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Show DAILY THE CHRONICLE UTAH MB I THE CHRONICLE'S VIEW &2&is-ATUf- 2 pwes FAoucrrH RAr&es n I Weigh in Now on Next Year's Big Decisions We all hear the same this time in Spring year after year. You can make a difference in campus politics. You can control the way your student fees are spent You can have a voice on the Board of Trustees. ' So get out and vote in the Associated Students of the University of Utah elections this year, we hear. f And yet, year after year, everyone involved counts the election a grand success if more than the anticipated 10 percent of the student population actually show up to cast a ballot Many students don't even know what ASUU stands for, let alone care. ; Some potential voters figure there is little to no difference between candidates. Some think ASUU exercises no real political muscle, either on campus or at the Utah State Legislature, And some just can't be bothered for five minutes of their time. " Those kinds of arguments are what keep ASUU controlled by 10 percent of the student body. And those kinds of arguments hold no Xtf. ;W3te H :s Take student fees, for instance. ASUU gets $i million of student ' ascney, taken out of student tuition, every year. And because student fees are based on a percentage system, when tuition goes up (as it inevitably will, this year and in the future), so do fees. And when ASUU gets the idea to " ' ? y ; , build a new building, as it recently did with the student recreation center, it can significantly raise student fees even more without answering to anyone except the administration and that 10 percent who decide to vote. Also, the president of ASUU has a seat on the Board of Trustees, which means he or she has a direct say on tuition hikes," among other things.- V : I '1 So ASUU does have a tangible power over students' finances. With this money, ASUU has within its power the ability to create campus child care, to finance student groups, to divvy out scholn arships, to build a dollar building. Yet no one shows up to vote. This is sill'. Students should educate themselves on ths issues, pick out which are most relevant to them, talk with the candidates, and make informed decisions on who Is the most qualified to represent their views, ,....... v Today and tomorrow, students should vote in the primary ejections, online at www.asuu.utah.edu oi in the A. Ray GipLa University J I multi-millio- LETTER THE EDITOR TO Put in a Little More Effort Please ture and make fun of them, and they do it succinctly Editor: , This letter not in response to a specific article in The Daily Utah Chronicle, but to a vast majority of your opinion articles this semester. I don't know if the problem is lack of applicants for your open positions, or if you willingly choose below-averawriters, but the consequence has been uninfor-mativ- e drivel. Chronicle Opinion Columnist Kristien Hixson tried to write a satirical article a few weeks back about how criminals are treated. Not a bad idea, except she obviis Union, ge And if you are oxse cf the students who feels your rote nukes no difference 'on campus, th;n tell ASUU by making a protest wte by writing in "no one." But dont not votel Don't throw away your representative denwera: tic power on campus. ously doesn't understand the point andor method of writing satire. Satirists like Dave Barry and Robert Kirby are funny because they take oddities in our cul and successfully. Chris Yeates' article in the Feb. 23 issue was especialIf he is going to compare yaks to the ly Associated btudents ot the University or utan or people in general, he could at least make a good comparison, instead of simply throwing in tidbits of information that make little or no sense. Mr. Shane McCammon, do you really wonder why newspapers have become increasingly filled with articles about Jell-- 0 and Eminem? In my opinion, it's better than yaks and pornography. ALISA CHRISTENSEN mind-numbin- Leave Firmly He Id Convictions JAMES SEAMAN Chronicle Opinion Columnist W. Bush spoke to Congress last about the budget. He wants a $1.6 tax cut right now. Bush has clearly stated that he won't compromise on this issue. Remember? This is the tax cut Bush won the election with in November (well, sort of won). To negotiate the package into smaller pieces would mean reneging on his promise. Only a g or someone from Arkansas, would do that. Essentially, Bush is appealing to the American ideal of standing up for your beliefs and not jumping ship just because the waters get choppy. Politicians on both sides of the aisle stake unwavering claims to cherished beliefs. Similarly, everyday citizens find honor in holding strong convictions too important to compromise whether the realm be politics, religion or the New York Yankees. In reality, nothing is absolute there are no values reserved for a hallowed place completely above scrutiny and potential compromise. Such But it is a statement may sound also inherently logical. Compromise is not cowardly it is noble. Refusing to see someone else's viewpoint, ignoring differing opinions, holding fast because you "believe" in something is unrea George fence-sittin- sell-ou- t, long-hel- sonable. Yet history books are stuffed with extremism: demagogues who forged their fame with profound statements, battle cries in the name of freedom ringing down through the years and still resonating today. Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death." Are you sure you want to give up breathing for political and economic opportunism? Besides, none of America's founding fathers believed in liberty as an absolute truth they qualified it to apply only to white, Protesmen. Other than that, freetant, dom was absolute. But Patrick Henry was nothing. John Kennedy, now there was an extremist (not to mention a jelly doughnut). America's 35th president said he was willing to "pay any price, bear any burden" to defend liberty. The guy was so intent on proving his manliness to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev that he brought the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust in October of 1962. Maybe JFK just wanted to as an atomic fireball that year. Regretfully, the Cold Warriors have again descended upon our nation's capitol, even a dozen years after the Berlin Wall crumbled. The new administration is determined to have its way even on the other side of the planet. Only months after Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a historic visit to Pyongyang and toasted North Korean leader Kim Jung II, her predecessor referred to Kim as a "dictator." Colin Powell, with Bush's unflinching support, won't risk American security by doing CHRONICLE land-owni- trick-or-tre- at OPINION EDITOR SCOTT LEWIS g. Senior, Biology something as silly as opening a civil dialogue. After all, the North Koreans are communists. That puts them in the same category as Fidel Castro. He's just waiting for the right moment intolerable. The result? An Arkansas was for boy suspended three days pointing a breaded chicken strip at his teacher and saying, to attack, you know. Really, the Bush administration is just taking a cue from the founder of the modern conservative movement. In 1964, Barry Goldwater told the Republican National Convention, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of liberty is no virtue." These words inspired such sophisticated thinkers as Ronald Reagan and Pat Buchanan. The kid's lucky he wasn't packing meatloaf. Religion is also a breeding ground for and extremism, crawling with Jihad warriors who will testify the truth and then blow up a bus to prove it.- Yet religious "institutions themselves can actually be fertile fields for the growth of change. In the 1960s, with the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, the Roman Catholic Church (which Voltaire referred to as "the infamous thing") began allowing mass to be said in the vernacular. And who would have imagined a century ago that the church would recognize the theory of evolution? If the Catholic Church can see things in various lights, anyone can, Even a value as pure as honesty is susceptible to scrutiny. What if your friend Kelly came to you in confidenceput ultimate trust in you and revealed information that would affect your friend Chris? Do you betray Kelly's trust in order to be honest with Chris? Or do you honor Kelly's confidence and withhold information at the expense of Chris' Such an ordinary situation reveals the stickiness of ethical judgments. Even the most common dilemmas are not morally For this reason, people should stop propagating the fallacy of absolute truth. After all, extremism in the defense of anything is simply bad policy. James welcomes feedback at: jseamanchron-icle.utah.ed- u or send a letter to the editor to: The new administration is determined to have on the its vay-ev- en other side of the planet. But the United States isn't the only place where people stick to their guns in the face of common sense. Ariel Sharon just became Israel's new Prime Minister, winning by the largest margin in that nation's history. By all accounts, the man is a hawk. He refuses to compromise over Jerusalem, even if the Palestinian claim to the city is just as righteous as his. I wonder if Sharon ever imagines what the Palestinians are thinking maybe then he would see why these uncompromising positions never go anywhere. The same holds true for Yasser Arafat. How can his position be more just than the compelling claims of the Israelis? Outside the realm of politics, social crusaders stubbornly refuse to budge on principle. For example, violence in school is unequivocally LETTERSCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU "Pow!" Bible-rolle- rs - well-bein- d. 581-704- 1 |
