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Thursday, February 19,2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
EDITORIAL
Dean's exit
from primary
may facilitate
voters' picks
In the top political news of the week, former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean's withdrawal from the race highlights
what has been one of the most interesting and surprising
presidential primary races since the members of the Edi
torial Board were bom.
He was once the out-of-the-blue front-runner sporting
the biggest campaign wallet and a legion of Internet sup
porters; the rogue candidate who touted himself as a
mighty knight, the best hope to defeat who Dean paints
as a snarling dragon reallocating countless gilders to the
wealthy in times of duress, shamefully buminating the
Iraqi countryside and trashing relations with other impor
tant principalities. Dean plummeted quickly, though, fol
lowing a distant third finish in the opener Iowa caucus and
his much-lampooned "I Have a Scream" speech, manag
ing to fall from the front of the pack to winning none of
the 18 primary contests to date.
By throwing in his towel, Dean disappointed a grab bag
of American political activists: the difficult-to-energize
young voters, Democrats of all stripes, hippies, voters con
temptuous of Beltway insiders and, more cynically,
Bushites who wanted to see a fall contest against a North
ern progressive Democrat with an anger streak. (The last
non-Southern Democrat to hold the nation's highest of
fice was a softer-spoken but assertive New Englander
named John Kennedy.)
Still, despite the disappointment of his diverse fan base,
Dean's withdrawal is a welcome move, as it should expe
dite democracy, in a roundabout way. His retreat reduces
the race effectively to a two-man competition: Sen. John
Kerry, D-Mass., versus Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. (Of the
2,161 delegates needed to secure the party nomination,
the Rev. A1 Sharpton has picked up 16 delegates, whereas
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has snagged only two).
There's something psychologically and mathematically
palatable about a two-candidate race. Wider races force
voters who like less popular candidates to mull over some
game theory. Should they decide to support someone
whose ideals most closely align with their own, or is it bet
ter to drop their vote to a candidate with a better chance
of winning the nomination?
With only two contenders, the criteria are much sim
pler: Depending on your taste and objectives, vote either
for the candidate whose views agree most with yours or for
the candidate you think has the greatest chance of defeat
ing President Bush in November's election. (The latter title
is up in the air for the moment. In hypothetical match-ups
against Bush, reported a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll re
leased Wednesday, Kerry topped the president 55-43, and
Edwards led him 54-44 — both much wider margins than
the 4-percent error margin.) Voters can spend more time
learning about each candidate, too, with fewer candidates
in the field. In an age where sound bytes are too often sub
stitutes for substance, any chance for more voter awareness
ought to be a good thing.
In consolation to his fans, Dean can still play a critical
role in the primary process. Dean might instruct the 201
delegates currently pledged to him to Kerry or Edwards, a
moderate but substantial prize. And with Super Tuesday
just weeks away, a Dean endorsement could be a deciding
factor in which candidates captures most of that day's
1,151 delegates — an electoral smorgasbord.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Brad Schmidt
Editor in Chief
Jan Tobias Montry
Managing Editor
Travis Willse
Editorial Editor
Jennifer Sudick
Freelance Editor
Ayisha Yahya
* * * NfeWS Editor
U.S. alcohol laws aim to protect
The article ("Idiotic U.S. laws turn casual
drinks into forbidden fruit" ODE, Feb. 5)
presents some very interesting arguments
about what
Americans con
sider "under-age
drinking," but I
feel that it misses
some key points.
The first is the statement referring to the
American military, "You can go off to war
and kill at age 18, but you can't have a
drink." This statement is, in fact, untrue. The
drinking age on American military bases is
18, and if you hold a military ID, many bars
will serve you despite your age.
Second is the statement that "many
minors aren't looking to get drunk." I
don't know about the rest of the you, but
from what I've seen, there aren't very many
people under the age of 21 who just want a
sip of wine. It seems that the "fun" thing
to do on a weekend is get totally sloshed
and then compare how big your hangover
is. While this stereotype is just that, a
stereotype, I have seen that it credibly fits
a great deal of college students.
Finally is the discussion about minors in
other countries learning to drink with their
parents. Well, for those of you who don't
know this, it is a legal practice to do that here
as well. If your parents are the ones who sup
ply the beverage and you are under their su
pervision, then you (as a minor) are legally
permitted to drink. Unfortunately this does
not hold for restaurants and such, but if
you're at home and you want wine with din
ner, it's legal if the parents provide it
When you look at it our alcohol laws are
not all that restrictive These laws were actu
ally made for people's protection. If you
want to experiment with alcohol, you have
your parents (presumably responsible)
teach you how to drink with moderation...
rather than go to a beer bong party the Sat
urday after finals.
And rituals? Please. I don't drink, and
while quite a few of my friends do, there's
no one pressuring me to risk alcohol poi
soning just to fulfill some idiotic tradition.
Eric Mann is a junior majoring in physics.
Lane name change would be PC
I propose the Lane
Commissioners refer a
change to a referendum.
gi jest
COMMENTARY
County Board of
county namesake
We should change
it from U.S. Sen.
Joseph Lane to
U.S. Sen. Harry
Lane, his grand
son. This idea is
not frivolous,
though maybe annoying.
I contend Joseph Lane is an unworthy
namesake because he ran for vice president
of the United States on a ticket endorsing
slavery, and favoring secession by states
which refused to extend the American pas
sion for freedom to people in bondage.
Harry Lane is a worthy namesake for our
county because as mayor of Portland and
U.S. senator from Oregon, he represented
independence and progressive government.
I've found research suggesting Harry Lane
was a maverick like Wayne Morse and Tom
McCall. As a physician, "Doc" Lane charged
low or no fees to patients who were up
against it He represented "the plain people"
and was conspicuous in a U.S. Senate called
even then the Millionaires' Club.
Harrys racial views were mixed: He de
fended Native Americans and home rule for
Filipinos, but was unsympathetic to blacks
and Chinese coolie labor.'.
Neither Joseph nor Harry lived in Lane
County.
Family values: During 2003, a diary writ
ten by President Harry Truman made news
because of unflattering judgments about Is
rael. I realized that if Joseph lane had left a
diary expressing a passion for pedophilia,
Satan worship, anarchism, polygamy or the
Communist Party, I wouldn't be writing.
The County Commission would have made
a namesake change before sunset.
The obscenity of slavery: Americans have
been soft on slavery in a way we were never
soft on communism. I often hear, "We can't
judge people of the past by current stan
dards. " Sure we can. The treatment of slaves
included working them to death; punish
ment by whipping, ear-cropping and brand
ing; and a sexual double-standard we just
got a whiff of when Sen. Strom Thurmond's
illegitimate daughter came forward.
Political correctness: American history is
a mrxture of rebelling and conforming.
Sometimes we flock like sheep; sometimes
we say "No." It was once PC to slap around
first-grade kids who wrote with their left
hands. Now it's PC to let them perform nat
urally. Fairly recently it was PC to treat
women, blacks and illegitimate children as
inferior at their core. And to rank ethnic
groups iri 6rdfer‘df dfesrrhbility Arid to keep
handicapped folks out of sight, shut the
stores on Sunday and deny or ignore wife
beating and incest. Political correctness is re
versed now. The question is not whether a
Lane change is PC. It's whether it's right.
Money If we change the namesake from
Joseph to Harry, no budget will be needed
for revising signs, maps or letterheads.
My inspiration: I got this idea from the
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard struggle
and from James Loewen's book "Lies
Across America." Loewen said many dis
gusting citizens have been honored by his
torical markers. In 1986, he reported, the
King County Commission in Seattle
changed its name from a slavemonger
named William Rufus King to the civil
rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
In the past few weeks, a West Eugene
street name has been changed from Sam R.
to Sam Reynolds, to redress a racial insult.
The Corvallis School Board is reconsidering
the name of Avery School, on grounds
Joseph and Martha Avery were passionate
racists. Respectable Congressional conserva
tives plan to replace Franklin D. Roosevelt
with Ronald Reagan on the dime
It's time for a Lane Change
Peter Rob6rs lives In Eugene.