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2 The Clackamas Print V Wednesday, December 6,1995 The two-party system of government Daniel Gustav Anderson Staff Writer Because he so preferred the United States of America, Satan himself designed for it the two- party system of government. This system is fundamentally wrong and will bring the fall of the American empire. As Christ explained, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” The system allows certain people to make a great deal of money; this oligarchy, small group of powerful businesses, has the power to perpetuate the sys tem which produces its own wealth. Consider the contenders in this money-making machine: The Democratic party pan ders to the needs of the poor, the downtrodden, minorities, the en vironment, people who seem to appreciate their civil liberties. Support of these groups brings fi nancial support for the Party in the form of donations and contri butions, like charity. The Republican Party uses moral issues—’’family values,” for example—catch phrases popular to conservative capital ists, particularly successful ones. Then, these capitalists offer finan- cial contributions to the Party, and the Party fights the true “moral” issues that the Democrats seem to represent: helping the poor, the downtrodden, minorities, and so forth. Neither party, however, is any less guilty than the other. Imag ine a magnet with only one pole, or an axle with only one wheel. A polarized system takes two poles, and the strength of one pole is measurable by the strength of the other. This polarization and fragmentation also leads to other dangers, and distracts voters from root issues. Americans have adopted the habit of reducing human com plexity to simplistic moral abso lutes. Certain voters, for example, have become one-issue thinkers. These voters rally around their causes—abortion, gun control or lack thereof, environment—and become organized lobbying, pan dering, connection-making, leg islation-breaking, propaganda creating factions. They are blinded by the brightness of their own moral correctness, voting for candidates exclusively on the word of the gun lobby, or the abor tion lobby, or the tobacco lobby. Single issues take on dispropor- tionate magni tude. Candi- dates for of fice—remark ably complex, like everyone- -simply choose which factions to pa tronize, push the keys of enough voters graphic by Chad Patteson and can easily The third option is no political parties at all. enter office with a differ sponsored by the Oregon Citizen’s ent, previously unquestioned, Alliance and the antiabortion agenda. The candidate can carry lobby—stole much of on the dualistic party system with Frohnmeyer’s conservative sup out much effort. port. With Mobley and Of course, the Democratic Frohnmeyer clobbering one an Party and the Republican Party other, Roberts won the election by are not the only two participants. a slim margin. In other words, This century has seen the rise of either major party can use any Libertarians, Independents, small party to defeat the other Greens and Silver Foxes, for ex major party. ample. Political analysts have Representative democracy, noticed that these parties often without parties. People could play a spoiler role. simply vote for candidates and not In the 1988 Oregon guberna labels; partisan silliness in Con torial race, the moderate Repub gress would be without base. lican Dave Frohnmeyer lost to lib The dual-party system is a eral Democrat Barbara Roberts. A money-making machine for few third candidate, super-conserva and waste of time for everyone, tive Independent Al Mobley— and must change now. Letter to the Editor: Season to party Teaching evolution Sean M. Whitney Contributing Writer ’Tis the season to party. Many of you will attend or host a Christmas party in the com ing weeks. Recently I heard an idea that combines the tradi tional gathering with an oppor tunity to give; Invitations were sent out in viting a group of friends to a Christmas party; however, a brief paragraph explained, “This party has a purpose...” The pur pose was the collection of gifts to be donated to a local women’s •shelter. Enclosed, was a “Holi day Wish List” provided by the shelter, and the list was varied enough to allow for even the smallest budget. The response was over whelming. The host of this party, who wishes to remain anony mous, said that the idea came from her desire to do something for battered women. “Most of these women have no money. They’ve usually just left, and they have no money. They have nothing,” said the hostess about women coming from abusive situations. She said that she found the shelter listed underwomen’s ser vices in the phone book and con tacted them for instructions on what, where and how to give. The donations are being handled through a church; the shelter keeps its location secret to pro Party continued on page 3 The Clackamas Print Staff Editor-in-Chief: Chad Patteson (Ext. 2576) Managing Editor: Amy K. Hanson (Ext. 2576) Feature Editor: Jon Roberts (Ext. 2578) Sports Editor: Jesse Sowa (Ext. 2578) Photography Editor: Josh Kehler (Ext. 2578) Copy Editor: Vicki Welch (Ext. 2578) Opinion Editor: Brendon Neal (Ext. 2576) Business Manager: Cori Kargel (Ext. 2578) ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Staff Writers/Photographers: Eric Eatherton, Dan Gustav Anderson, Megan Friedow, Lora Wahrgren, Linda Barr Batdorf, Andrew Beck, Pamela Sirianni, Ryan Humphris, Paul Ulmen, Lisa Marie, Tim Countryman, Brad Zimmerman Secretary: Joanne Gale (Ext. 2309) Advisor : Linda Vogt (Ext. 2310) The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased, professional manner. The opinions expressed in The Clackamas Print do not necessarily reflect those of the student body, college administration, its faculty or The Clackamas Print's advertisers. Products and services advertised in The Clackamas Print are not necessarily endorsed by anyone associated with The Clackamas Print. The Clackamas Print is a weekly publication distributed every Wednesday except for finals week. The advertising rate is $4.50 per col umn inch. All signed letters to the editor will be considered for publication and must be submitted by 1 p.m. the Friday prior to the next issue. Clackamas Community College, 19600 S. Molalla Avenue, Oregon City, Oregon, 97045; Barlow 104; (503) 657-6958, ext. 2309. E-mail: cccprint@clackamas.cc.or.us in American schools I agree up to a point, with the article titled, “Why evolution is not the answer,” in the Novem ber 29 edition of the Clackamas Print. I agree our evolutionary data is imperfect, and there are gaps that can’t be explained, yet. We do not have irrefutable proof of an evolution from the primordial soup to the now. Although we do have something to pick up and hold in our hands, to subject to testing and comparisons with other samples, many feel it is not enough, there needs to be some thing more that needs to be an swered. On the surface it does seem logical and even beneficial for the two theories to be taught in conjuction, so a person could see the empirical evidence and decide for themselves. Now, the question comes up: which creation story (theory) do we teach? Will it be Hindu, Bassari, Yakima, Norse, Zen, UFOlogist, the Gaia principle, Christian? ... we cannot teach only one creation theory because there are too many, and each of the believers are sure their’s is the only true story and each has enough proof to convince them selves and other followers. Herin lies the dilemma. Maybe until, as with evolu tion, we have one creationism theory acceptable to the majority, the best answer is still to teach it at home or in the Synagogues, Oak Groves, Temples, Churches, on the mountain tops, in Peyote dreams or wherever an individual goes to get in touch with their Creator. Or not. Esther Esson Student LOSE 20 POUNDS IN TWO WEEKS Famous U.S. Women's Alpine Ski Team Diet During the non-snow off season the U.S. Women's Alpine Ski Team members used the "Ski Team" diet to lose 20 pounds in two weeks. That's right - 20 pounds in 14 days! The basis of the diet is chemical food action and was devised by a famous Colorado physician especially for the U.S. Ski Team. Normal energy is maintained (very important!) while reducing. You keep "full" - no starvation - because the diet is designed that way. It's a diet that is easy to follow whether you work, travel or stay at home. This is, honestly, a fantastically successful diet. If it weren't, the U.S. Women's Alpine Ski Team wouldn't be permitted to use it! Right? So, give yourself the same break the U.S. Ski Team gets. Lose weight the scientific, proven way. Even if you've tried all the other diets, you owe it to yourself to try the U.S. Women's Alpine Ski Team Diet. That is,-if you really do want to lose'20 pounds in two weeks. Order today! Tear this out as a reminder. Send only $8.95 ($9.60 in Calif.)-add .50 cents RUSH service to: American Institute, 721 E. Main Street, Dept. 254, Santa Maria, CA 93454-4507. Don't order unless you expect to lose 20 pounds in two weeks! Because that’s what the Ski Team Diet will do. ©1995- Letter to the editor: Concerns about piracy Now let me get this straight. And I quote from the article by Brad Zimmerman in the Novem ber 29 issue of “The Print”; “The reality is, that until a testing method (for software) is found, piracy is the only viable option to avoid buying bad software.” This is a powerful proclama tion. Let’s examine his words. “The reality is, that until a testing method (for software) is found..;” My first questions would be, has he worked for a year or more hacking out code in order to develop a piece of software that does something worth a consum ers dollars? Has he been an alpha and beta tester of software and crash-tested it? Has he been di rectly involved in the “testing” of software? Another related question. What kind of “testing method” does he seek? Is he aware of the kinds of methods presently in place for software testing by reputable companies? Does he propose that all software be held from the mar ketplace until it is kid-tested and mother-approved as worthy.of pur chase? Who’s standards will Mr. Zimmerman impose on the final release of software in order to deem it “good” as opposed to the “bad” he proclaims in the next-to- last word of his article? His final amazing statement is “...piracy is the only viable op tion to avoid buying bad software.” Statements such as “never” and “the only” should always be held suspect. If stealing is the only vi able option to buying, then wc arc all in sad shape. Thi§ js the.same kind of thinking that renders'many people incapable of changing the TV dial. That forces them to watch offending programs, go to violent, sexually explicit movies against their will, and send their kids ex pensive private schools. Yes, it is this same misguided perception in this country that is forcing us all to become angry, violent, and prone to criminal activities. Mr Zimmerman would have us believe that this stressful life we lead is viciously draining us of any sem blance of free will that we possess, and dragging us to Egghead to shell out our hard-won dollars for the latest software that we know ab solutely nothing about. After reading his exhortations to criminal activity I would imag ine that Mr. Zimmerman has been forced at gunpoint to purchase in ferior products since childhood. With absolutely no avenue of griev ance available to him. From read ing his article, it seems that he is new to Ameri ca’s concept of free enterprise; choice in the market place, try before you buy, product disclaimers, limited warranties, and buyer beware. Let’s follow his logic for a few more examples. Until automobiles are fully tested car theft is the only viable option to buying bad cars. Until authors are completely capable of writing inoffensive works, book theft is the only vi able option to buying bad books. Until book publishers finally lower their prices, photocopying is the only viable option to paying exhorbitant prices for books. Until politicians can all emu late the moral standards practiced by Jesus Christ, they should all be executed. As you can see, this appears to be flawed logic. Not the logic Letter continued on page 3
