VIEWPOINTS
EDITORIALS. OPINIONS. LETTERS TO THE EOITOR
Irish approve kicking
spouses to the curb
■ OUR OPINION: The right
lo divorce solves some
problems but could create
others
Ah yes. the luc k of the
Irish.
Finally, being a citizen of
the emerald isle is not syn
onymous with tming .1
devout Catholic or living
one's life trapped in a love
less or abusive marriage.
The Irish have spoken: They
want a divert n
In the closest voting dot i
sion in its history. 50.2 per
cent of the country t ast its
ballot in favor of a referen
dum that would allow ton
pies to sever the tie that
binds. Although would-be
divorcees must be separated
for four of five years and
prove "no reasonable
prospect of reconciliation"
to file for divorce, the deri
sion marks Ireland's most
signifit ant break with the
t him h to date.
Until now. Ireland was
the only western country
that did not allow divorc e
under any i ire umstances In
many respects. Inc ludiug
abortion and contraception,
the country has been one of
the (iatholh < hurch's last
government-sanctioned
strongholds in the western
world.
As such, this narrow vic
tory is soon as a major set
back for dictated morality. It
may not lie a divorce from
Catholii ism, but it is a seri
ous separation.
Aside from any religious
affiliations, the dec ision
gains some Important
ground for the Irish. The
mandate from the church
prevented thousands of cou
ples from leaving a painful
relationship behind or being
able to find love again.
Marriage without divorce
as an option locked many
people into unions that
turned sour and from
which there was no escape
Women with abusive or
unfaithful husbands were
unable to end the torment
and humiliation They were
told to endure.
Apparently, for those and
other reasons, a majority of
the Irish de< ided they
couldn't take it any longer
An estimated 40,000 Irish
couples had previously been
denied permission to remar
ry, and it is assumed, will
l>e first In line to dissolve
their unhappy unions.
However, as much of a
gain as the referendum is for
human freedom of choir e. it
i annul be celebrated with
out some reservation. After
all, divorce has not exac tly
been the greatest freedom to
grace America, nor the rest
of the world.
As much ns we tout the
rights of the individual to
determine the course of
their life, it is c lear that mar
riage iu this country has
t.eased to be an "until dealh
do-you- part" prospect.
Rather, with a divorce rate
thut continues to hover near
the 50 percent mark, tying
the knot has become a
promise easily untied.
Of course, divorce is not
solely responsible for rising
teenage c rime rates, teen
pregnancy and the millions
of single parent families liv
ing below the poverty line,
but it is a critical part of the
problem. As sue h. while vve
may laud the Irish for their
willingness to embrace this
particular American free
dom, the worst thing that
could come of their decision
would be to follow in our
footsteps.
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U.S. politics breeds uncaring voters
Apathy Political doldrums Fear and
loathing in the ballot boxes
Fear and loathing when Clinton told
the Checkerwwjue storv of his child
hood growing up in « dysfunctional home Must
we babv ail our President's inner child?
Relief in the midst of apathy
when Pete 1 sued my own
state while Governor* Wilson
dropped out of the president fa!
rati' One less Repunlk an
clone to not think about
Genuine sadness followed by
heavier doses of apathy when
Colin Powell announced that
his family was more important
than the presidency. Why
didn't Hush think of that one?
»;* oi Aimiruiin vou*rs
The people who went our votes say we're lazy,
ignorant, 'disenfranchised', or too c heap to buy
a si,imp They never think it might be them.
Years of pleasing the folks with the votes in
the conservative center have made the Republi
cans and Democrats as bland as baked squash
Their shrinking ideological differences have
stagnated into automatic voting rituals that
reduce Congressional decisions to a game of
numbers.
They bicker over cosmetic changes like an
old married couple Occasionally they swap
White House duty to keep the magic alive. But
they haven't offered anything genuinely new
since Federalism was an option.
Maybe am e you tried to stand up for choice
You rattled your little flag and charged into the
Isoilot booth with your No. 2 lead pencil think
ing, this time I'm voting Independent, damn it.
So you scribble in the name of a scientist from
the Green Party, or Ross Perot, or your neighbor.
But your efforts are puny It would take l.llUO
pimple like you from each of the five congres
sional districts in Oregon to put your neighlvor
on the presidential ballot Most state laws make
ballot access’ a euphemism for 'fat chance.'
Discouraged, you drift back to the Kepubli
can/Democrat fold — sucked in by the security
of the usual 'solutions' and the same old fat es.
It s false security, but in politics that’s the only
kind available. Don't make waves in the
cesspool, the story goes, because the stuff will
splash into everybody's mouth. So you stick to
the devil you know even though he's a crashing
bore.
Congratulations and welcome to bipartisan
politics. The country's going to hell and
nobody's happy, hut it works, right?
Sure, if you don’t count the five times in the
last 1-t years that the government has had to
grind to a petulant halt because of in-fighting. It
seems once they get our money they can’t
decide how best to overspend it. Their pre
fit—
Apathy is the insignia of American voters.
1 he people who want our votes say it e re
!a:y, ignorant, disenfranchised, or too
cheap to bus a stamp They never think it
might be them
-99
dictable crises ensure that there will be no
sewage splashed — nor real progress made. It's
the perfect flawed system for a public; that fears
the unfamiliar
The rewards of resignation are identical can
didates politic izing so-c alled 'tough' issues such
as abortion which have no business as political
platforms Or unimaginative approaches to bud
get reform like slowing — not stopping — the
rate at which we go bankrupt
Hence, apathy. And hard on the heels of apa
thy is nostalgia for something voters haven't
really had in years: choice A viable third party
Full-scale electoral reform Now ideas, even if
they're wac ky
Snapshot polls have been predicting third
party sue cess for a long time A 1991 Times Mir
ror Center poll found that almost half the coun
try was in favor of a third major party. When
they surveyed Americans again in September a
record 62 percent supported the creation of a
third party, and more than half wanted an Inde
pendent on the presidential ballot in 1996.
The future looks like a threesome, provided
we keep plugging away at the present. Ideally,
multiple parties will compete to dec ide policies,
allowing new ideas to get past the gate and
keeping the Republicans and Democrats on their
toes
I! would l»> like the break-up of Ma Bell —
setting free-market fon.es loose in Congress to
improve the service. It might at least encourage
this country to reexamine its sacred cows and
experiment with governmental authority. Who's
to sav that privatizing sidewalks or mining
Jupiter's rings an* bad ideas?
At the very worst, the state could decline
under lousy leadership, corruption, and bank
ruptcy. Qr we could remain as we arty declining
under Ujusv leadership, corruption and l»ank
ruptcy — plus the regret of knowing apathy
allowed it to happen.
Falling back on the usual candidates is worse
than not voting at all. Calculate the number of
Congressmen who aren't oither Republican or
Democrat (one), and consider what representa
tion means Then, if you can't overcome apathy,
avenge it Vote Independent in the next elec
tion. For kicks.
Snn/a Sherwood. a senior majoring in journalism
and English, is a columnist for the Kmeraid