Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1980)
■H opinion Champie says Carter cheating by not defending his failures By Dan Champie Of The Print President Carter is cheating the American people by not coming out of the White House and defending his domestic and foreign policy failures in a debate with other Democratic presidential candidates. Carter says his reason for this is that he cannot devote time to partisan political activity because he is handling delicate international situations in Iran and Afghanistan. I think it’s time we all took a step back and looked at the current world situation,and compared it to past situations when presidential candidates engaged in debates? Is the current, so-called “World Crisis” worse than when the Germans and Hitler were rolling over countries with their Blitzkrieg, or when he had people fighting in Vietnam (at the time of the Kennedy-Nixon debate)? If you think so, you’re just as hysterical as Carter. Carter did not have the foresight to see that when he let the Shah enter the U.S., the militants in Iran would take some sort of action against our people over there. When they did, Carter and his ad ministration went into sheer hysteria. He also lacked the foresight to see that, when the old Marxist regime in Afghanistan was having problems, the Russians would go in and replace it with a new Marxist regime. When they did, he and his adminsitration were so caught off guard that they reac ted by trying to restart the draft. Mention of the draft, by the way, was the only time in Car ter’s State of the Union Ad dress in which he mentioned the American people at home. Some “State of the Union” ad dress. With the election of a moderate president in Iran, and with him getting support from the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini against the miliants who are holding the U.S. Em bassy hostage, and with the Russians more than likely to carry out their plans in Afghanistan, and with a Russian troop withdrawl likely in the next three or four weeks, it’s time for Carter to come out and face the music. It will not be “Hail to the Chief” when he has to defend his domestic and foreign policy failures. Let’s take a look at a few of his biggest failures. Inflation and the Economy We have lived through four years of an unmanaged economy. When Carter took office, he promised economic growth and stable prices. In stead, he has delivered a threefold increase in the in flation rate, and a no-growth economy. The dollar has declined drastically against world currencies. The world has lost faith in the dollar under his presidency. Carter has handed the con trol of the economy over to his appointed Federal Reserve Chairman G. William Miller, who moved interest rates to MAINTAINING THIS CRISIS IN IRAN HAS CERTAINLY HELPED YOU IN THE POLLS? their highest level since the Civil War, threatening a severe recession that will throw millions more people out of work, while continuing to punish retired persons, homeowners, working women, small businesspersons, young families, students and farmers. Carter has also attempted to shift the responsibilities for the faltering economy from gover nment mismanagement to the American people, and has blamed the people for failing to solve the problem on their own. Energy Carter’s record shows: Decontrol of oil and natural gas prices, prior to passage of a WAIT'TIL M3U SEE HOW I'M GOING TO WIN THE ELECTION/ windfall profits tax, has fueled security benefits for funeral inflation and victimized con disability and education ol dependents. sumers; Heath Care Costs —A Department of Energy that While running for preside has been hopelessly disorganized and has frequen Carter pledged to suppd 1 tly bowed to oil companies' in comprehensive national heal insurance. After his electiol terests; —A low priority on domestic Carter delayed the introduce coal development so that we of any national health insura imported twice as much foreign ce legislation for three yel and finally offered just a] coal in 1979 as we did in 1977; —Continued promotion of piecemeal approach, with nuclear power, while the severe limitations on benefits critical issue of safety remains and no cost controls. With this extraordinarily unresolved. poor record, it is no wonder Social Security During his 1976 campaign, that Carter prefers to hides in j Carter pledged support for the White House, instead ou coming out and debating with' America’s social security system. Yet, after he was elec the other Democratic cari didates. ted, he sought to cut social feedback_______________ - Take a look at our good relation, China To The Editor: 4, It has not been my policy to get involved with “politics.” In all my wide-eyed experience with life, politics has always struck me much the same way as getting too close to a hot burner. In the back of my head I always heard a little voice saying, “No, no, Joey. HOT.” So I have always kept my fingers away and my ears open. But with all the allegations, threats, and huffing and puffing about what is or what is not “ours,” we’re missing a very important corollation in this mess and I just want to point it out. With the Soviet troops in Page 2 Afghanistan, the Olympic boycott, and the trouble in Iran headlining the daily news, no one pays much attention to the stories of steadily improving trade relations with China. Af ter all, this is a good thing, right? Oregon itself stands to make a considerable amount of money as a major port in the exporting and importing of goods to China. “Wonderful,” you say. “So what?” So this. As our relations with the Soviet Union steadily decline, our relations with China steadily improve. And any high school history student can tell you that the Soviet Union and China have been snarling enemies for centuries. So where does this put the U.S. Avay? Right in the mid dle, sweety. Let’s face it—all the hubbub with the little coun tries (including our swaggering little buddies in Iran) is small peanuts. The REAL power (s, and always has been, in the hands of the Soviets, the Chinese and (perhaps a little overwhelmingly) the U.S. And now the pendulum swings the other way. We’re pissed at the Soviets and teary- eyed mushy about our long- lost friends, the Chinese. True, the Chinese haven’t been in troduced to all the wonders of nuclear warfare yet, but we, the capitalists, aren’t going to turn down the chance of a profit if they’re interested. We haven’t yef, have we? Even if our government says, “No, no, China. HOT,” there’s bound to be a private citizen in here somewhere willing to disclose a secret or two for the right price and a good bomb shelter. So what happens if the Soviets are in a Cold War with us and we’re busy trading goods and teaching nukes, to the Chinese? Well, as the saying goes, “Two’s company, three’s a crowd,” and I don’t much like the looks of this crowd. What do we do? Hell, I don’t know. I just thought I’d take the focus off what ISN’T that mt^hj of a threat and do a pan shot on what looks to me ¡like something noteworthy. Keeping things in perspective, as they say. Frankly, I’ve got no com ment on the American hostages in Iran, the Soviet! troops in Afghanistan, orlthe possible Olympic boycott. It all looks like cops and robber® me. But if I were the American 1 public, I’d keep my eye on the ' Big Boys. The ones with the bucks and The Bombs. Joey Rose Thea^l _ Clackamas Community College
