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Perspectives
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
editorial editor
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Doug Irving
HI
Partisan bickering
covers up
POLICY FAILURES ^
PER
<7/
4
AN EMERALD EDITORIAL
As Congress breaks for the year, a number
of incomplete tasks mar its performance
What happens when you
put several hundred
politicians in a pair of
small rooms? Do
they engage in productive dis
course, coming up with well
reasoned solutions to the na
tion’s myriad problems? Or do
they bicker like spoiled children
who need their diapers changed?
If Congress is any indication,
the latter is the answer.
The congressional session has
ended for the year (politicians get
long vacations; they don’t have to
return until January), and now is
the time for political pundits to
weigh in with their views on the
whole fiasco. We would hate to be
left out of the gathering.
Every year, analysts lob the same
complaints at our nation’s leaders:
They fought too much over issues
like the budget and the environment.
We certainly agree that Congress
has behaved poorly over the past
year, but our objection isn’t to their
squabbles over important issues like
the budget. In fact, we think Congress
got along all too well when it came
time to reward the rich with capital
gains tax cuts and punish the poor
with slashed social services.
Despite the usual partisan postur
ing, Congress agreed on most of the
big issues this year. They agreed that
continuing corporate welfare is good
and that continuing individual wel
fare is bad. They agreed that the mili
tary, in the midst of an apparently
traumatizing peace, needed even
more money.
Above all else, they agreed that a
balanced budget would be a great
thing and proceeded to ensure the
economy would take care of that on
its own (assuming Alan Greenspan
doesn’t get his way).
If Congress had fought a little more
about continuing to hand our country
over to corporate interests, we would
u
U
have
been hap
pier. Instead,
members of Congress
squabbled over the issues they
ought to agree on.
Lack of decorum is nothing new for
a leading legislative body. Some
countries see violent fights break out
on the floor; here, the best we man
aged was when one representative
shoved another.
The most obvious failure of the ses
sion was the leaders’ inability to put
campaign finance to a vote, much
less agree on a plan. Instead, the two
parties shouted increasingly loud ac
cusations of unethical money raising.
In particular, Republicans grilled
anyone who had ever spoken to Bill
Clinton and Al Gore, accusing the ex
ecutive branch of the biggest scandal
since FDR tried to sell us to the Com
munists. If the hearings proved any
thing, it’s that taxpayers could think of
better things to spend their money on.
What the hearings didn’t prove is
that Clinton ever broke the law; in
stead, they suggested the law itself
was broken. Clinton didn’t do any
thing the rest of Congress hasn’t
aone;
he just has
the misfortune of
having done it on tape
and with less class.
If Congress was sincerely interest
ed in stopping the sort of fund-raising
fiascos it’s hounding Clinton for, it
would have ended the accusations
and started passing real reform, such
as a federally funded campaign pro
gram. Instead, Congress ensured that
it can only snipe at itself, banning
privately filed ethics violations.
Similarly, Congress failed to pro
vide any coherent plan for reforming
the Internal Revenue Service, despite
the agency's own admission that the
IRS needed to be fixed. And Congress
didn’t come close to either revising or
passing the tobacco settlement even
though both state and industry lead
ers have agreed on it.
To some extent, this can all be
uiuuiuu uii jJumibQi
fighting. But given that
Congress was able to pass a
pro-business budget despite
bickering, that explanation seems
inadequate.
Realistically, petty fighting within
Congress only serves to distract the
media, the public and even members
of Congress from the political reality
under which our Legislature oper
ates. Politicians pretend to disagree
about issues like finance reform be
cause it looks better than admitting
they agree on one fundamental point:
None of them want to sacrifice their
jobs or bank accounts.
So, we are upset that Congress
fought so much this term when they
could have been passing important
reforms. However, we also suspect
that if Congress had not been fight
ing, we would be rather frightened by
the reforms it managed to create.
This editorial represents the opinion of
the Emerald editorial board. Responses
may besent toode@oregon.uoregon.edu
READERS VOICES
How would you evaluate the ASUO’s performance this year?
r-"zzzmzzsmm ...—^-- -
“I think they’ve done a
pretty decent job. I
feel like the ASUO
makes some deci
sions that are not nec
essarily what the ma
jority of the student
body wants. On the
other hand, I’m not
sure the student body
makes their voice
known to the ASUO,
so it's kind of a catch
22 ”
Josiah Jones
Visual Design
“I haven't really been
exposed to the deci
sions that are being
made, and from what I
do read in the Emerald,
it's usually a lot of
opinions about what's
right and what's wrong
with what the ASUO is
doing instead of the
facts, and so I’d say
from what I do know
they’re doing a pretty
good job."
Emily Meve
Environmental studies
wmamvmmm ■a-’n
“I don’t know what
they do because I’m
a transfer student
and this is my first
term."
Paul Kulawiak
Undeclared
“I think they’ve per
formed well. I think
they’ve performed
the duties that were
assigned to them by
us."
Nathan Buehler
Business
m ms?
“I think they’re doing
a good job, especial
ly with the printing
thing.”
Soon Qwon
Business/Japanese
“Actually, I haven’t
noticed that much of
their presence be
sides the printing
thing, and I’ve no
ticed their voting dri
ve. Not that they’re
not doing good, I’m
just less aware of
their actions. They’re
not as visible for peo
ple who are walking
by. “
Kristen Reindel
Japanese
“I thinkthe ASUO
has done just about
as good a job as you
can expect the stu
dent government to
do. They haven’t
done anything to
standout, but they
haven’t done any
thing really stupid ei
ther."
Brian Diamond
Journalism
Quoted
“It is a mindless
bureaucracy that
uses rules instead
of brains.’*
Oregon State Uni
versity Professor
John Gardner,
who is blind, in re
sponse to a U.S.
Department of Ed
ucation decision to
reject his grant ap
plication because
it wasn't double
spaced, in Tues
day's Oregonian.
“Thecoofcsand
custodians in the
U.S. Senate cafe
teria know Ron
Wydenbyname,
and he seems to
know most of
reporter Harry
Estew.mamas
sive centerpiece
story on Page One
of the Guard Tues
day, theday after
terrorists killed 65
peopleatan
We are challeng
ing old and estab
lished businesses
like newspapers,
travel agencies,
automobile deal
ers, entertainment
guides, travel
guides, Yellow
Page directories,
magazines and
over time many
other areas, ...We
must devise ways
of working with
them or winning
away their cus
tomers and rev
enue streams, ...
We must be ag
gressive."
From a Microsoft
internal memo,
quoted in the No
vember-December
Columbia Journal
ism Review,!
guess they left out
the "we will bury
you” line,
“People who are
good at this busi
ness are not sim
ply voyeurs. We
are people who
live the hip life,
people who partic
ipate as well as ob
serve."
Trend forecaster
HaysunHahn,
quoted in the No
vember-December
Utne Reader. So
basically, they like
to make fools of
themselves, as
well as watching
othersdothe
same.