Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / Aug. 2, 1984, edition 1 / Page 3
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OpinidL L 'Participating citizens9 thinking for most of 'politically inert' In theory, democracy is "government of the people, by the people, for the people," as Lincoln so eloquently put it. But, in actual practice, this just isn't so. Government "by" the people assumes that the people are par ticipating in government, at least by casting their votes. But, in the last presidential election, voter turnout was down to 53.9%, the lowest in 20 years. Maybe Elmo Roper was right. Maybe the vast majority of people in our country are, in his words, "politically inert." "These are people," said Roper, "who are not very much at home in the world of ideas, at least when ideas are presented to them in raw or undiluted form. They seldom Lucie n Coleman Things That Matter are active in their communities, and they rarely speak out on any subject." Roper also described a much smaller group of Americans whom he called "participating citizens." These are people who vote with some regularity, contribute money or work in local and national cam paigns, belong to organizations ac tive in discussions on current af fairs and problems. Unfortunately, many "par ticipating citizens," who tend to be more active politically, are active for the wrong reasons. For instance, they lose their peripheral vision and become single-issue thinkers. They'll sup port a candidate because he favors a particular constitutional amend ment or a specific weapons system, or because his skin is or isn't the right color, or because he (or she) wears trousers or skirts. What often happens is that the "participating citizen" type becomes the "expert" to whom the "politically inert" turn for guidance on social, political, and economic issues. The self-styled expert might be a local labor leader, the pastor of a small church congregation, or the most vocal guy in the barbershop or tarven. His political views will be adopted by the others because they are far too busy watching the baseball pennant races to think through the issues themselves. Officer testifies on military waste Ernest Fitzgerald, an Air Force official famous for revelations about waste in weapons procure ment, recently told a Senate com mittee that $30 billion in taxpayer money is being wasted. He says the military establish ment continues to frustrate his ef forts to determine proper costs. The Air Force officer was fired after he revealed shocking cost ovewuns on the C-5A transport aircraft 16 years ago. Fitzgerald fought his case in the courts for 10 years and finally beat the Air Force, and a court ordered him reinstated, and the military establishment to provide him with the data he needs to check on costs and overpricing. Hospital Cost: People using the hospitals these days find that the cost has greatly increased. According to reports, cost shif ting to private patients will in crease to an estimated $8.8 billion this year, according to James A. Dorsch, Washington council for the Health Insurance Association of America. This is an increase of S3 billion from 1982 and an estimated $1.6 billion more than the 1983 figure, he told the Joint Economic Com mittee. We read that in an attempt to hold down federal expenditures. Congress last year enacted a "pro spective payment" system for Medicare. Rather than pay charges levied by hospitals after treatment, the system predetermines the hospital payments on the basis of "diagnosis related groups" for which fees are determined in ad vance. The most sensible solution to the problem, the Joint Economic Committee was told, is to have each state create its own prospec tive payment program-but have it apply to all patients, private as well as governmental. Dorsch also stressed the need for federal legislation that would ex tend prospective pricing to all payers in any state that dofcs not enact it own program within four years after passage of such a bill. CAMERAS BANNED ... Cameras and tape recorders were banned at a preliminary hearing in the McMartin Pre-School child molestation case by Los Angeles People and Issues Municipal Court Judge Aviva K. Bobb. Judge Bobb's order to ban the cameras comes just two weeks after the California Judicial Coun cil approved the permanent use of cameras in state court rooms. However, the rule allows judges to ban cameras in the interests of justice or "to protect the rights of the parties." w LIBEL PROTECTION. . .New York's highest court has extended a reporter's protection from libel suits to include good faith misstatements about a person's private life made in the larger con text of a story or public interest. REINSTATED. ..In Wash ington, D.C., an attorney should not have been removed from a case because he gave % newspaper infor mation that had earlier been ruled inadmissable evidence, the U.S. Court of appeals decided in Washington, D.C. DENTAL FEES. . .We read that New York and Los Angeles vie for the average dental charges among seven cities surveyed in 1982 and 1983 by the Health Insurance Association of America. The lowest charges among the seven cities were found in Omaha the cost of an initial oral exam in Omaha was less than half the charge in Los Angeles. The most pronounced difference was in the cost of a porcelain crown. In 1983, the cost was $460 in New York compared with $268 in Omaha. PRESSURE TACTICS. . .Of the estimated 37 million Americans with high blood pressure, 50Vo to 70^o are keeping it under control with drugs and diet, says the Health Association. A decade ago, only 15^b to 20Vo controlled their high blood pressure. HALF DRUNK. . .Government reports state half of the alcohol consumed in the United States each year is drunk by one-tenth of the population, according to the Health Insurance Association of America. Law may aid disabled If you are a disabled person, a bill is now passed by the U.S. House and the Senate that would stop the government from cutting your Social Security disability benefits before you've had a chance to recover. I co-sponsored and I support this bill. Its major goal is to allow a disabled person to continue getting benefits unless there is a definite improvement in his or her medical condition. . The White House has been tak-. ing people off the disability roles even before they recovered from their ailment. I think this is very unfair to all disabled Americans including many senior citizens. Apparently, I'm not alone in this thinking because some state gover nors and courts believe that the White House's policy on this mat ter is not what the Social Security law intended. Congressman Bill Hefner The whole issue started when Congress asked the White House to begin reviewing each case a little closer following reports that 20% if those getting benefits were in eligible. The problem is that the White House just went too far, so this bill is meant to restrain them. Another important part of the measure says you must continue getting your benefits even while you are appealing the loss of those benefits. So, if it becomes law it would become effective immediately and would affect ail cases being pro cessed at the time. \3 ft
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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Aug. 2, 1984, edition 1
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