2 Commentai4/
Republic stagnates under Republicans
. Rev. Sam Krause
11 The Clackamas Print
Reports of ABC journalists’
phones being tapped, warrant
less wire-tapping of internation
al calls to domestic citizens and
other clandestine activity by the
Bush administration have creat
ed a general contempt and mis
trust amongst a wide political
array of eligible voters towards
the entire government.
One of the worst aspects
of the Bush administration,
Congress and the Supreme
Court is the blatant abuse of
a representative government
by the majority. I believe that
the Constitution was written
to protect the minority from,
as Alexander Hamilton put it,
“the tyranny of the majority.”
The Great Compromise, which
basically defined our Republic’s
congress as we know it, encom
passes Hamilton’s approach to
the constitution. Hamilton’s
view should be carried over into
today’s politics: a respect for
the minority.
Another repercussion of one-
party rule is a lack of account
ability. Why should the Senate
subpoena a member of the
House of Representatives or
Bush administration and grill
them on the stand when in
fighting and negative press cov
erage just reflects poorly on the
political party that is in control
of government? That would be
political suicide and strategi
cally unwise. I believe that’s
tution. Every two years, all
eligible voters have the oppor
tunity to influence the fed
eral government in a peaceful
and lawful manner. It is in
the House that impeachments
begin and the Senate is where
they end. Come November,
it is possible to replace the
House of Representatives and
one third of the Senate.
why various leaks of classified
information have not been held
responsible - it would look bad
on the Republicans.
The answer to a stagnant
republic is an interested and
informed public. Congress is
still the strongest branch of gov
ernment, no matter how much
the Bush administration under
mines congress and the .consti-
John Hughes Contributing artist
Net neutrality needed
The Internet came
close to being gutted
by greedy corporations
I Laura Cameron
| Commentary Editor
Who here can tell me
what the best thing is about
the Internet? No, not porn.
Anyone else? Ah yes, up
there, the prat in the back!
“The wealth of knowledge
and information available to
us instantly!”
That’s absolutely cor
rect, Timmy! The Internet,
if used correctly, can pro
vide the eager student with
all the information they need
for lab reports, term papers
and the like. Tell the aver
age college student to write a
research paper without using
the Internet and watch them
spontaneously combust!
Now imagine being denied
access to useful sites like
Google or lii.org. How much
more difficult has that terny
paper suddenly become?
This is the future that may
await us if we lose something
known as network neutral
ity.
For those with a life
beyond the Internet, here are
Clackamas Print
19600 S. Molalla Ave.
Oregon City, OR 97045
(503) 657-6958 ex. 2309
The C laomm « Print is a weekly
student publication and is
distributed every Wednesday except
finals week.
Clackamas Prii
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
the bare bones of the matter:
currently, any user can access
any website through any ISP.
Due to lobbying from the big
telecommunication
firms,
however, there is now a bill
before Congress that would
allow ISPs to restrict or deny
access to websites of their
choosing (read: any site that
doesn’t pay them).
Passage of this bill would
mean a lot of money for the
telecoms that own the ISPs. It
would also destroy the essence
of the Internet.
Let’s look at this from the
point of view of a fiction
al Clackamas student named
Bob. Bob has been assigned
to write a 10-page report on
the genetics of black leop
ards. Whistling merrily, Bob
sits down at his computer,
pulls up his browser and
directs it to Google. Oh no!
Bob uses NetZero and Google
doesn’t pay them, so they
won’t let Bob access that site.
Grumbling, Bob closes the
browser and goes nextdoor to
use his friend’s computer.
Success! Bob’s friend Bill
has AOL, whom Google has
paid. Bob can use Google
Scholar to do research for
his paper. He searches for
“genetics of black leopards”
and gets a link to an article on
just that topic that was printed
in the journal Nature. Bob
is happy - this should get
him some wonderful infor
mation for his paper!
Oh, not so fast, Bob -
Nature doesn’t pay AOL.
The article is just out of
his grasp, on the other side
of the block set up by the
greedy ISP.
Bob is angry now and
decides to ask his Internet
friends for help.
So he
enters the address for his
favorite discussion forum
and discovers that it, too, is
blocked by AOL. Enraged,
Bob slides out of the chair,
drops to his knees and, rais
ing clenched fists toward the
uncaring heavens, screams
“KHAN!”
Well, OK, maybe that last
bit is a little unlikely, but
the rest of our hypothetical
situation is entirely possi
ble. The fact that it actually
is possible worries me.
Limiting access to infor
mation should never be done
lightly. The idea of allow
ing others to limit access
to information for monetary
gain is downright abhorrent
and should be scornfully
rejected.
Let’s not allow America,
Land of the Free, to become
America, Land of the
Bought.
E ditor - in -C hief : Ben Matas
C opy E ditors : Katie Weinberg, E. E.
West
N ews E ditor : Katie Wilson
C ommentary E ditor : Laura Cameron
F eature E ditor : C.J. Ciaramella
S ports E ditor : Mike Guidice
A&E E ditor : Tayo Stalnaker
P hoto E ditor : Jeff Sorensen
A d M anager : Sam Krause
A d A ssistant . Helen Conley /
S taff W riters : Derek Erickson,
Justin Goe, Elizabeth Hitz, Frank
Jordan, Mike Kimberling, Megan
Koler, Adam J. Manley Matthew
Olson, Kyle Steele, David Stark,
N. P. Delzell, Helen Conley
P roduction A ssistants : Adam
J. Manley,-Kim Maier, Elizabeth
Open primaries: good ii
theory, bad in practice
Ben Maras
Editor-in-Chief
Last week I was accosted
right here on campus while
enroute to my WR 123 class.
The overzealous orator
shoved a clipboard in my
face and attempted to get
me to sign a petition to put
an open primary bill on the
November ballot.
Judging by the look on his
face when explaining that I
didn’t support them, I could
have sworn he misheard
me saying that I eat infants
(which I do -* I consider
it my duty as a good little
Commie - but that’s beside
the point). If only he had
listened to my point.
Here in Oregon we have
what is known as a closed pri
mary system, where a voter
may only vote in the primary
of the party which they are
registered for (Democrats
for Democrats, Republicans
for Republicans, Greens
for Greens, etc). This has
recently come under attack
lately, because it completely
leaves non-affiliated voters
off the electoral process.
This is a huge percent
age of Oregonians. About
one in five voters-here are
registered as independent -
about 400,000. This is often
used as justification by the
open primary supporters for
their cause - what they don’t
explain is why opening the
primaries would undermine
what Oregon is famous for.
Closed primaries are an
intricate part of maintaining
a mixed and balanced gov
ernment in Oregon. If prima
ries were opened, it would
allow another window for
tyranny of the majority.
For example, if a state
contains a high number of
registered Democrats and a
lesser number of register
Republicans, an open priml
would allow a large sum
of Democrats to vote ini
Republican primary, and h|
sway it in the direction!
a favorable or weak can)
date. Here the Republic]
are being suppressed witl
their own party.
Furthermore, a major]
party could easily use t|
power to manipulate the pi J
al points of debate in an eft
tion. For example, thejj.l
could use voters to sway I
Democratic election in fal
of a candidate who would]
softer on issues on which t|
are vulnerable (corporate n
fare, national debt, big
Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, h
wiretapping, President-sn
sored raids on Democn
Senators’ offices, Karl Rc
Social Security, and CIA Id
... to name a few).
Even more vulnera
though, is the many third
ties which reside in Ore]
The number of party m
bers for these groups is m
smaller than either of]
two dominating parties -|
this makes them much m
vulnerable to an oppres
movement by a majority p
to sway their own election
This would develop
another variant method t
by both the Republicans
the Democrats to sway e
tions - invest money and t
into a third party candi
which will draw votes a
from the other.
Lest we forget, polia
parties are private orgaa
tions and should be treate
such. Meddling with peon
ability to hold an elec
within their own organ]
tion constitutes govern]
abuse, and as they say, il
rolls downhill (back onto]
people). So forgive me fon
signing my name to it. 1
Letter to the
editor
Immigration face-off missing one point
I found both sides of the very complex issue of illegj
immigration to be well-written. However, I would like to poi
out that our ancestors were the first illegal immigrants: then
were native peoples here before we arrived.
Diane Averill
English Instructor
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Hitz, Chris Anderson, Scott
Risvold
P hotographers : Adam J. Manley,
Lara Hedbor, Elizabeth Hitz,
Matt Olson, N. P. Delzell
D epartment A dvisor : Linda Vogt
D epartment A ssistant . Chris Hennel
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The opinions expressed do not I
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