Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
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■ In my opinion
OPERATION Matrimony
In a bookstore not too long ago, I
saw a book called “Marriage Under
Fire," by Dr. James Dobson. 1 was
intrigued by the title because safe
guarding marriage in an increasingly
sick society that routinely tramples
and disregards that sacred covenant
is a subject very dear to me.
I was delighted by the prospect of
reading a book about what we can
do to help stem the rampant disinte
gration of the family caused by di
vorce, abuse, neglect and adultery.
Unfortunately, this was not that
book. It took only a quick glance at
the dust jacket to find out that Dr.
Dobson’s book is a 128-page diatribe
against gay marriage.
I am disgusted by all the hoopla
that’s been made about gay mar
riage lately. I just don’t understand
how so many self-styled “defenders
of marriage” can spend so much
time, energy and money trying to
safeguard bans on same-sex mar
riage while our divorce rate is out of
control and still climbing.
Homosexuals are not the biggest
threat to marriage in this country —
heterosexuals are. I’m not saying I
support gay marriage, it’s just that
this issue has never registered much
on my radar compared to a much
more obvious, and much more immi
nent threat to our family life: Selfish
| ness and “I’’-centered thinking is now
the norm. A worldly mentality of self
actualizing psychobabble and inane
rationalization that flouts commit
ment while trying to pass itself off as
wisdom has seized our culture.
While everybody gets agitated
about gay marriage, we remain our
own worst enemies. The divorce and
adultery rates are the twin elephants
sitting in our living room that no
body wants to acknowledge, let
alone do anything about.
GABE BRADLEY
THE WRITING ON THE WALL
In public schools, we’re taught
sex education, but we’re not taught
family education. This is just one ex
ample of how backward our priori
ties are (and you know most kids
aren’t getting lessons in healthy fam
ily life at home). Am I a reactionary?
On this issue, you bet. There’s noth
ing wrong with being a reactionary
when the very core of society is slid
ing into the abyss, leaving a trail of
broken homes and shattered lives in
its cruel, destructive wake.
We need to call this situation what
it is: an imminent crisis that must be
dealt with today — not tomorrow or
the next day, today.
In the short run, couples need to
decide what to do, not if, but when,
adultery makes its way into the rela
tionships. When lost in puppy love,
too many couples think it will never
happen to them, so they don’t think
about it. But the statistics clearly
show that we’re all human, and it
happens — a lot. Adultery has run
rampant, and there’s no segment of
the population that’s safe. To not
have a crisis plan in place is naive
and foolish in this culture. In the
long run, we need to work on “af
fair-proofing” our marriages and
eliminating this scourge of unfaith
fulness that has had its way with
countless couples.
This is a crisis that affects all Amer
icans. The social costs of
divorce are so enormous they are al
most incalculable. The huge cost of
the court system, family and child
services and loss in productivity is ob
vious. The real social cost, though, is
the mind-boggling increase in vio
lence, crime, drug abuse and other so
cial ills that accompany this epidem
ic of broken homes.
What’s so frustrating about this
crisis is that while it has a huge im
pact on society, there is little the
government can do. Society is tear
ing itself apart, and our government
is powerless to stop it; only couples
have the power to change the course
of our country. One marriage at a
time, we need to become a nation of
couples who will fight for instead of
against each other.
When a marriage is broken, it
needs to be fixed. We can’t ignore
the problem any more than we can
walk away from the problem. Sick
people need doctors and sick
marriages need counselors.
Too often, though, people don’t
fight for marriage. They figure if it’s
not easy then they must be doing
something wrong, so they walk
away. Nothing worthwhile endures
without a fight. Love is a choice, not
a feeling. Commitment is a decision,
not an emotion. And sometimes we
have stand by our commitments de
spite every bit of “wisdom” to
the contrary.
One of my favorite movies is Rob
Reiner’s “The Story of Us,” which
chronicles the rise, fall and restora
tion of a marriage. I don’t want to
ruin the ending of the movie for
those who haven’t seen it. But for
those who have, I’d just like to say
that we need to become a nation of
people who are willing to say,
“Chow Fun’s.”
gabebradley@dailyem.emld. com
■ Guest commentary
Organic and vegan eating spawn
good health, sustainable environment
At the April 20 Earth Day festival,
you will likely be overwhelmed by
the major environmental issues con
fronting us: preserving wilderness,
stopping species extinction, and
maintaining clean air and water. Yet,
there is one thing little ol’ you can
do every day to help each of these
environmental problems. Drumroll
please: Eating plant-based foods, es
pecially organic and those locally
grown, and choosing vegan proteins
instead of meat, eggs, and dairy, is
even more powerful than our cur
rent healthy habits of recycling, bik
ing and turning off the water when
we brush our teeth. So why not do
all these responsible things?
Following the eco-mantra, “Re
duce, Reuse, Recycle,” eating vegan
proteins like nuts, soy, whole grains,
peas and beans is all about Reduc
tion. Veganism reduces the waste of
land, forests, plant crops, water, fuel
and wildlife, as well as the pollution
of water, soil and air. The simplest
way to explain it is that animal
agribusiness uses the majority of our
nation’s farmland to raise crops for
feeding farm animals. These
pesticide-ridden crops use many re
sources, like fertile soil, water and en
ergy and leave deforestation and de
sertification in their wake. For the
resources we put into raising these
crops and the additional water and
energy invested in raising, killing and
processing animals, we don’t get
nearly as much in calories or protein
out of the resulting animal products.
It’s an irresponsibly poor return on
an investment.
Thousands of people worldwide
die daily of hunger-related causes,
while we feed over 60 percent of our
grains and plants to farm animals. It
makes more sense to instead feed
people directly with those grains
and vegetables.
Compassion in World Farming re
ports that the world now consumes
five times as much meat as it did in
the first half of the 20th century. Our
current excesses of meat and dairy
aren’t normal and certainly cannot
be sustained. To keep America eat
ing all this excess meat and dairy,
factory farms are required. By inten
sively farming over 10 billion ani
mals annually and consolidating
their urine and feces, we are fouling
our air and water and ruining our
potential for a healthy future. In fact,
animal agribusiness is the largest
polluter of America’s rivers and
streams. What’s more, big money
agribusiness lobbyists are ensuring
that the government thinks of its
short-term interests and not what’s
best for the public. Since we live in
a market-based economy, that
means we as individual consumers
need to pick up the slack and finan
cially support more sustainable,
plant-based organic foods instead of
animal agribusiness. It’s up to us.
So next time you’re wondering
what to get for lunch on campus, by
pass Subway and go organic at Holy
Cow. Most campuses aren’t lucky
enough to have such a place. When
waiting for the bus, skip the hot dog
stand and hit the falafel pita stand
instead. Your fork is your most pow
erful tool for change. How will you
wield it?
Carrie Packwood Freeman is
a PhD student in Journalism
and Communication
■ Editorial
Jeopardizing
the filibuster
could muffle
minorities
Minorities. They built America, and Ameri
ca was built for them. There will always be
unheard minority voices, not just in our
nation at large, but in our nation’s govern
ment as well. As long as our country operates
under a two-party system, there will be an
unheard voice, and Republican Sen. Bill Frist
would do well to remember this fact. As
current Senate majority leader, Frist is
heading the imminent movement to shut
down filibusters against President Bush’s
judicial nominees.
Adhering to the belief that any senator
should be allowed to speak as long as neces
sary, a filibuster is a tactic wherein a Senate
member, usually from the minority party, con
tinues to speak for days on end, holding up
debate on other issues and effectively nullify
ing the motion under discussion. In this man
ner, the minority party can prevent a vote that
they know the majority party will win by way
of sheer numbers. Right now, democrats are
using the power of filibuster to avoid a vote
that would place a sharply conservative judge
next in line for the Supreme Court.
It takes 60 votes to shut down the filibuster;
Republicans hold only 55 seats in the Senate.
If Frist has his way, Senate rules will change
for judicial nominations so only 51 votes are
necessary to move along a vote.
Stepping outside party lines for just a
moment, the dangers of limiting a minority
voice should be painstakingly obvious to all
politicians. Even some fellow Republican
Senators disagree with Frist’s proposal, com
menting that at some future point the tables
will be turned, and it will be the Republican
party relying on filibuster until judicial
nominees leaning more toward the middle
can be selected.
It is also significant that Frist is not asking
to change the rule on all filibusters, just those
related to approving justices. Of all the rea
sons to filibuster, it seems that the minority
power to halt debate is most important when
it comes to the Supreme Court. There are al
most no circumstances under which a justice
will leave the court; appointees last a life
time. It hardly seems fair or democratic for the
majority party, be it Republican or Democrat,
to choose justices leaning so far from the mid
dle that the minority party would wish to fili
buster in the first place.
If you consider yourself a liberal, think
about it this way: Without the ability to fili
buster, current Senate Democrats will be pow
erless to prevent a Conservative justice from
being appointed to the Supreme court, who
could then sway the court into finding Roe v.
Wade unconstitutional. A disappearance of
the filibuster could easily result in a disap
pearance of the right to abortion.
If you consider yourself a conservative,
think about it this way: Without the ability to
filibuster, future Senate Republicans will be
powerless to prevent a liberal justice, who
could sway the court into legalizing gay mar
riage. Although stopping a filibuster may
sound like a good idea for your party right
now, a long-term consideration shows that
making it difficult for the minority Senate
group to filibuster is a bad idea all around.
Maybe someone should tell that to Bill Frist.
Oregonians of every political persuasion
should call their senator, Gordon Smith at
(202) 224-3753 in Washington D.C. or (503)
326-3386 in Portland and proclaim the impor
tance of the filibuster.