VIEWPOINTS
EDITORIALS OPINIONS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Paulus, DeFazio best
choices for Oregon
■ OUR OPINION: Both are
pro-education,
pro-environment and
pro-choice
Willi ballots for the Sen
ate primary arriving in mail
boxes this week. University
students will have to decide
whom they want to compete
in the rat« for Hob Par k
wood’s vm ated seat
Oregon’s next II.S. senator
will be voluntarily thrown
into the fray of bipartisan
bickering that has come to
define legislative politic s
Sweeping Republican
reforms threaten ociut at ion
funding, our environment,
abortion a< cess, care for the
elderly and the nation's
poor.
As such, our next elec ted
official will not only need to
come down on the right side
on these issues but be able
to resist pressure from lob
byists and other spec ial
interests In short. Oregon
needs a senator secure in bis
or her convictions who will
not only vote against damag
ing legislation but can con
vince other senators to
follow his or her lead.
Republican Norma
Paulus and Democrat Peter
DeFazio should l>e given a
shot at representing the state
and its students
Paulus is now serving her
second term as Oregon's
superintendent of public
instruction and was a mem
ber of the state legislature
for five terms She lias been
a consistent supporter of
higher education and does
not favor excessive cuts in
student loans and other
Financing that would inhibit
students' access to higher
education.
She does, however, sup
port the balanced budget
amendment, and it is not
dear whether she would
resist the proposed cuts in
education or the end of the
direct student loan program
bill to sea it passed
Paulus is the only Repub
lican candidate who sup
ports abortion rights
without restrictions, and she
says she will fight any bill
that seeks to limit abortion
access. In addition, she sup
ports term limits for ele< led
officials and has promised
to resign after nine years
Of ail the candidates.
Peter DeFaxlo has been the
strongest defender of educa
tion access and affordabili
t\ 1 le has said his first
priority would be to fight
cuts in higher education.
Sim e he was elected to the
House of Representatives
five years ago. DeFazio has
tunneled his pay increases
into eight scholarships for
college bound Oregon stu
dents.
DoFazio supports a bal
anced budget but lias said
the cuts should be made in
defense spending, farm sub
sidies and business tax
breaks lie, like Paulus. has
pledged to serve only nine
years in the Senate and sup
ports term limits for elected
officials.
He has been a strong sup
porter of abortion rights and
opposes any government
interference with women's
right to choose Both
DoFazio and Paulus have
also been strong supporters
of civil rights protection for
gay men and lesbians
DoFazio and Paulus repro
sent the best within their
parties. With these two can
didates in the final race for
the Senate, we can sleep
better knowing that whoever
wins the election, Oregon
and its students will have
reason to celebrate
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Ethics essential to education, existence
How do you make decisions about what
you should or shouldn’t do?
Are you a utilitarian? A Kantian' A
cultural relativist? Do you have any
idea w hat I'm talking about? If you do, you’ve
probably taken a course in ethics
If you haven't taken an
ethics course. I'd like to recoin
OPINION
mend that you do. In fail, the
University ought to require stu
dents to take an ethics class to
graduate
I know; 1 know That's all
you need, isn't it ? One more
requirement and you'll pop.
But requirements are supposed
to be things you need to know
in life A certain amount of writing ability, for
example, is necessary if you are going to get
your ideas across to other*, so the University
requires two writing courses Maybe these won't
be enough, but at least the University tries to
teach you a skill you will need in the real world
Ethics are nothing less than a question of how
we ought to live. I can think of no more impor
tant matter We must know how to decide what
is right or wrong — a skill that far too many
people lack
1 don't have to tell you (unless you've bean
living under a rock) that a lot of people are hol
lering about the lack of morality in our country.
Even if I disagree with many of them about what
morality is, 1 agree that morels themselves have
become loss important to our culture.
1 think we've gotten confused about morality
We got the idea somewhere along the line that
morality was dependent on religion. Many peo
ple. at least many of those bemoaning the lack of
morals in our country, (relieve this
To make matters worse, religions other than
Christianity are generally considered suspect in
our culture To too many minds, non-Christians
are immoral What this country needs, they say,
is a rebirth of “good Christian values."
No What this country needs is people who
can think for themselves and make their own
moral decisions outside of religious rules l‘m
not saying we don't need religion, i think reli
gion ean offer a great deal of personal satisfac
tion. But morals stand apart from religion.
Socrates asked: "Is conduct right because the
gods command it. or do the gods command it
because it is right?"
Some jteople say conduct is right because God
commands it But if this is true, then any
behavior could be right, as long as God orders us
to do it. The biblical commandment, “thou shall
not lie." could just as easily be. “thou shall lie.”
This doesn't make any sense, though.
fifi
This country needs people w ho can think
for themselves and make moral decisions
outside of religious rules.
-99
If C»od commands conduct because it is right,
then it is right before Cod commands it. If this is
true, then morality stands apart from religion.
Wo have forgotten this, so we have forgotten
how to think about morality. Some people with
out strong religious beliefs think morality isn't
important. Some people with religious beliefs
think they tan take the easy way out and just
refer to the rule book. In both cases, we've
neglected the art of ethics.
Forgetting about ethics doesn't mean that we
don't have to make decisions about morality,
though. Should we ever lie? Kill? Is it right to
provide welfare checks for people who can’t
work? Is it morally acceptable to allow' people to
live on the streets? Is it all right to have a baby
— or sex, for that matter — if you're not mar
ried? Should gay marriage be legal? Is it okay to
kill and eat animals? What about abortion?
Those aren't easy questions. All right. 1 think
some of them should be easy Hut wo fight about
questions such as these every day in this coun
try, and thu fighting threatens to tear us apart at
the seams. We fight with ourselves as well
We've all had personal dilemmas in which we
had a difficult time deciding what the right
thing to do was.
We may have difficult choices to make, but
they are made even more difficult by not know
ing how to think about the problem. What are
the probable consequences7 Who will our deci
sion affect? What's fair?
1 he study of ethics doesn't offer easy answers
to the ethical problems we have to solve daily.
But it teaches how to think about the problems,
so we can figure out answers.
Wc* come to the University to learn, but what
do we need to learn? We take our requirements:
writing, foreign language or math, a sampling of
arts and letters, sc ience, and social science. We
choose our majors and learn what we need to
get the job we hope for. There must be more
than this, though
One of the most vital skills we will need
throughout our lives, us we make decisions
about jobs, marriages, children and politics, will
lie the ability to carefully consider what deci
sions will t>e right We are here to learn what we
need to know Perhaps there is nothing we need
to know as much as how to decide how to live.
/eon M Hand, a /unior majoring in journalism, is
a columnist for the Emerald.