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MONDAY: Opinion
TUESDAY: Politics
WEDNESDAY: Opinion
THURSDAY: Politics
FRIDAY: Opinion
a voter’s guide to the 1996 election and life on the campaign trail
Do you think minor
party candidates should
be excluded from
televised debates?
Let us know.
ISSUE: WORK INCENTIVE
Question: Do you favor providing tax incen
tives for companies to hire and train home
less people who want to work?
“By creating partner
ships between the fed
eral government and lo
cal communities, small
businesses and ordi
nary citizens, we can re
new economic activity
in our disadvantaged
”—“ urban and rural areas.
My empowerment zone initiative offers $3.5
billion in tax incentives and flexible block
grants to encourage new private investment
in 104 economically distressed communities
across America."
—President Bill Clinton
Democratic candidate
“The fundamental fo
cus of welfare reform
must be the promotion
of work and personal
responsibility. State
governments, local
communities, churches
and charitable organiza
— tions can often be effec
tive in addressing the poverty problem. The
federal government must give these institu
tions the tools they need to get the jobs
done."
—Bob Dole
Republican candidate
"The tax code shouldn't
be filled with provisions
for every different
cause. Businesses
should recruit and train
the homeless who are
I capable of work. This
should be part of a laroe
movement of business
es moving into the inner cities and offering
new opportunities to the urban poor."
—Ross Perot
Reform Party candidate
SOURCE: Associated Press
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History professor runs for U.S. Senate
■ ELECTION: The Socialist
believes in putting dignity
and democracy over profit
By Doug Irving
Politics Reporter
The Socialist Party of Oregon
needed an articulate candidate
fortheU.S. Senate.
So they chose University his
tory Professor Christopher
Phelps.
“They wanted somebody
who would be able to speak
clearly and persuasively in the
debates up against the major
candidates,” he said. "1 am pret
ty established in the progressive
activist circles."
Phelps, 31, has been political
ly active since his undergradu
ate days at Reed College in Port
land, where he helped organize
anti-Apartheid protests. In the
course of that work he came to
see himself as a Socialist.
“I realized that a social sys
tem that puts profit above hu
man dignity, racial equality,
democracy and those sorts of
things were not attractive to
me,” he said. “That’s what
made me a critic of capitalism. ”
Phelps said a Socialist ad
ministration would help stu
dents by improving their quali
ty of life outside the University.
Students in the job market
would find more and better em
ployment under a Socialist sys
tem, he said.
The future of students is
bound up with the future of the
rest of the population, he said.
“We see the problems that the
University faces... as connected
NORMAN MESMAN/Emerald
Socialist history Professor Chris Phelps is a critic of capitalism.
to larger social questions,” he
said. “(We want] a society in
which decent employment is
guaranteed.”
Socialism would also offer
Oregonians something more de
mocratic than anything now in
place, he said.
“What you have now is gov
ernment of, by and for the rich,
and it’s literally run by rich peo
ple,” he said. “And that has a
distorting effect on all sorts of
policy questions.”
For example. Phelps said the
national deficit is “totally artifi
cial.” It could be solved within a
year by cutting the military bud
get, removing corporate tax
loopholes and increasing tax
rates on the rich to the levels
they were at in the 1950s, he ex
plained.
Despite his strong beliefs,
Phelps realizes his election
chances are slim.
“We don’t have much of a
chance of winning,” he said. “It
has nothing to do with the qual
ity of our thoughts or values. It
has everything to do with the
distribution of power in this so
ciety.”
Phelps said his campaign has
faced opposition because of bi
ases and assumptions about the
Socialist Party. He was disap
pointed to discover he wouldn’t
be included in the Senatorial
debates with Democratic candi
date Tom Bruggere and Repub
lican Gordon Smith.
“Unless our campaign to get
them to change their disposi
tion succeeds, we’ll be out,” he
said. “We won’t be included.
Neither myself nor the Libertar
ians, nor the Reform Party can
didate, nor the Pacific Party. ”
As a University professor,
Phelps said he sees himself
more as an intellectual than a
politician. While at the Univer
sity, he wrote his master’s the
sis about Sidney Hook, a New
York intellectual and pragma
tist philosopher. In the 1930s,
Hook was a Marxist philoso
pher, but became an anti-Com
munist during the Cold War.
“There have been a lot of So
cialist historians,” Phelps said.
“A lot of those people made the
mistake of trying to derive sim
ple examples from history to fit
their political needs. I take a lot
of the lessons about how to do
good history into politics. The
world complicates your
thoughts frequently and you
need to adjust your thinking to
meet it.”
A look at some of the 26 ballot measures in this
November's election
THE MEASURE
37
WHAT IT WOULD DO
Under current law, consumers and dealers pay
deposits and receive refunds on all beer and car
bonated beverage containers. The measure
would broaden the law to include a deposit on
any liquid drink intended for humans, with the
exception of dairy products or substitutes, dis
tilled spirits or liquor or wine with over 8 percent
alcohol.
Measure requires refunds for containers of:
■ Beer, malt beverages or carbonated drinks of
any size.
■ Non-carbonated drinks, other than water,
from six ounces to one liter.
■ Water, up to two liters.
ARGUMENTS FOR
Sales of new beverages not cov
ered under the current Bottle Bill,
such as Snapple and Fruitopia, are
growing by 30 percent each year.
These containers represent a
waste of resources and landfill
space. The first Bottle Bill enacted
in 1971 reduced roadside litter by
over 80 percent. Glass bottles cov
ered under the Bottle Bill are recy
cled at a rate of 93 percent, while
only 28 percent of non-deposit
containers are.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST
The measure would result in
added labeling, handling and
regulatory costs and impose
millions of dollars in higher
costs on manufacturers, retail
ers and eventually consumers.
It would undermine the cur
rent deposit-and-return sys
tem and Oregon’s recycling
programs. Other arguments:
Wouldn’t significantly increase
recycling; curbside programs
are more convenient for con
sumers; and could cause legal
problems for store owners and
restaurants.
THE MEASURE
WHAT IT WOULD DO
Would prohibit livestock in certain waters in
Oregon, and on adjacent land, until the state de
velops permanent plans to clean up each river.
Livestock wouldn't be allowed in waters that
don’t meet state water quality standards and
where they would contribute to poor water
quality. Measure applies to state, federal and
private waters and land. Would possibly impact
10 to 15 percent of Oregon’s 114,000 miles of
streams, rivers and lake shoreline. On private
lands, the law would be phased in over 10 years
depending on land ownership and type of habi
tat affected
ARGUMENTS FOR
Livestock grazing is a major
source of water pollution and
damage to streamsides. Measure
would help clean up polluted water
and restore streams and salmon
habitats. People need clean
streams for a safe, healthy water
supply and for recreation such as
swimming and boating.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST
The measure would be costly
for ranchers and dairy farm
ers. Grazing helps stream bank
vegetation growth, which in
turn reduces soil erosion. Vol
untary measures are already
effective.
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