto
ric. Over a series of months, perhaps
years, television and the front pages
will display a storyboard something
like this:
Panel 1: A stern-looking George
Bush, with pals Bennett, Cheney, et al,
sending American "advisers" and
money to a country that is frightening,
and most importantly, distant from our
domestic troubles.
Panel 2: Uniformed Colombian po
licementroops standing atop a pile of
("Captured!") guns and cocaine, while
manhandling some surly-looking For
eign Arch-Fiends.
Panel 3: A Weil-Known Figure in
Colombia, in public, demonstrating that
the streets of Medellin are safe (when
surrounded by the Secret Service, CIA,
FBI, ABC, NBC, TBS, CBS, and PBS,
closely observing through telephoto
lenses, rather than the scope of an M
16. For the lens is mightier than the
scope).
Panel 4: Bush's proud, fatherly mug
nodding in approval of the previous
panels, with burning coca leaves as
backdrop, which slowly dissolves to
red, white and blue banners at the forth
coming Republican convention.
Michael Strong and Dave Anthony
are both graduate students in English
from Chapel Hill.
ghts
"money," and you will never hear the
word "taxation." They talk endlessly of
"resources:" we need greater "re
sources" to deal with these complex
problems, we must allocate our nation's
"resources" efficiently. The "resource"
that they are speaking of is you you
and anyone else who produces any
wealth in this country. If you are not
paying taxes now, your turn will come.
The war on drugs is a long-term proj
ect. The raids on Colombian drug lords
which the seizure of your money sup
ports are code-named "Operation
Apocalypse." The name is fitting, call
ing to mind images of destruction and
doom. But the doom that awaits you
has its origin in statism, and it will only
be hastened by further statist measures.
The way to avoid it is through the
recognition of individual rights, even
in cases where people exercise their
rights to engage in activities of which
others do not approve. In declaring war
on drugs, your president has declared
war on the individual he has de
clared war on you. If you value free
dom, you must let him know you are
not a "resource" that he can dispose of.
Harry Dolan is a graduate student in
philosophy from Rome, N.Y.
"After two years of sheer mental
torture, he was just stressed out."
Tammy FayeBakker, wife oftelevangel
ist Jim Bakker, who collapsed during
his trial and was admitted to Butner
hospital for a mental evaluation.
'There's quite a potential for explo
sion if the drums aren't stabilized."
Chapel Hill Fire Marshal Joe
Robertson, explaining that a fire in
Venable Hall Tuesday could set off
explosions from the drums of flam
mable liquid, which each had the ex
plosive power if six sticks of dynamite.
Compiled by editorial page editor
Mary Jo Dunnington.