Portland Observer, Novem ber 17, 1982 Page 5
4 * Years Serving A m erica » C hildren
Buying the vote
OLBE IN S U R A N C E
8 E R V IC E S
4«
by Herb Cawthorne
Agent
6616 N .E . U n ion A v a .
Portland, Oregon 97211 288-1718
For All Your Insurance Needs
In 1957, running for the Virginia
House o f Burgesses, George Wash
ington dispensed the follow ing to
391 voters, all men o f course: 28 gal
lons o f ru m , 50 gallons o f rum
punch, 34 gallons o f wine, 46 gal
lons o f beer, and 2 gallons o f cider.
A quart and a half o f booze per vot-
erl
Votes have always been p u r
chased, and it’s not different today.
But the nature o f the “ purchase”
and the peculiar campaign spending
laws create a situation much worse
than loosening the folks up with a
little booze before the speech.
In 1974, Congress tried to change
campaign laws. F irs t, they set a
maximum contribution from an in
dividual at $1,000 for the primary
and the general election— $2,000 to
tal. Second, the new election law
created Political Action Committees
(P A C s ), which can give $5,000 in
the primary and $5,000 in the gener
al election. Tw o other provisions in
the 1974 law were struck down by
the Supreme Court. The Court ruled
that the $70,000 ceiling on House
races was unconstitutional. In addi
tion, the C ourt said it was against
the First A m endm ent to lim it to
$25,000 the amount an individual or
his family can give to his own cam
paign.
This latter decision is a threat to
even the possibility o f expanding
participatory democracy. I f one is
rich enough, he doesn’t have to wor
ry about drumming up thousands o f
$1,000 contributions, or begging the
PACs for $5,000 contributions. He
can simply write his own check. In
the 1980 Congressional campaign,
Texas Democrat W illia m Pattm an
“ loaned” himself $496,593.15.
The new cam paign laws, which
were supposed to stop the “ under-
the-table-dealings’ ’ o f W atergate,
have created a situation that favors
those w ith big personal fortunes.
T he rich can “ lo a n ” money to
themselves. But the m iddle class
can d id ate— who may be the best
person w ith a solid re p u ta tio n —
must work like hell to raise up to
$600,000 in small c o n trib u tio n s.
They can’ t w rite a check to them
selves. That doesn’t sound like rep
resentative democracy to me. More
and more only one class o f people
have the financial resources to be
represented— the wealthy class.
W hen the very w ealthy “ lo a n "
their campaigns big sums o f money,
they have a chance to gain it all
back. You see, P o litic a l A ctio n
Committees can give contributions
re tro a c tiv e ly 1
. A can d id ate loans
him self the money to win an elec
tion. A fte r he wins, a la b o r, bus
iness or some other special interest
PAC can give up to $10,000 in retro
active contributions to a campaign
run years befo re. This is nothing
more than a breeding ground fo r
corruption.
Robert Dole, the Republican Sen
ator fro m Kansas, said, “ W hen
these PACs give money they expect
something in return other than good
government.” In other words, they
expect the right vote on the right is
sue. What we have is a legal form of
bribery. Congressmen with old cam
paign debts exchange votes on key
issues for co n trib u tio n s to cam
paigns run long ago. And the money
goes straight into their own pockets
— in the case o f those who pay o ff
the loan they gave to themselves!
The cost o f cam paigning is o b
scene. But the new election laws, a f
ter the Supreme C o u rt threw out
provisions that would have brought
equity, are even more destructive.
An election spending law was a bad-
ly needed re fo rm . T h e Supreme
Court chopped up the reform , and
now we have money ruling national
politics as openly and flagrantly as
ever before. There are 3,149 P oliti
cal A ctio n C om m ittees. T o C o n
gressional candidates alone, they
gave $80 million in this last election.
As Thom as D o w n ey, a dem ocrat
from New Y o rk , said, “ You can’t
buy a Congressman for $5,000. But
you can buy his vote. It ’s done on a
regular basis.”
There will be little movement to
ward progressive governm ent,
tow ard including those who have
been systematically left out o f the
process at the national level, unless
election laws are changed. I f they
are n ot, then progressive people,
blacks, third parties, and other ra
cial ethnic groups will have to work
more closely together, devise unique
means to gain recognition, organiz
ing around carefully developed is
sues and a smaller number o f candi
dates. But most im p o rta n tly , in
groups that cross cultural and ideo
logical lines, held together by com
mon issues, we will have to put forth
the one thing which neutralizes
m oney— leg w o rk , leg w o rk , and
more leg work!
Heard about
the
Cervical Cap?
The Cervical Cap 6 used as a barrier method ot
birth control It is a thimble shaped cap made out of
rubber which fits tightly over the neck of the cervix,
preventing sperm from entering the uterus The cap
was used in this country years ago. but has not
gained popularity until recently
has been used for years success
fully in Western Europe At this
time the cervical cap is not
approved by the Food and Drug
Administration fFDA) Studies are
being done to determine its current
effectiveness and safety
PORTLAND
FEMINIST
W O M E N 'S
HEALTH
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6510 SE FOSTER ROAD
PORTLAND. O REGON 97206
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Bits and Pieces
by Ruth Spencer
“ I f we teach a child to read, yet
develop not the taste for reading,
all o f our leaching is for naught.
We shall have produced a nation
o f illiterate literates
—Charlotte Huck
The nationwide survey o f Am eri
can school children made in 1980 by
the National Assessment o f Educa
tio n al Progress unearthed some
th o u g h t-p ro vo kin g in fo rm a tio n .
The good news is our students can
read better now than those in the
past. The bad news is that the ma
jo rity do not enjoy reading. The
older the students, the less they liked
reading. H a lf the surveyed 17-ycar-
olds chose reading as their least fa
vorite leisure-tim e activity. These
poor attitudes tow ard reading
weren’t necessarily linked to poor
reading ability. Many skilled readers
don’t seem to value reading.
W hat can parents do to inspire
enthusiasm for reading? Help your
child discover the real reasons for
reading— its pleasures. Reading
aloud to children is one way to open
them up to all the magic and power
of good books.
•
G eneral Roscoe R obinson, Jr.
was appoiinled the first black four-
star general in U .S . A rm y history.
As one of only ten four-star generals
in the A rm y, General Robinson is
also the U .S . representative to the
N A T O M ilitary Committee.
W ith a B.S. in m ilitary engineer
ing and a masters in in ternational
affairs, Robinson’s personal philos
ophy is a simple one: ” 1 do the best
job I can.” He thinks o f himself as a
good soldier who has been “ doing
my jo b .” “ The promotion and the
N A T O assignments arc natural ad
vancements and deserved recogni
tions that w ill serve to encourage
young blacks in the m ilita ry for
years to come," he said.
•
Americans arc living longer than
ever, according to the National in
stitute for Health Statistics in Wash
ington, D .C .
In 1979, the last year for which
figures are a va ila b le, the average
American lived 73.7 years, up four-
tenths o f a year from 1978.
W h ite women have the longest
life expectancy o f all at 78.2 years,
followed by black women at 72.7.
W hite men can expect to live 70.6
years, and black men 64 years.
E ig h ty percent o f the children
who enter school today will grow up
to work in careers that have not yet
been invented. A re your children
learning how to observe, organize,
discover, plan, solve problems and
manage time or are they still mem
orizing the average rainfall in Terre
Haute? T h in k about it. The child
who is taught to reason and think
today may be the man in charge to
morrow.
•
Joseph Davidson has been named
M anaging Editor o f The N a tio n a l
Leader, the weekly national news
paper linking the black community
nationwide. Davidson, who holds a
B .A . from O akland U . at Roches
ter, Mich, and a Masters from U. of
M ich., has received several journal
ism awards and an in v ita tio n to
serve on the Pulitzer Prize Board in
1983.
disobedience as a means of resisting
the Vietnam W ar and the nuclear
arms race. In 1971 Daniel Ellsberg
released top secret documents about
the V ietn am W a r, known as the
Pentagon Papers. Charges against
him were later dropped when it was
learned that his psychiatrist’s office
had been broken into by Watergate
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A n ts, roaches, silverflsh, m oles, gophers, rets, m ice —
burglars Liddy and H u n t. In N o
vember o f 1978 Ellsberg was con
victed of trespass for blocking trains
bound for the Rocky Flats nuclear
arms plant near Denver, Colorado.
Daniel Berrigan, along w ith his
brother P h ilip B errigan, S.J. was
one o f the CAtonsville Nine, who,
in 1970-71, served 18 months in
Danbury Prison for burning draft
files w ith homem ade napalm . In
1981, as a member o f the P lo w
shares E igh t, he was convicted of
b u rg lary, c rim in a l m ischief and
crim in al conspiracy fo r breaking
into a General Electric plan, near
Norristown, Pennslyvania, and try
ing to beat two nuclear nose cones
into plowshares w ith hammers.
D aniel Berrigan is an aw ard -w in
ning poet and author o f more than a
dozen books, including The D ark
N ig h t o f Resistance and the play
The Trial o f the Catonsville Nine.
For more in fo rm a tio n contact
Johnny Stallings at 233-1887.
G o ld *D ia m o n d s *S ilv e r
I
Cash also paid for:
Cam aras • TVs • Staraos •
• F irearm s* A n yth in g o f value
RED D O O R
Six new members have joined the
Senior A d u lt D is trict A dvisory
C o m m ittee: The R everend Ir a
M u m fo rd , M rs. Sara M a y fie ld ,
Mrs. Irene Sage, Mrs. C arrie Can
non, M rs. Precious Wasson, and
Ms. Karen Lee Rice.
(Sponsored by A m erica n State
Bank, B.F. Booker, President.)
THE BEEPER PEOPLE.
713 S.W. 12th Street
Call 224-BEEP for a free demonstration.
ST. VINCENT
DE PAUL SOCIETY
Ellsberg, Berrigan visit here
Anti-war activists Daniel Ellsberg
and Daniel Berrigan will talk about
ending the nuclear arms race on
Sunday, November 21, at the First
Congregational Church, II2 6 S .W .
P a rk , at 12:30 p .m . Admission is
free.
Daniel Ellsberg and Father Daniel
Berrigan, S .J., have practiced civil
Jackie Robinson is the first base
ball player o f any color in the 206-
year history o f the United States to
appear on the postage stam p. He
joins thirteen other distinguished
black Americans— Booker T. Wash
ington, George Washington Carver,
B enjam in Barneker, D r. R alph J.
Bunche, D r. M a rtin L u th e r King,
Jr.. Whitney M . Young, Jr., Harriet
Tubman, Frederick Douglas, Peter
Salem, W .C . H an d y, H e n ry Tan
ner, P au ! Laurence D u n b a r, and
Dr. Charles Drew.
•
For many years Amnesty Interna
tional has lobbied for the abolition
o f the death penalty. Bu, the organi
zation reported from London there
was a sharp increase las, year in the
num ber o f prisoners executed
around the world. Amnesty Interna
tional reported 924 persons on death
row in this country; but in August,
Associated Press reported that there
were 1019 people on death row in
the U.S.
•
¿K
6008 S.E Foster
M o n -S a t 8-6 776-781V
Serving your
neighborhood since
1B69.
Clothing, furniture,
appliances f o r the
entire fam ily
2740 S.E. Powell Blvd.
234 0698
740 N. Killingsworth
285 0796
1016 S.W . 3rd
222-4884
S.E. 3rd & S.E. Harrison
Milwaukie
664-5220
700 Molalla
Oregon City
6666927
646 S.W . Oak.
Hillsboro
Since rice grow s in great abundance, guests at w e d
dings long ago th re w great handfuls at the bride and
groom to make certain they w ould have many children
and m uch food.
648 5097
•
2139 S.E. Stark.
The record for most goals scored in a soccer career is
held by the Brazilian soccer star, Pele. He scored 1,2811
Gresham
666-3310
231 S. 1st,
St. Helens
397 4440
As Is Store
3600 S.E. 28th
1
The first A m erican w ar suDmarine w as constructed
in 1776. It was called the "tu rtle " and carried a crew of
one.
234-3130
W e d o p o t do business w ith South A frica
American State
Bank AN INDEPENDENT BANK
Head Office
2737 N. E. Union
Portland, Oregon 97212
A
fust about anything!
I