OPINIONS
THE PRINT
January 25,1989
Page 2
Bush responsible for
death of liberalism
The inauguration of President George
Herbert Walker Bush last Friday signalled
the end of the Reagan era. A vicious and
protracted two year campaign gave the first
hint of the attitude of G.H.W. Bush. The
first casualty: liberalism.
There was a time in this country when
it was o.k. to be a liberal. Franklin Roosev
elt, whom many consider the quintessen
tial liberal, helped lift the nation from
economic disaster by increasing federal
spending for social programs. And before
the campaign it seemed as if everyone who
was old enough to have a social conscience
in the sixties was a liberal.
Somehow the spin doctors of the Bush
campaign managed to convince the major
ity of America that it is wrong to care about
others more than personal prosperity. The
word liberal now has a bad connotation.
Being a liberal in the America of George
Bush is tantamount to being a treasonous,
unpatriotic criminal.
Unfortunately this tactic served pri
marily to divert public attention away from
the issues that face us, such as a $2 trillion
plus deficit and the fact we are being outpro
duced in the Far East. Apparently elec
tions aren’t won on issues in the televisioh
age; issues are too complicated to make
good sound bites.
The method of defeating an opponent
by labeling him a liberal seemed to filter
down through the Republican ranks. There
was a brochure sent to voters from the
Denny Smith campaign several weeks be
fore the election. The outside proclaimed,
“There is only one word to describe Mike
Kopetski...” Inside was the word LIBERAL
in huge red letters, and a small caption
asking for a vote for Denny Smith. There
was no mention of either Smith’s or Ko-
petski’s stand on any particular issue, just
that huge, red, LIBERAL staring out like
some remnant of the McCarthy era.
It would be nice if someone would
explain what is wrong with being a liberal,
or anything else a person wants to be in a
free society.
A lot of importance is placed on the
historical significance of a president. Re
agan wasn’t even out of office before the
network news organizations were trying to
put him in a historical perspective. When
Bush leaves office and heads to Maine, or
Texas, or whatever state he is claiming as
his home at that time, we’ll remember him
as the man who killed liberalism.
Beginning of new term
brings responsibilities
A new term is here again and like
always I am not ready. But, unlike other
terms, this time there is no way I can get
ready. You see, all I have left to take is
math. Now I made it through Math 70 with
only a minor concussion and a few bouts of
nausea. But now I face the odious task of
taking all those x’s and y’s and twisting
them into new forms and even trying to
cube the stupid things.
Domestic
Issues
Tammy
Swartzendruber
And then there’s the story problems in
which I am supposed to apply these funny
things called trinomials and quadratics to
everyday life. Now that has got to be the
most ridiculous thing I ever heard of. I have
made it through almost thirty years with
out knowing a thing about trinomials and
qaudratics. I happen to feel that there are
more practical ways to solve a problem
then the dubious use of x’s and y’s.
Take this problem for an example: if it
takes one boy five hours to mow the lawn
and his brother can mow it in three hours,
how long will it take both boys to mow the
lawn if they mowed it together? Now why
do I have to know math to figure that out?
If the problem ever happened to crop up in
my life I would send my two sons out to the
backyard and have them mow it together.
Then I would know exactly how long it took
them. I guess math teachers’ minds are too
complicated to think of such an easy solu
tion. Now you say, “Yes, but that doesn’t
help you figure it out if you’re sitting in
school and have no access to a lawn mower
or to your sons.” You’re exactly right. But
why do I have to figure it out in my class?
There’s no grass to mow in that room so as
I see it that should be the end of the prob
lem.
Well, as I said earlier I actually did
make it through Math 70 and I am deter
mined to make it through Math 100 even
though my list of casualties is already much
greater than those things that I endured in
Math70.
Here I am about done with this column
and in a few minutes I will be facing far
greater problems than anything I ever will
face in math class. I will somehow have to
get totally new concepts across to my first
grader when I help her with her homework.
I will also have to try to juggle my time so
that I will have time to sew a few dresses
tonight, clean the house, do the laundry, go
visit a discouraged girl friend, make dinner,
and try to soothe my boy friends injured
feelings when I tell him that I do not have
the time to go skiing with him. Thank God
that lifes problems don’t come in x’s and y’s
or I would still be doing tonights work next
year this time.
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