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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2000)
Editor in chief: Jack Clifford Associate Editors: Jonathan Allen, Jeff Smith Newsroom: (541)346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu Tuesday July 11,2000 Volume 102, Issue 6 Emerald If you believe Al Gore, do not pass go, do not collect $200, and oil and pharmaceutical companies should go straight to jail. Gore’s disturbingly populist rants in his bid for the high est office in the world should fright en any well-reasoned individual. To believe Gore’s campaign on all its points is to find one’s self in a log ical quandary. First, he’s the most impor tant veep of all time and claims, among other wild fancies, to have been at the heart of the economic success that the U.S. dereg ulation and entrepreneur ial attitude has wrought. Yet all the while he is campaigning full time, if not overtime, for the Oval Office. So shouldn’t our country be falling apart at the seams in his absence? Obvious ly it’s doing just fine, save higher oil prices borne of an appallingly inept Department of Energy. How is the rational person to make sense of the success during Gore’s absence? The simple answer is, of course, that it’s American inge nuity and spirit that drive this coun try’s success and not, as Gore asserts through policy initiatives, the feder al government gracing the people 1 Bret Jacobson with its To believe Gore’s campaign would also entail the idea that Gore cares about the average, poor citizen. During his alpha-male phase he shouted to any sycophantic —crowd that would listen that he would fight for them, as if he were Rocky taking on the seven-foot Russian oaf. But Gore wouldn’t even take care of the poor ten ants living in squalor on his proper ty less than 500 yards away from his own mansion in Washington, D.C. He has parlayed this fight-for-the common-man attitude into his re cent attacks on successful American industries that lie outside his vision of a socialistic, ecologically-driven agrarian state. Gore’s recent populism is sicken ing. The leech of U.S. politics has of late been blaming high gas prices on “Big Oil,” which'he claims are due to collusion, and he points at high prescription drug costs as the collu sion that is at the heart of senior suf fering in America. Of course the problems lie somewhere with the lack of a cohesive U.S. energy policy and the already existing intrusions Photo Illustration by the Emerald into the marketplace by Medicare. If those logical problems weren’t bad enough, the fipal straw must be his assertion, in concert with Presi dent Clinton and others, that a coun try as prosperous as the United States doesn’t hand away free health coverage to all its citizens. Of course the answer is that our country wouldn’t be nearly so prosperous if it followed in the example of our economically-shaky socialist Euro pean counterparts. When a country devotes a seventh of its economy to free health care, that money is lost to the pioneering spirit that caused this great growth in the first place. To believe A1 Gore is to buy into populist propaganda, which can do nothing but degrade the United States in nearly every facet of life. That may sound a bit over the top, but higher taxes and inept leader ship aren’t on the menu for national advancement. Bret Jacobson is a columnist for the Oregon Daily Emerald. His views do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. He can be reached at bjacobso@gladstone.uoregon.edu. Know the consequences of drinking before you swig Where’s the party at? IntroDUCKtion is in full swing, and it seems this is the greatest ques tion on everyone’s mind. One person who works on trying to get new students interested and involved in various aca alcohol should not be a way of life, there are a few things about the real world that we all should under stand. If you’re under 21 years old, here’s a reality check for you: Underage drinking is still not some demic organizations told me this weekend that the freshmen she has worked with in the past weekends could care less about the great scholastic pursuits that lay before them on a college campus. They all want to know where the best parties are. As “Animal House,” which was filmed on this college campus, would in dicate, going to parties in college — where alcohol is a main theme — has be thing that the police will I tolerate, and the growing number of MIPs that the Eugene Police Department is giving out should be proof enough that they l mean business. If you’re over 21 years old and you’re thinking that you can finally drink jj all you want without the fear of Big Brother watch I ing you, step back for a minute and remember why you are here in the . first Diace. come a way of life. Some people even get excited about the prospect of finally leaving their parents and not having to hide their party lifestyle when they get home. Aside from the obvious fact that First and foremost, no questions asked, the word “college” should evoke a sense of education, not in toxication. College should be a place where we all eagerly come to learn. Take those scholastic opportunities seriously because this may be the only place in your life that you will be in the kind of environment where learning is not only encouraged, it thrives. Now, this is not to say that you should isolate yourself entirely, cram your head in your books, get a pocket protector and completely miss out on the college experience. You will learn more about life in the years you spend here than five min utes in class could ever shake a stick at. But remember to learn these les sons. Learn how to learn. Learn how to make friends who reallv care about you. Learn when to do what the administration tells you to do even if you don’t feel like doing it, and learn when to stand up to the system when you truly feel that things aren’t going in the right direc tion. And, learn how to be responsible and know when you don’t have time to go to the party. If you’re coming from a high school scene that you think was only the preseason to the college party playoffs — or you’ve already been drinking away the first two or three years of your college career — re member that there are consequences for your actions. Whether EPD fines you a couple hundred dollars or you don’t make it through college be cause classes and studying cramp your style, remember that there is a little thing in life called conse quence. It will catch up to you. Possibly one of the greatest les sons that can be learned in college is knowing when and how to make the right decision, not because you’ll get in trouble with Big Brother if you don’t but because we are all gift ed people — blessed with the gift of a college education, which a vast majority of people in this country never receive — and we can make a difference if we just keep our acts to gether. Jonathan Allen is an associate editor for the Oregon Daily Emerald. His views do not nec essarily reflect those of the Emerald. He can be reached at jra2970@gladstone.uore gon.edu Quoted “Nowadays, you have the situation where one inmate went to court to sue me to get all his teeth re placed.” — Harold Taylor, chief jailer in Daviess County, in response to why the state of Ken tucky ruled that in mates will be charged for their room, board and medical costs. The Register-Guard, July 10. “What we want to do is make it so it’s notan either-or choice. You can learn while you serve.” —Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera, in re sponse to the Army’s announce ment of a new ed ucational program that will help mil lions of soldiers earn their college degrees through a global system of on-line learning. The Oregonian, July 10. “I was like, ‘you mean i can walk into an Armani store, pick up a suit and walk out?’ This is a dream come true!” —Ruth Carter, re ferring to her job as costume design er for the recent summer release “Shaft.” The Ore gonian, July 10. "I’m dynamic. I’m a very different player from the regular champion. I’m a powerhouse. Plus I’m black.” —Venus Williams, after becoming the second African American woman to win Wimbledon. The Oregonian, July 10. CORRECTION The front page photo with the sto ry “Infusing the fu ture” (ODE, July 6) misidentified the two Summer En richment Program students, Esther Kim and Olivia Brown, r The Emeral.d re grets the error.
